Why be a teacher

Originally posted by michelef ↑

The educational dynamic is not limited to just children and teachers. Parents are an important part of the triangle. The irony is that the parents who turn up for parent-teacher interviews and play an active part in their child's education, sporting and social lives, are the ones who don't really need to. If my boys ever had a problem or concern I just phoned the teacher up. Mostly had to wait for a time to call an individual teacher back but they always did. They got to know me as well as my sons and there were no surprises come report card time. I don't mean to rant, but two 4 wds, a 4 bedroom home plus a media room and a pool require 2 parents working full time. If you haven't got a very involved grandparent contributing to their grandkids education, it's easy for things, usually your kids, to fall through the cracks. Teachers can only and should only do so much. Paying private school fees shouldn't give parents a free pass either. When it's all said and done, parents should move heaven and earth to provide the best education they can for their kids. If that means a slightly older and smaller house, a smaller car and a few less trips to Bali, so be it.

If I could give any advice to parents it would be to read to your kids from day 1. Nursery rhymes and songs as well, they love repetition, even if you are a lousy singer. One of my son's favourite songs what should you do with a drunken soldier... Instill in them a love of reading and they will spread their wings and fly through school. Read to them before they go to sleep and this will also teach them to concentrate and be still. Go to the local library with them once a week and let them choose books to read. It's not rocket science but it works. Turn the phone off, put the ipad down and talk to your kids. Teachers can only do so much and parents are a big part of our kids education. Picastoc, my grammar is terrible and I do apologise but I think my spelling is OK

Expand

Your post made me weep a little. It was so perceptive and refreshingly frank. Thanks for posting. You definitely had the right attitude. Kids are like little sponges and pick up all kinds of things from their parents, including any teaching-knocking attitudes of their parents. They return to school, mouthing them. They learn the disrespect for teachers from them very efficiently indeed.
I recall a male parent arriving for parent-teacher night, telling me that I was the teacher who refused Luke the right to go to his locker after class had started to get his homework. Luke never ever did any homework. Not only had he never requested to go to his locker in order to fetch the fictitious homework, he also had a father prepared to lie to me. I thought Luke was a very lovely kid when he was younger, but having met the dad (big, brash and bullying) I could easily see why he had become sullen and developing "attitude" as he grew. Parents who refuse to take responsibility because they are too busy, who blame teachers for their own failures to discipline their child, and who then mouth anger and blame liberally at parent-teacher nights.....well, as the heading asks "Why be a teacher", there are many negatives and certainly many parents is a very big one to respond, "No thanks, it would be a foolish choice".

I recall a note from a parent claiming I was not in control of the class when I gave his child a detention for throwing a book across the classroom, as she was too lazy to return her book to the box in front of the class. I explained about books having their bindings broken from such behaviour, the fact that classes need the entire set of books, and that broken books are fixed by the school librarians and that there was a stack of books awaiting repair so the book would be unuseable for several weeks, etc etc etc. No, the required parental permission for the detention was denied. Moreover, the child stood up in class and read out the reason who father had given for refusing his consent to the detention. Apparently, it was my fault that I did not have control of her throwing hand. Go figure. Yes, I did take early retirement and worked elsewhere very happily for an additional five years before leaving the workforce altogether. Such events as described above are two of many I have been confronted with and one can multiply this across every teacher in a single school, and keep multiplying and therein is the "culture" of Australians. Any wonder education results (standards) in Australia, across the board and specifically science and reading, is slipping internationally?