After being interviewed by the school principal, the prospective teacher said, "Let me make sure I've got this right: you want me to take a room full of kids, fill them with a love for learning, instill pride in their ethnicity, maintain a safe environment, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, check their heads for lice, censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons, raise their self esteem, teach them patriotism, citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, how to apply for a job, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, make sure they all pass mandatory state exams (even those who don't attend regularly or finish assignments), give every student an equal education (regardless of mental or physical handicaps), communicate regularly with their parents by letter, telephone, newsletter, email, and report card, provide many of my own supplies since you have no budget to do so, and all on a salary that qualifies my family for food stamps? You expect me to do all this and then you expect me to not pray?!"
I think we should pray for them too!
Good on anyone willing to do that.
Barbara
11 comments:
Good one Barbara!
(julie...where in France?)
I had a very good relationship with my teachers in college. Je suis desolé pour toi Julie que ce n'est pas comme ca en France. Excuse my written french I do speak it better than I write it.
Merci en tout cas.
Thanks too debz
I never thought about school in that regard before. Looking back, I think a lot of people take for granted everything they (can) get out of school. That was very interesting!
A lot of that stuff should be taught at home of course, but often is not.
Hey at least teachers get the summers off!
They need the two months to recover. I can recall many teachers who had to take a year or more off to recover from a breakdown due to the stresses there job presents.
I'm not dissing teachers. There are many teachers for whom I have a great deal of respect, and we've got a pile of teachers in the family. But you must admit that a solid two months off (unpaid but still) is not something most people could ever aspire to.
It's so hard to be a teacher in these days... I'll never be one... today's kids are kings kids (enfants rois in french) they feel that you owe them everything, but not all of them are like that, we're lucky!
And we ask so much to teachers!
Barbara B I am not suprised there are teachers in your family. You are my blogger guru. You are teaching me all kinds of things... lol. I call you my bad influence but I mean that in the best way.
Evelyne as each generation goes through childhood there are always the kids that challenge the system. I think teachers do thier best but society has to keep working on finding out solutions.
Julie said there is no personal interaction with the teachers in thier schools. I think we have that here and are better off for it.
Though the expectations of a teacher are high, I do find some consolation in knowing that these are constant goals to aim for. In addition to all of the curriculum requirements as well as your own self-expectations, it is easy to breakdown under all the pressure. A teacher must continue to learn and grow alongside their students and with the aid of the administration and parents as well, teachers can tackle all these issues knowing they have support. Without effective communication, without the support, without the motivation for continued learning, a teacher's job would be very difficult. And if it weren't for the teacher mentors I've encountered in my 4 years of teaching, I probably would have quit a long time ago.
Thank you Diane for bringing your insite into it. There is the important message for society 'Support the teachers'.
My brother had a tshirt that said 'If you think education is expensive you should try ignorance.'
Why are strippers paid more than teachers one wonders...
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