Teaching Woes

School is beginning and with it comes both the excitement and trepidation of working with new students. They can single-handedly make the year productive and pleasurable or a real nightmare. Needless to say, I am hoping for the first scenario.

So much of the success of a student is dependent on attitude. There are many wonderful students who are self-motivated, hardworking and interested in learning and working, and it is a thrill to encourage and enlighten them.

Too many of the others, however, are not driven to succeed at all, have no real interest in learning or working hard, and have, in fact, an attitude that will destine them to failure. They have the desire to make lots of money and they insist that they are entitled to a good life, but they don’t want to do the work necessary. They think somehow that success is just going to happen because they want it.

As evidenced by testing, students today generally know less. They don’t read much anymore and so they can’t write or communicate well. They don’t pay attention in class, and they don’t do their homework because not only do they think it unimportant but an impingement on the free time, to which they also feel entitled. I once had a student tell me that she couldn’t complete an assignment for a significant grade because she had cheerleading practice and that was more important to her. I asked her if she thought writing well or cheering well would pay her bills in the future. She looked at me with confusion. She had no interest in looking that far ahead.

This is the sound-byte generation. Students are accustomed to immediate and constant entertainment, doled out in snippets and teasers on a myriad of screens. The result is a short attention span and an unwillingness to invest time and energy to achieve long-term goals. There is also a lack of respect for authority and a lack of caring about consequences. Couple all this with education not being our main priority anymore and you can see why we are in trouble.

This is a particularly tough year for teachers in my district. They have not been given even a cost of living raise and often have to spend their own money for school supplies. They had one of their two conference periods taken away, resulting in doing even more work at home on their free time, and they have been told that they are going to be accountable with their jobs for the success of their students.

The district theme song is to achieve differential teaching in the classroom. This means that teachers are to assess what each student in each of their seven classes is capable of and to create a program specific to that individual. Sounds good in theory doesn’t it, but what is the reality? Our staff has been significantly reduced in number and classes average 35 students. Now, given what I have said about the majority of students with regard to skill level, knowledge and attitude, how do you imagine that objective being achieved?

I’m nearing the end of my teaching career. I have loved it and been gratified to have impacted the lives of my students, but I worry daily about where education in America is going. Teachers cannot teach manners, morals and life skills in addition to subject matter, and yet we are expected to, and for little pay, lots of abuse and even some danger.

They say there is going to be an epidemic need for teachers soon because good teachers are getting out and students are not choosing it as a career path. It is not difficult to understand why.