Teacher Logic...

[southerngale]

After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said: "Let me see if I've got this right:

You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning.

And I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits.

You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons of mass destruction, and raise their self-esteem.

You want me to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, and how to apply for a job.

I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for student employment and scholarships, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others, and oh, make sure that I give the girls in my class fifty percent of my attention.

My contract requires me to work on my own time after school, evenings and weekends grading papers. Also, I must spend my summer vacation at my own expense working toward advance certification and a Masters degree.

And on my own time you want me to attend committee and faculty meetings, PTA meetings, and participate in staff development training. I am to be a paragon of virtue, larger than life, such that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and respectful of authority.

And I am to pledge allegiance to family values and this current administration. You want me to incorporate technology into the learning experience, monitor web sites, and relate personally with each student.

That includes deciding who might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit a crime in school. I am to make sure all students pass the mandatory state exams, even those who don't come to school regularly or complete any of their assignments.

Plus, I am to make sure that all of the students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap.

And I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, newsletter and report card.

All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few books, a bulletin board, a big smile AND on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps!

You want me to do all of this and yet you expect me
. . . . . . . . . . NOT TO PRAY ? "

[rainstorm]

cool, sg!!

[Guest]

It takes an extraordinary person to be a teacher. They are the backbone of this company. Without teachers, where would we be? The people in this profession deserve all the praise in the world. Thank you for all you've helped me become.

[JetMaxx]

Sadly that article is about the truth in many public school districts across America....including the one where I live.

A teacher in Douglas County, Georgia can be terminated for having a bible in his/her desk in the classroom....just as quickly as it were a gun or a switchblade. If a teacher wants to read their bible during lunch or a break, they must read it in their car

PW

[southerngale]

That's screwed up Perry.....big time!!!

[David]

Oh, I heard about a Kindergardner taking one of those plastic knives to school(i think it was in his lunch), and he got suspended for the rest of the year! Sigh...

This is true. We never said the pledge in MS until 9/11. Stupid if you ask me....

[JetMaxx]

That's screwed up Perry.....big time!!!

Definitely screwed up Kelly...and was all caused by two agnostics in the late 1980's (a man and his son) that didn't care for invocations before DCHS high school football games. They sued, we lost (Supreme Court ruled in their favor)...the board of education was afraid of another lawsuit, so banned bibles from all Douglas County schools.

What makes it more infuriating? The two buffoons that caused it aren't even native Georgians, but outsiders.....both were born in Alaska.

Screw 99,000 people out of a football tradition they enjoy, and deny 99.99% of teachers here the right to keep something in their desk they enjoy reading just to make two pompous jerks with attitudes happy....what kind of justice is that???

------
PW

[petal*pusher]

EXCELLENT Southerngale! I'm making copies of this!

A couple years ago when my son was a senior in HS, his Adv. Chemistry teacher.....who, even with a long past of extremely unusual behaviors......started off the year with a pen!s-shaped candle on her desk that she made frequent comments about. Had I known this, I would have been in her face....also the principals! It took her a good week to remove it after being reprimanded. This lady (?) has 2 lawsuits against her for affairs with students, reads tarot cards to the students, has no regard for the safety of the kids when having dangerous chemicals out, (Mercury spills almost every year!) and this year started a fire in the doorway of the classroom when 3 kids were late! SHE IS STILL THERE TEACHING!

The list of dangerous and questionable behaviors of this woman continue to increase each year......other excellent teachers at this school are embarassed that she has not been removed.

How pitiful that GOOD teachers......who really enjoy what they do despite HUGE challenges......are not the ones we usually hear about.......it's the teachers like this nut-case....and the administration who protects her that seem to set the reputation of education.........p

[streetsoldier]

It gets much worse; I once sent a student, a 6th-grader, to the principal's office...not only for "class disturbance" and "threatening a teacher", but on suspicion of being a drug courier/"mule" (he had over $500 in his pocket, rolled up in $10 bills..and he flashed this around openly in class).

Action taken? NONE...the administration swept the complaints "under the rug"; (*can't say this in the school!*) forbid that they get a black mark that MIGHT cost them FedBucks!!!

[Stephanie]

Good one Kelly!