http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/06/living/teachers-want-to-tell-parents/index.html
I was led to the above link by a teacher friend of mine. First of all, before everyone gets their backs up, I must mention that I have many Good Teacher friends as well as family. Most of them do fantastic jobs and actually care a lot about the students and the content that they teach. My sister puts in excessive amounts of overtime to ensure that her lessons are not only relevant but engaging because she feels that to do anything less would be dishonourable to her profession and to the children in her class. I decided to write a response to this article because I feel it generalizes not only about parents, but teachers too.
There are many teachers who have joined the profession because they feel it will be an easy job with lots of vacation time. I know this because I have been told directly by some, have over heard others, and have been told so by the Good Teachers I know as well. I feel that these Bad Teachers become disgruntled when they suddenly realize that they are not only going to have to work but will also be held accountable for their teachings by their superiors and by parents.
I realize that the article being quoted is from CNN, an American based media, however it was forwarded on by a teacher friend in the UK and commented on by a teacher just around the corner in Canada. In Canada the public school board is funded by the residents through our taxes. Therefore, when we send our children to school the teachers essentially are our employees, being entrusted with the care and knowledge enrichment of our children. Should we not be questioning their methods? The content they choose outside of the required curriculum? The manner in which they choose to grade the students, while outlined by their superiors, is still under the graces of their opinion. Yes, they have been trained and are expected to be well versed in the subject they are teaching in order to pass a very educated opinion, but in many cases teachers are teaching a subject that they have no more education in than the student they are teaching. The worst part about this situation is that the students must depend on these classes to carry them through their post secondary education.
I say they depend on the classes because it is more than marks that they are dependent on. The grades they receive will, of course, determine if they are accepted into the post secondary institution they choose and the program they are seeking. If a teacher chooses to undervalue a student they could prevent them from legitimately getting into their academic field of choice. Likewise, if they overvalue, or give higher grades because they do not understand the course content, the student may get into a university classroom and be completely lost.
Clearly I value the power teachers have over a student's academic path. This does not even take into account the influence they have over students on a more personal level as children begin to look up to them. However, I do not think some teachers, the Bad Teachers, fully understand this, or perhaps they just don't care. I have contacted the school my daughter attends, both elementary and high school, to inquire about some poor marks. In most cases I received the attitude that is so strongly expressed in the article; I am a parent who is bothering them, causing issues, lacking trust, questioning them. They immediately have gotten on the defensive when, should they have entered the situation with an open mind, they would have found there was no need. We have been told time and again, as parents, that we should be more involved and that learning should not stop in the classroom. However, our attempts to do so are met with a sense of intrusion on something we apparently know nothing about. I believe, when it comes to our children, we do know a little something.
The one Good Teacher who responded in a positive manner to my inquiry helped my daughter achieve an amazing turn around in the class. As mentioned in the article, this change in grades was not to keep me off her back. We kept track of her tests, and given that it was a math class, she could not have skewed her marks. The Good Teacher called me at home and we discussed the issues my daughter was having in her class; she seemed to understand the content but was choking on tests, which were heavily weighted in the overall grade. She had always done well in math so we were both perplexed. We worked together to come up with some new study methods and my daughter was able to increase her mark by 20%!
The article says that parents need to accept that low grades are given by "Good Teachers" and that parents need to realize that this is what the student has earned. In some cases that may be so, but as a parent I am still going to question grades that are out of character for my daughter because those grades mean too much to her future. If there is someway that they can be improved in an honest manner than the teacher should be willing to work with the student and the parent to achieve that. Otherwise they are letting the student produce substandard work for their ability and cheating them out of the future they deserve.
All those teachers who are in it for the vacation time, the benefits and the easy short work day, QUIT! I have many friends who would be more than happy to take your job, who are sitting on the substitutes waiting list and busting their butts in interviews. They want to participate in the extracurricular activities, to produce engaging lessons, and to work with Good Parents to help children of all ages reach their potential. They care about the kids and the quality of their education; the rest is just icing on the cake.
FBM
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