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Sunday, September 13, 2009

another educator's delima

You know there's alot of things that are just frankly pissing me off right now. It may not be right for me to say it this way or to just write it for all the world to see but oh well. Something has gotta change. For those of you that don't know I am a teacher. I love my job, serously. No I'm not crazy (as those of you who have teenagers are asking I'm sure). It's the most awesome rewarding job and as hard as it is at times, I love it!

HOWEVER; if you want to know what's wrong with the world today take a look in our classrooms. Some people may have made this connection, but the problem is worse than than many realize. Let me explain, many of people believe that our problems began when we took God out of our schools. I believe it goes alot farther than that. Many laws that teacher must follow no longer hold a child accountable for their actions. That is a tragedy for our future. Teachers see this is causing a problem; however, we can't change it. Unfortunately we are on the wrong side of that wall.

For those of you that do not know; in Texas, you cannot give a student less than a 50 for a six weeks grade. Translation, a child can sit in a classroom and do absolutely nothing and still get half the credit. Granted that is a failing grade; however, they can do that a couple of six weeks, and still pass as long as they have a 70 at the end of the year. Question? If I never do my work at my job do I still get half a paycheck? This is the message we send children; you get something for nothing...you get a 50. Growing up we knew if you did nothing you recieved nothing; when did that change? It hasn't in life outside a classroom, so why is it taught in our school system?

My next rant is attendence. A student in high school can show up and leave by 10:15 and is counted present for the day. Does this mean I can leave my job at 10:15 and not loose my paycheck? It gets even better. A student can miss up to 10 days is supose to fail; however, a school can allow them to make up absences in detention after school to keep from failing....can I miss 11 days of work, stay late one day and not get fired????

Here is my point, if your missing it, we teach our children that they can half ass do the work, scrape by in school and that's ok. However we are shocked when they can't manage to make it in college or hold a job. How can we expect them to make it in the real world when we did not teach them they are accountable for their actions? We fail to teach them that there is a consequence for your actions and sometimes it means you have to do the job all over again. Growing up I had teachers I hated because they held me accountable for my work; they didn't grade on a curve or cut me slack because I was not the best reader or only an average student. They held me to the same expectations of my classmates. I coudn't not stand them as a student; however, as I got older I had a deeper appreciation for them. If it were not for them I would not be the person I am today. I can still hear my 6th grade social studies teacher tell me "if you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it again?" Students don't hear that enough in today's world.

How in the world will a child learn to work hard and be sucessful when they are 20 if they were never taught how to work hard when they were younger?