Hitting the nail on the head - Reader comments at The New York Sun

Reader comment on:
Don't Blame the Teachers

Submitted by Michelle, Jun 15, 2007 13:08

Those who want to blame the entire set of teachers for the state of education today have never bothered to get to know the professional, caring, motivated people who become teachers not for money or perks, but because they feel a calling to work with young people. That so many wash out is not necessarily incompetence, but the inability to survive not being appreciated by the adult community combined with constant increases in multitasking demands and paperwork. The good teachers that survive do so because their calling to work with young people pre-empts all the ingratitude and demands placed on them by the adult world. Incompetent ones survive because they give up in frustration but prefer having a regular and guaranteed paycheck to quitting after all that preparation and try to restart a new career track. Four to six years of college work and life choices focusing entirely on one career is not easily set aside, even if burn-out sets in.

I am both a teacher AND a parent. In both capacities, I can say that my number one observation regarding student performance is that there is a clear and direct correlation between student attitude and academic success. I can tell within 10 minutes with a kid (if not quicker) what the parents have taught that child about learning and getting an education; and I can predict that child's learning curve by combining that attitude with what I know from diagnostic reports (I teach special ed)... will that child perform to his/her full potential? I do what I can in my classroom to promote motivation, using both social and concrete reinforcers, but the parents' attitudes can double or halve that child's final scores at the end of the year, no matter what I do. Parents, and then peers as young people get older, are the number one influences for that attitude. Do the math regarding hours. Teachers see kids for 1/6 of the year. The kids (hopefully) are getting 2/6 of their time spent in sleep. That leaves 3/6 of the time... half their lives, spent interacting with parents (or whomever the parents choose as caregivers) and peers in a non-school setting. My own two kids are motivated, and do well, including my older one, who has special needs and receives very specialized services... he is starting full inclusion on track toward a standard high school diploma next year. He earned A's (unmodified) in his regular ed electives and his one regular ed core class last year. That's because we have hammered home the importance of learning in life success, and because he knows we'll kick his tush if he doesn't work hard.

I doubt that researchers can get concrete data about what classroom teachers see here, because parent attitude would be measured from questionaires filled out by parents. Gee, you think the ones who don't value education that much will be honest about it? Ever sit in on parent-teacher conferences with these people? "Oh, we work with little Johnny every night, we tell him how important education is, we don't know why he doesn't care..." Yet when little Johnny never turns in homework, its because the family was busy every night, there's no quiet work space for him, his parents get mad at him if he's working on his assignments rather than joining in with the family activities or whatever else they want him to do if he's motivated to study, or constantly send him outside to play or park him in front of the TV or game console and never supervise or make him study if he's not motivated, etc., etc. Then there's the parents who say "I never graduated high school, and I've got a roof over my head and food on the table, so why should my kids go through all this stuff when they can just get a job already? My kind of job (or, yes, welfare) is good enough for my kids."

And then, turn on the TV, and most educators, especially in kid-oriented shows, are portrayed as total idiots and completely unworthy of respect. Kids get the message... as do parents.

Politicians and parents are basing their own attitudes and decision-making processes regarding how they view teachers based on media portrayals rather than reality. Turn off the TV, for goodness sake, and get into your local schools. Volunteer, participate, and get to know the REAL people who are working with your children. THEN you'll be ready to make decisions about how our education system truly can be improved.

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