addendum to the previous

So I'm reading some of the TIME articles my CT gave me. Despite there being some parts that make me want to gag, I found a few things that are worth mentioning. They sum up the part of teaching that those individuals who make comments like "those who can't do, teach" and "how hard can it be to teach?" and "why should you get paid more, you get summers off?" truly do not understand. Do not speak of what you do not know.

"First year teachers tend to be unprepared for the astonishingly disparate demands of the job--speaking loudly without shouting, deciding what to do when someone throws a spitball, looking up the rules for bathroom breaks, determining whether the class on Abraham Lincoln should come before or after the one of Frederick Douglass."

--------This might sound silly to you, but it is imperative to know all of these things. If you find yourself in a situation that you don't have an answer to, 7th graders will EAT. YOU. ALIVE. Guaranteed.

Here's a good one (yet another reason why people should study some freaking history)

"Since the early 1970s, high schoolers' math and reading scores have barely budged.....teenagers are now less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were."

Take a look at what started happening in education in the 1970s. More (extreme) 'progressive' education. Don't make my students actually learn. They need to be coddled, you need to be building up their self esteem.

It was the beginning of grade inflation. It was the beginning of the lowering of the ceiling and the raising of the floor. Let's make all of our kids mediocre so that their self esteem is not hurt by their higher achieving classmates. Please. It's called competition.

And, no offense to Mom and Dad, but think about whose kids were starting Kindergarten around that time? The baby boomers. The hippies. Free love!! Don't tell my kid that he is failing! Shame on you, teacher. Life isn't about what grade you get in school. It's about how you feel.

You're right, dear hippie, life isn't about the grades you get in school. But your work ethic, your behavior, and your desire to succeed generally shows how well you will do for yourself in life. And, well, our country is currently not in the greatest shape. So thanks for all that you've done. Free love, it is. Free love for everyone!

Now, I'll sit back and listen to the rest of the country complain about the state of public education in the United States all while they vote down any type of bond issue that would increase the amount of funding for their public school.

So, go to your fancy 9-5 job 5 days a week and tell me that I don't deserve to be paid more because I get summers off. I am at school every morning by 7 AM, I don't leave until at least 3:30, only to come home to grade papers, essays, or projects, enter them into the grade book, write lesson plans (ensuring that I have made accommodations for students with special needs---yes this sometimes means an entirely different assignment), make sure that I am contacting parents of students about behavior problems or homework that has not been turned in, keeping track of which students miss class on which days and getting extra copies of notes for them, worksheets ready with their names on it, and generally taking care of their every need because if I don't and they fail? IT'S MY FAULT.

Not to mention while I'm at school I have students mumbling things like "What the hell?" under their breath, students yelling "This is bullcrap!" because I took their phone away, which is blatantly explained in the student handbook, and students almost getting into fights every day in 5th hour.

My day at school never ends, even when I'm at home. So go have some calamari and drink some sparkling water. Then come to my classroom and takeover tomorrow. And vote for a bond issue for once.

SOAPBOX OFF!