There are bad teachers. There's no doubt. I had bad teachers, many of them. A junior high history teacher, for example, often took a nap during our class period, putting his weary old gray head down on the desk. I also had really great teachers, ones who made me bust my butt.

Maybe those fresh new teachers mentioned in another post ARE enthusiastic; maybe they're fresh and new and not worried about feeding a couple of kids on their income. I watched my father get ground down to a nub from his years of teaching. Year after year of low pay, long hours, yelling parents, undisciplined kids, administrative politics, endless required nonsense college courses about "actualization" and other hoo-ha, sneers about those who can do doing not teaching, on and on. It got to him. It gets to a lot of people.

I teach in a university in the state in which I went to school. Schools are far better now, and most of my students are from more affluent parts of the state than the one in which I was educated. Yet a large fraction of them can't identify parts of speech. A larger fraction want to be spoon fed. Case in point: the student who came to my office last week with the demand that I circle the titles of poems he was to write about, even though those titles were on the assignment sheet he had in his hand. Too many text message in class, avoid buying textbooks, complain about homework when there's a home football game. Most don't read a newspaper, don't know basic history or geography, can't (or won't) average their own grades. But mention "Halo" and "teabagging," and they'll know all about that.

I get attached to my students. I circle the titles. I grade the papers. I listen to their gripes and worries and give them a shoulder to cry on and a letter of recommendation. And I think we should stop saddling teachers with all the blame. My dad carried my sister and I to the library every Saturday. There's no telling how many times he said "Turn the damn TV off and do your homework!" He and mom demanded to see our homework, report cards, asked what we'd learned almost every day. They told me I had to respect my semi-literate junior high English teacher and others like her, that I should try to learn even from bad teachers because it was my education, my responsibility.

I have never seen one of the kids on my street with a book.

I think it's time we turned off the TVs, the cell phones, the Internet, the X-Box, and all the distractions. It's time we told students to respect teachers and demonstrated a little respect ourselves. A little old-fashioned discipline is in order. And, sure, sack some teachers too, if you want. But a poor student won't learn from the best teacher.

Ecce homo.

THANK YOU. That is exactly what I was trying to say in my long rant.

Teachers can't teach those who refuse to learn and whose parents do nothing to help us. We can't be expected to raise other people's children.

I'm with you, Cracker. There are bad people in every profession but teaching gets so much attention because:

a) everybody goes to school, so it's in the public consciousness

and

b) because one incompetent teacher can do more damage than one bad, say, blog author

Our profession gets kicked around, demeaned, insulted and humiliated by the public, politicians and the media and then asked, in the same breath, to come back and take some more of it "for the kids."

Parents, we're raising a generation of arrogant, self-indulgent, entitled and ignorant punks all because we're too afraid to ask them to buckle down and be serious for a few moments. Education and discovery are supposed to be wonderful things, not burdensome chores.

musicman:

Maybe there's another reason. In some professions, everybody knows who deserves more money than their peers. Insurance salesmen and left handed relievers come to mind. Their outcomes are discrete and measurable.

But not every profession by a long shot. It's just as hard to objectively measure a good surgeon from a mediocre one as it is to compare teachers, I'd bet, yet everyone "knows" who the best docs are in most cities.

How can anyone discern a good teacher from a bad or middling one? I mean in a measurable way that could be tied to compensation. So much depends on the students and their parents, and the culture we all swim in. Further, parents expectations differ. The very defination of "good" probably couldn't be agreed upon.

Can we say the v (voucher) word? What if every parent sent his/her kids and money to a school they could choose? Wouldn't "good" teachers start to get competed for? Wouldn't bad ones find other lines of work? Nobody would have to test the little snowflakes to find out who the "good" teachers or schools were. The market would tell them.

Cracker:

There are bad teachers. There's no doubt. I had bad teachers, many of them. A junior high history teacher, for example, often took a nap during our class period, putting his weary old gray head down on the desk. I also had really great teachers, ones who made me bust my butt. Maybe those fresh new teachers mentioned in another post ARE enthusiastic; maybe they're fresh and new and not worried about feeding a couple of kids on their income. I watched my father get ground down to a nub from his years of teaching. Year after year of low pay, long hours, yelling parents, undisciplined kids, administrative politics, endless required nonsense college courses about "actualization" and other hoo-ha, sneers about those who can do doing not teaching, on and on. It got to him. It gets to a lot of people. I teach in a university in the state in which I went to school. Schools are far better now, and most of my students are from more affluent parts of the state than the one in which I was educated. Yet a large fraction of them can't identify parts of speech. A larger fraction want to be spoon fed. Case in point: the student who came to my office last week with the demand that I circle the titles of poems he was to write about, even though those titles were on the assignment sheet he had in his hand. Too many text message in class, avoid buying textbooks, complain about homework when there's a home football game. Most don't read a newspaper, don't know basic history or geography, can't (or won't) average their own grades. But mention "Halo" and "teabagging," and they'll know all about that. I get attached to my students. I circle the titles. I grade the papers. I listen to their gripes and worries and give them a shoulder to cry on and a letter of recommendation. And I think we should stop saddling teachers with all the blame. My dad carried my sister and I to the library every Saturday. There's no telling how many times he said "Turn the damn TV off and do your homework!" He and mom demanded to see our homework, report cards, asked what we'd learned almost every day. They told me I had to respect my semi-literate junior high English teacher and others like her, that I should try to learn even from bad teachers because it was my education, my responsibility. I have never seen one of the kids on my street with a book. I think it's time we turned off the TVs, the cell phones, the Internet, the X-Box, and all the distractions. It's time we told students to respect teachers and demonstrated a little respect ourselves. A little old-fashioned discipline is in order. And, sure, sack some teachers too, if you want. But a poor student won't learn from the best teacher.

i think i love you.