Momentous Mandi Rants: Education
I was reading an entry over on the Childfree Hardcore community which was talking about a sheer, unavoidable reality of inner city youth and schools.
And let me add my two cents.
The schools are doing everything in their limited power to help get these kids up to speed and teach them some shit. Even rich, private schools struggle from time to time, and let me tell you this; it's not because of lack of funding or whatever.
It's bad parents.
Okay, you happy? I said it. It's bad parents.
Parents who spit out babies they have no intention of raising; they don't parent them. They don't stand up and teach these children how to behave in society. They don't reinforce good behavior, such as saying "please" and "thank you," and they do not punish bad behavior, such as biting and punching to get one's way. When I worked in a kindergarten class, there were single mothers from the "bad" neighborhood, all of them on welfare and unemployed, not giving two shits about their child or their child's education. According to them, "teaching is our job, it ain't mine." Stated just as such.
We wrote letters. We made phone calls. We arranged meetings that these inconsiderate mothers wouldn't show up for. (Pardon my rudeness, but what were you going to do that was more important? You don't have a job -- was there a really good television show airing that was just more important than a meeting regarding your child's future?*) We didn't even receive a simple, "I can't make it because dah dah dah dah dah" call! We'd show up and wait. And wait. And wait. We'd call later and she had "forgotten" or "had to pick up her other kids from daycare."
Why she needed daycare to take care of her children when she wasn't working or doing anything all day was beyond me. Tax and welfare dollars at work. *snort*
The other problem was this. Shandra, one of the parents of one of our troubled kids, had five kids to deal with. Five. All born within a year and a half of each other. No father in sight to help pay for these kids. Shandra didn't work, spent most of her time shouting at her kids to shut up; she never wanted to deal with them. Hey, Shandra, if you didn't intend on being a parent, you really should have kept your legs closed. I can't tell you how many times I wanted to say that to her when she ditched meeting after meeting and completely disregarded the emergency that her child was about to be held back in kindergarten AGAIN. That's right; he'd been held back ONCE already. She just couldn't be bothered to give a shit. Sure, she'd bitch that she didn't have the money to hire a tutor or "nothing fancy like that," but I was always curious how she found the funds to get her hair and nails done. That woman never looked anything less than salon primped whenever we did see her.
But that's part of the problem; she has all these kids that she cannot take care of, and all of them were failing at something. It was completely obvious she didn't do anything with them once they got home from school; these kids were raised on television and by themselves. I realize welfare doesn't cover all of the bills, but dammit, she wasn't working -- how was it that she couldn't "find time" to take care of her kids, yet she had no problem making appointments to get herself primped? Just thinking about her makes me want to slap her.
The story comes around to this; it was not my fault, as an educator, that these kids failed. Sure, they went on to first grade, but let's be honest; they failed... and the system did not fail them. Their stupid mother did, who couldn't be asked to give a shit about her child's future. Then society turns around and wails about the pitiful education system.
Shut the fuck up. You have no idea how hard we work to get these kids to performance level, and we couldn't even do that, no thanks to these unhelpful, stupid mothers. Hey, maybe if you don't like how we're doing things, YOU come in here and try and teach these problem kids whose parents don't care. YOU fix this problem, since you're experts on the situation. Shit, I worked in that situation and I don't even consider myself an expert.
Stop expecting schools to do the job of parents. Our job is to HELP TEACH CHILDREN, not fucking do it for you. Get off of your lazy asses and teach your kids something. I don't care if life has you depressed, you have a responsibility to that child you created, and like I catch myself saying nearly every other sentence, if you weren't going to teach/raise/nurture it, keep your fucking legs closed.
Mandi
*Before you ask, I know they all had means of transportation, and on top of that, we even offered to meet them someplace close by so that they wouldn't have to drive or catch a bus. We made it utterly simple for them to get involved, and yet, they refused.