It is time to move on.
Teaching.
In this country at least, I don't think this career is worth it. And I really feel like I need to start looking for something different to do with my life. I don't know what is happening with children these days and their parents, but it's really kind of scary the lack of motivation and responsibility I've seen year after year. Every year it gets steadily worse. Education seems to be least of everyone's priorities. Even with our new president. I was shocked to see how little it was ever brought up in the debates. It speaks a lot about how little people care about education in the USA.
Approximately only 40% of my students bother to do their homework. Only about 25% bother to study for tests and quizzes. On test days, I typically have a good chunk of students come sauntering into the classroom, look at the board, and say, "We have a test today?"
This is a high SES school. Many kids don't even show up with something to write with, yet they have iPhones tucked in their $250 jeans or Coach bags.
They don't listen. Ever. I am so incredibly sick of repeating directions, or even just telling them to actually READ the directions on a paper or on the board. The laziness. Oh the laziness. What is this? Are they spoon-fed to death in elementary school? Or at home? Why is this happening? What is wrong with this generation?
35% of my students have a "plan" meaning they have ADD or ADHD and every year that number goes up. Why is this? Is this suddenly a new disease, or are parents just seeking an excuse for their lack of parenting? I can't get anything done because I spend most my time trying to get work out of these kids with plans. Parents bring their lawyers into meetings frequently and demand to sue if you don't give their child extra time to get their homework done. For most of them, it's not that they run out of time to do their homework and legitimately need the extra time - it's that their parents don't bother to follow up with them, and they play video games all night or play on MySpace instead of doing their homework. They're so stupid if they don't think we look at their MySpace pages and how often they log on. But they get extra time to do their work or else we get sued.
Today two students were cheating. One was letting the other copy his homework. He admitted to it in the principal's office. It's his 2nd offense. But when he gets home he cries and his daddy now won't leave me alone because apparently the word of a 13 year-old is more credible than a 30+ year-old adult. When did the respecting teacher go out the window? How did this happen? What is wrong with the current generation of parents? They worship their children too much. They celebrate every stupid little thing. And they have created monsters who think real life is this way.
I have really tried hard this year, but I am so miserable. I thought things would get better this year, but they haven't. All of this is really not worth it. I need some sort of way out. I just can't take this anymore. I hate waking up in the morning. I hate my job so much.
In this country at least, I don't think this career is worth it. And I really feel like I need to start looking for something different to do with my life. I don't know what is happening with children these days and their parents, but it's really kind of scary the lack of motivation and responsibility I've seen year after year. Every year it gets steadily worse. Education seems to be least of everyone's priorities. Even with our new president. I was shocked to see how little it was ever brought up in the debates. It speaks a lot about how little people care about education in the USA.
Approximately only 40% of my students bother to do their homework. Only about 25% bother to study for tests and quizzes. On test days, I typically have a good chunk of students come sauntering into the classroom, look at the board, and say, "We have a test today?"
This is a high SES school. Many kids don't even show up with something to write with, yet they have iPhones tucked in their $250 jeans or Coach bags.
They don't listen. Ever. I am so incredibly sick of repeating directions, or even just telling them to actually READ the directions on a paper or on the board. The laziness. Oh the laziness. What is this? Are they spoon-fed to death in elementary school? Or at home? Why is this happening? What is wrong with this generation?
35% of my students have a "plan" meaning they have ADD or ADHD and every year that number goes up. Why is this? Is this suddenly a new disease, or are parents just seeking an excuse for their lack of parenting? I can't get anything done because I spend most my time trying to get work out of these kids with plans. Parents bring their lawyers into meetings frequently and demand to sue if you don't give their child extra time to get their homework done. For most of them, it's not that they run out of time to do their homework and legitimately need the extra time - it's that their parents don't bother to follow up with them, and they play video games all night or play on MySpace instead of doing their homework. They're so stupid if they don't think we look at their MySpace pages and how often they log on. But they get extra time to do their work or else we get sued.
Today two students were cheating. One was letting the other copy his homework. He admitted to it in the principal's office. It's his 2nd offense. But when he gets home he cries and his daddy now won't leave me alone because apparently the word of a 13 year-old is more credible than a 30+ year-old adult. When did the respecting teacher go out the window? How did this happen? What is wrong with the current generation of parents? They worship their children too much. They celebrate every stupid little thing. And they have created monsters who think real life is this way.
I have really tried hard this year, but I am so miserable. I thought things would get better this year, but they haven't. All of this is really not worth it. I need some sort of way out. I just can't take this anymore. I hate waking up in the morning. I hate my job so much.