I do not like teaching
It pains me to say it, I know. So many of you have said "You would be a great teacher Lisa", I know you meant it. I thought so too. But I am not. I could be, but we do not live in the world we once did.
First of all there is the work load. You have to test, quiz, give homework and all that good stuff to see where they are academically, and then you have to grade it all. When you have 95 students it all adds up. Also, these kids are used to being entertained and they are under the impression that everything should be fun. We guess what, life is not fun and most things worth having take hard work. Before every test they expect you to give them a study guide. I have informed my students that the study guide is the notes they take on their own and the work they did in class. Study guide my ass!
Then there is the fact that most of them do not want to learn anything. Which brings me to the second reason I hate teaching: I feel like an under paid babysitter. I went to graduate school part time while working full time and busted my ass to write a thesis in three months so I could have a master's degree. And what do I do? I make less than minimum wage when you factor in I am babysitting 30 kids for an hour and a half at a time.
If that were not bad enough there is the minutia of working in a school. You must stand in the hallway for the five minutes when they are changing classes to minimize violence. You must attend faculty meeting once a month. Once a week there is a meeting on the department level. Once a week you are counseling 13 kids that are not your students in an effort to show them some one cares about their academics. You are expected to volunteer at either prom or homecoming. You are supposed to stand in a designated hallway for 15 minutes during your planning time to make sure no one is doing something bad in the hallway. And of course there is the parental forms, the voting for home coming court and all the bullshit.
Yes, you get summers off, but you cannot take a day off unless you can get a substitute teacher. And then you have to make sure she has something to do with them for the day, keeping in mind that most substitutes know no Spanish.
Here come the big one that is going to push me to quit, no accountability. There seems to be no consequences for actions and for what I hear this is a legacy of no child left behind (thank you again President Bush) and the focus on passing the tests and making the annual numbers. If a student fails a test, we do what is called "rescue and recovery" in which we have to to tutor them and give them a new test. At this point they can take the higher of the two grades. So if Bobby decided to not study and get a 45 on his test, it does not matter because Ms. Ayala Davis HAS TO tutor him and give him another test. It does not matter how many times the teachers scream that this is not preparing them for college or for life for that matter, the administration is concerned with making the numbers so we have to do this.
So yes, I hate teaching. I want to state that it is the fact that it is high school. I think I am more cut out for adults and I think I will need to leave this profession sooner than expected. The idea that I have to day in and day out shove down students throats material they do not care to learn, and that I cannot hold them accountable for their lack of interest is mind boggling. I guess I went to school at another time and in another place. It would never had occurred to me to have a "redo" in anything in school. And if there was a chance of it, I would expect to loose some points just on the principal of having to redo it.
I guess what I want all of you to think about it is this: "Would you want your kids to go to a public High School today?" My answer is NEVER!
First of all there is the work load. You have to test, quiz, give homework and all that good stuff to see where they are academically, and then you have to grade it all. When you have 95 students it all adds up. Also, these kids are used to being entertained and they are under the impression that everything should be fun. We guess what, life is not fun and most things worth having take hard work. Before every test they expect you to give them a study guide. I have informed my students that the study guide is the notes they take on their own and the work they did in class. Study guide my ass!
Then there is the fact that most of them do not want to learn anything. Which brings me to the second reason I hate teaching: I feel like an under paid babysitter. I went to graduate school part time while working full time and busted my ass to write a thesis in three months so I could have a master's degree. And what do I do? I make less than minimum wage when you factor in I am babysitting 30 kids for an hour and a half at a time.
If that were not bad enough there is the minutia of working in a school. You must stand in the hallway for the five minutes when they are changing classes to minimize violence. You must attend faculty meeting once a month. Once a week there is a meeting on the department level. Once a week you are counseling 13 kids that are not your students in an effort to show them some one cares about their academics. You are expected to volunteer at either prom or homecoming. You are supposed to stand in a designated hallway for 15 minutes during your planning time to make sure no one is doing something bad in the hallway. And of course there is the parental forms, the voting for home coming court and all the bullshit.
Yes, you get summers off, but you cannot take a day off unless you can get a substitute teacher. And then you have to make sure she has something to do with them for the day, keeping in mind that most substitutes know no Spanish.
Here come the big one that is going to push me to quit, no accountability. There seems to be no consequences for actions and for what I hear this is a legacy of no child left behind (thank you again President Bush) and the focus on passing the tests and making the annual numbers. If a student fails a test, we do what is called "rescue and recovery" in which we have to to tutor them and give them a new test. At this point they can take the higher of the two grades. So if Bobby decided to not study and get a 45 on his test, it does not matter because Ms. Ayala Davis HAS TO tutor him and give him another test. It does not matter how many times the teachers scream that this is not preparing them for college or for life for that matter, the administration is concerned with making the numbers so we have to do this.
So yes, I hate teaching. I want to state that it is the fact that it is high school. I think I am more cut out for adults and I think I will need to leave this profession sooner than expected. The idea that I have to day in and day out shove down students throats material they do not care to learn, and that I cannot hold them accountable for their lack of interest is mind boggling. I guess I went to school at another time and in another place. It would never had occurred to me to have a "redo" in anything in school. And if there was a chance of it, I would expect to loose some points just on the principal of having to redo it.
I guess what I want all of you to think about it is this: "Would you want your kids to go to a public High School today?" My answer is NEVER!
Wow, Lisa... I think you said it all! In a short time you have been exposed to every single aspect of teaching that causes so many perfectly capable, caring, intelligent teachers to say, "You know what? I give up." Happens all the time. The summers off just don't seem to offset the sheer AVALANCHE of crap you have to deal with on any given day. All I can say is HANG IN THERE! Everyone knows that the first year blows, but it will get better!
ReplyDelete