As I teacher, I hear my fair share of things that criticize schools, education, and teachers. I won't lie, some of them are valid, and there are things about public education that don't make much sense. I would say, however, the majority of the comments that are made are born of ignorance. People who have no idea what actually happens in a school, how budgets work, where the funds even come from, and the limits on educators. Parents have farmed out their kids and expected schools to raise them. News flash, unless you are my wife (she sometimes reads my blog) I'm not your kid's daddy! Here is my list of things that you should never say to a teacher.
1. School is pointless. I hear this mostly from students who are under the age of 16. They are convinced that they understand how the world operates, and they have it all figured out. They also seem to believe that public school exists to help them get a job. It doesn't. I wrote a blog about that, so to summarize, the public school exists to make good citizens, capable of voting wisely and choosing elected officials that best represent them, their beliefs, and values. Public education exists to empower and protect our democratic republic. These kids don't understand that, but more than that, they have no concept of what that does to a teacher. As teachers, we have poured our life into this profession. To be a teacher, we go to college, get a degree, get our credentials, work to maintain those credentials, and pour our lives into preparing, teaching, and grading all to help shape young people to be good citizens. By saying that school is pointless, you are by extension saying I, my work, and my struggle to do the best at my work has no point. You are calling me pointless by extension. This will not make me happy.
2. They should be teaching ____________ in school. Do you realize how much we have to do at school? If you make this statement, you don't. Like I stated earlier, schools are almost expected to raise your kids. Parents have just given the responsibility to schools. As a parent, your job is to teach your kids. The other issue is the teacher shortage. No one wants to be a teacher anymore, and so there are not enough of us to teach your kids everything they need to know in life. Teachers are not joining the profession as quickly as they are leaving it. We need more teachers. Adding more classes requires more money, which causes property taxes to rise. You can't complain about schools, but then not fund the schools to fix the issues. If you want the problem fixed, you have to put up the funds to fix the issue. The best solution, teach your kids how to be responsible adults. I don't need to teach them how to cook breakfast or change a tire, that is your job. I know you can do it, because I taught my kids, two have graduated High School, one is a senior, so I have skin in the game.
3. You are just in this for the money/the summers off. Ok, first, I have to earn a living. I teach to make money, sure, but there are lots of other things I could do to make money (probably more). This is why people aren't becoming teachers, the money isn't great. Summers off is a perk, but you become really limited in vacation planning. I can't take 2 weeks in the fall or the spring, I am off in the summer. Add too that, the trainings tacked on the beginning and end of the school year, my summer break is only slightly longer than the allowance for most people to have vacation time. You have flexibility, I don't, Now, summers off is a great perk, I won't lie about that, it is very nice. It is not the only reason I became a teacher. If you become a teacher just to get summers off, you won't last very long as a teacher.
4. The last one is the good old "those who can do, those who can't, teach". I have done a lot of things in my life, and you have to know more to teach someone else than you do just to do the job. Teaching a job is significantly harder than just doing a job. You have to know how to do it, then know how to demonstrate or explain how to do it. Add to that many of our students don't really want to know, and we have to find a ways to make the learning fun and engaging so they will actually learn. You have to know the subject, know how to teach, know your students, and balance that all with the expectations that are put on you. In a regular job, you are evaluated on your performance. In teaching, you are evaluated by the performance of others, and you have very little control. If a kid fails a class in today's America, they just say "that teacher doesn't know how to teach". They don't listen or do the work because "it's boring". You have to know how to teach, make it fun all the time, and you still get blamed when a kid doesn't do well.
Now, I'm not saying you can't say these things. This is America, you can say what you want. I just recommend that you don't say them to a teacher. Chances are, it will not be well recieved.
