My heart is a little heavy tonight. Over the past few weeks I have kept hearing tidbits of what’s going on in classrooms. From teachers, students, and administrators. And I’d like to take a little minute to dissect “the problem” with schools today.
Let’s start with what the students say…and understand that the issues are very real to them even if some might not be fully understood…
- “I just want to play.”
- “I get tired.”
- “Nothing stops X from being mean to me.”
- “Mrs/Mr X doesnt like me”
- “this is too hard” “too much”
- “I’m never going to use this”
- “I dont even know why I’m in trouble”
- “Mr Principle won’t listen to my side”
- “I’m dumb”
- “I’m going to fail these standardized tests”
Next the teachers,
- “There’s too much material to cover”
- “There’s no time and they keep taking more of my instructional time for testing”
- “The students are not respectful”
- “The parents wont collaborate or support me when there is a problem with their child”
- “I constantly have to accept late work and I get in trouble for entering zeros”
- “Some students bully other students, and now students are bullying teachers”
- “I don’t have back up from my administrators”
- “I have no power to discipline”
- “I cant take off without being anxious that my students will be horrible for a sub”
- “I cant find a sub because no one wants to put up with these awful kids”
Administrators:
- “These students have no discipline at home and their parents are too busy saying their kid is great”
- “I cant keep quality teachers”
- “I cant allow fun events at my school because the students cant handle it”
- “I’m worn down from dealing with constant behavior problems”
- “I cant kick kids out of school without fearing the loss of funding”
- “State standards are putting more pressure on us to deliver on standardized tests”
- “The state threatens to pull funding and units if we have too many kids fail”
- “Disciplining problem students has so much red tape that I feel helpless to support my teachers”
- “I cant find subs”
- “I have to have constant meetings and pass along new rules for my school that I have limited control or say in”
The parents…
- “Too much homework”
- “No one does any thing about problem students”
- “My child is stressed, depressed, anxious”
What are the Problems in Schools?
Now, I’m just a little ol’ pre K school teacher. I haven’t even had a ton of classroom experience since we chose for me to stay home while our babies are little… but… it seems to me that we have a slew of complicated problems at hand.
You can ask anyone their opinion on the state of our public schools and you’ll usually hear that a lot of problems would be fixed with a “whoopin'” or if parents where present in their kids lives and raised their kids teachers wouldn’t have to. You’ll also hear that if they would take away tenure then teachers would have more incentive to teach instead of become complacent.
I naturally think things begin at home. A kids environment is going to greatly affect who they are in schools and later in society. Schools have zero control over family life. They are not responsible for disciplining our children. Their responsibility is to educate. They can’t do that if parents wont instill respect into their kids.
Teachers are burned out. I’ve been lucky enough to know a lot of fantastic teachers. I’ve watched the zeal and passion for teaching drain out of them.
Of course, the students are frustrated when they try to communicate with teachers. The teachers are so burned out and trying so hard to tread water that they don’t want to explain to an angsty teenager why they have to learn something or why they have to take standardized tests.
They are too exhausted to fight against the disruptive students because they don’t want to write them up which then triggers angry phone calls from parents then smug kids daring them to write them up “the next time.”
Believe me, there will be a next time. They don’t want to assign homework that most wont do and they don’t want to enter in the zeros from the ones that wont even try and they certainly don’t want parents calling saying you can’t fail my kid you need to do your job and teach.
Schools From a Top Perspective
Administration feels hog tied. Plain and simple. They have to keep the state happy so their school doesnt lose any funding and they dont lose teachers.
The almighty dollar. That’s a big problem, isnt it? No dollars, no books…programs…electives… they lose their head count they lose their dollars. I guarantee that if schools expelled half of the little darlings that need to be expelled then there would be a huge upheaval in funding issues. If the schools started failing kids for failing grades…imagine the chaos.
There are more studies coming out that correlate discipline problems in students with mental health. The older generations dont seem to understand the stress and the unhealthy environments kids are being pushed into in kindergarten. In PreK. In my classroom. Mine.
Struggles for Teachers
So let me analyze my classroom. My first classroom full to the brim of precious babies. Each child had their moments of being incredible and also moments of being incredibly frustrating. I loved working with kids. I loved play directed learning. I loved student interest leading. I loved helping them navigate socially even. Oh my stars the tattling…
I had a great coteacher. We both where attached to our kids. We both believed that when those kids came in the door they where “our kids”
Before the middle of the year I was so frustrated with all the paper work and documentation. There where so many things distracting from the actual teaching.
The milestones the kids where supposed to hit on their own time became pressure points on us and the looming threat of “kindergarten readiness” was always there.
The ridiculous things we could or couldn’t do in our classroom made us feel like our hands where tied very often. We had too many students and a large developmental age gap.
We had children that where barely 3, barely potty trained all the way up to kids that where already 5 and ready for more challenges than we could give them.
There where several times that we disagreed with the standards put on our kids. We where thankful that our company pushed play to learn so we didn’t have to make them sit and stay quiet.
The Struggles for students
It makes me angry knowing how much kids have to sit in kindergarten. It makes me sick seeing kids cry and not want to go to school because they just want to play and they are so tired but they cant take naps anymore or go to PE every day because that eats up instructional time.
We start our kids school careers with pressure and stress and over structured everything then wonder why in upper elementary they cant take it anymore and crack. They can’t care. Their mental health wont allow it.
Yes, I agree discipline at home and parent involvement is to blame for more behavior problems but essentially the state is mandating that we send our kids to a loosely disguised jail for 13 years then we turn them loose into the world and expect them to figure out being adults. And people wonder why mental health is in decline.
Reforming Our Schools
I know that there are more problems. I know that my long, rambling post has barely scratched the surface. I dont think blame rests solely on students, parents, teachers, or administrators.
I do want to encourage anyone that’s bothered to read my ramblings to instill respect in your children and teach them that our schools are imperfect institutions full of imperfect people trying to teach them against a lot of odds and that teachers are people. Administrators are just people.
And take interest in the politics concerning the direction of our schools futures. Find ways to advocate for your kids. Volunteer at your schools and try to see with outside eyes the tangled nest that the state has woven around our future generations.
Look beyond the petty day to day drone of what your teen complains about and instead of thinking a teacher is just out to get them try being a part of the solution.
Our schools wont change until our communities start paying attention. Our schools can’t get healthy and thrive without serious changes. Teachers are leaving the education field in droves. The ones that can’t leave are counting down the days until the magic retirement year is upon them.
Our kids deserve better. Our educators deserve better. Do your part. Parent, be involved, support your educators. Advocate with your understanding and your votes. Push for the changes that our schools desperately need. It takes a village and our villages are crumbling.
❤
Written by Alex Boyd
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