Too bad having more money doesn't do much. The generation that sent people to the moon and created all kinds of new inventions and science went to schools that had only blackboards and chalk; today they have all kinds of gadgets, laptops, and other rubbish and they're producing mostly halfwits with high self-esteem.
You're assuming that's a result of teachers. I called home an unruly student last week. He shows no respect to myself, my classroom, to the other students, and flat out nobody. While I'm on the phone with his mom and I hear him yell at her "who's on the phone you bitch?!", and mom kind of chuckled it off...I realized in that precise moment that nothing I could do would ever make him respect anybody. He's a product of his upbringing. When parents raise a group of entitled kids, they're going to bring that entitlement to the classroom. Wen those entitled kids become adults (which we're starting to see), don't be surprised when they act in such a fashion in all walks of life, including school.
Last quarter I had a senior-an 18 year old student-demand that I give him a "B", despite him doing NO WORK. He told me the work was pointless and stupid...which even if that was the case, it's still illogical to expect a "B". I told him that's not fair to the students who put in effort and earn their "B's", and that that's not the way the world works. Mom was in the main office the following morning demanding to speak to me and explain why her kid had an "F". When I say he did no work-I literally mean he did no work. I told his mom that I'd show her example of his work and discuss with her, but that he's never handed any in so I didn't even have that to show her.
TLDR: Entitlement is an issue that transcends the school system.
I'm aware of all that and more. It doesn't change the fact that teachers and their unions let admins get away with poor rules and stupid sociological experiments, and are their own worst enemies. I've met teachers that are barely educated themselves, complete airheads, had all the pop psychology crap down pat while not knowing squat about the subjects they're supposed to be teaching. Most are fine with kids being taught complete rubbish re American history as well.
I agree about parents being a big problem as well;
the solution to that is of course expelling the little animals and let their parents worry about them; how many teachers will stand up to admins and fight for that, though? Probably very few.
I think more would than you'd think. I'm all for 2nd chances.
Last year I was CC'ed an emai from admin about a student I had in class (all of his teachers were CC'ed) thanking us for all of the "second chances" that we've given him. There's no such thing as multiple second chances. He was arrested numerous times, causes problems for all of his 7 teachers (so I know it wasn't just me) and negatively impacted the education of every single student he had a class with. He was constantly talking, getting up, shouting at the top of his lungs, jumping on top of desks, throwing items at other students (including an open condom), he peed in a water bottle, climbed out of the window. I'm given kids like that because 99% of them I have a great relationship with and get strong results...this kid was something else. I told admin it was severely detrimental to my classes, the AP told me "I'm done dealing with him..."...the AP literally told me she wasn't going to deal with it anymore, which is great for them but he's still in my class (most) days. So what did I do before this?:
Everything below I did at least 3 times (lterally):
-Called home and spoke with dad
-Met with dad for conference night
-Emailed his football coach
-Wrote him up to the office
-Asked him what I could do to make class better for him
-Moved his seat
-Offered positive phone calls home for good behavior (offered this, but he never earned it)
-Assigned him detention
There's nothing else I could have done. He's still at the school and will only be tossed out about a month before graduation. The amount of support we get from admin (which isn't really their fault-it's pressure from the district) to keep kids enrolled is ridiculous. I'm not saying we should crucify the kids, I'm just saying lets move them somewhere else where they're better suited.
