Whats wrong with education from teachers point of view

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

I could have aced all my courses. I just didn't care. I had a bad attitude.

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No doubt you could have.

I had a couple of brothers who also could have, but had that attitude.

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[Dorian Mode]

Sadly, negligent parents come in all forms.

Parents are only part of the equation, but still play a crucial role. The reason we have such bad students today is mostly because those students have bad parents. Now we have generations of bad parents becoming bad parents. America is lucky I am not POTUS, because I would make becoming a parent extremely difficult and limited only to those who are willing to do whatever is needed to have the opportunity. We need overqualified parents creating overqualified offspring, not grossly incompetent parents creating grossly incompetent offspring.

 

[Woodznutz]

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No doubt you could have.

I had a couple of brothers who also could have, but had that attitude.

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I always got As in the courses that I liked or was good at. If I didn't like or care for a course I did just enough to pass. It came to a head in my senior year. One of my teachers told me that if I didn't pass his course I wouldn't graduate with my class, and that I was failing the course. I knuckled down and got a B which got me just over the line for graduation. Even so I graduated in the top half academically, but just barely.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

Parents are only part of the equation, but still play a crucial role. The reason we have such bad students today is mostly because those students have bad parents. Now we have generations of bad parents becoming bad parents. America is lucky I am not POTUS, because I would make becoming a parent extremely difficult and limited only to those who are willing to do whatever is needed to have the opportunity. We need overqualified parents creating overqualified offspring, not grossly incompetent parents creating grossly incompetent offspring.

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I have long believed that the human reproductive system should be shut off at birth, only to be turned back on when they have proven that they have the ability to be good parents.

Sick and sad culture has come from bad parenting.

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[Woodznutz]

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I have long believed that the human reproductive system should be shut off at birth, only to be turned back on when they have proven that they have the ability to be good parents.

Sick and sad culture has come from bad parenting.

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True. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

 

[Winco]

I mean, no.

But it used to be enough to simply be kind, caring and empathetic.

Now, we expected to monitor kids emotional states, ease their anxiety and heal their trauma. In between teaching them something, who really knows.

So you admit to indoctrinating students because you monitor, ease and heal.

 

[Mac-7]

Oh please. You trust us so little you will put children's privacy at risk just to "catch" us in whatever.

Bingo!

Nowhere did I say that teachers are faultless

We are seeing a steady decline in education

Today’s generation of teachers were the spawn of bad parents in the previous generations

So there is plenty of blame to go around

I suspect its mostly the good teachers who are quitting and the bad teachers who are just hanging on till retirement

 

[Mac-7]

Funny thing is, the teachers were saying the same shit about my generation fifty years ago.

See post #87

 

[Mac-7]

Parents are only part of the equation, but still play a crucial role. The reason we have such bad students today is mostly because those students have bad parents. Now we have generations of bad parents becoming bad parents. America is lucky I am not POTUS, because I would make becoming a parent extremely difficult and limited only to those who are willing to do whatever is needed to have the opportunity. We need overqualified parents creating overqualified offspring, not grossly incompetent parents creating grossly incompetent offspring.

I’m saying that the problem is getting worse because only a few bad students can disrupt an entire classroom

When each generation produces more bad parents, student and teachers than the previous generation the odds of success go down

As we are seeing in America

 

[Woodznutz]

No teacher, in all thirteen years of my schooling experience ever once acted like or as a 'surrogate parent' in any way. They were teachers and authority figures, nothing more (although some were very popular, even endearing). They were also careful not to 'take a shine' to any particular student for any reason. Even our guidance counsellor kept his distance. Any praise given was for academic achievement only, never personal. And this was as it should be.

If I would describe the demeanor of most of my teachers over the year I would use the term stern. That businesslike demeanor prevented any nonsense that might have arisen.

 

[Dorian Mode]

I’m saying that the problem is getting worse because only a few bad students can disrupt an entire classroom

When each generation produces more bad parents, student and teachers than the previous generation the odds of success go down

As we are seeing in America

If it only takes one or two bad apples to ruin something so important as education, what happens when half the apples are bad? As I get older I ponder more, and what I often ask is when did we give up the task of accountability? Maybe most of our problems due to the fact that few hold others accountable any more. Instead of being held accountable it seems everyone is just creating better excuses for failure.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Teachers have never been well paid. It's the BEHAVIOR and the attitude of the parents that have toppled the apple cart.

Depends where they teach. Chicago teachers are paid well enough that many send THEIR children to private schools.

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Yeah, so many whiners hollering about how poor home schooled kids do not get the social opportunities that public school offers, and this is total BS!

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Of course it is.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Show me that study genius. There are hundreds to choose from. They all say the same thing.

Teacher pay has risen MUCH SLOWER than private sector pay for a college eduction. THAT MEANS relatively to other options college grads have even more choices for higher paying jobs than ever compared to teaching.

Funding for teaching has lagged in most of the country except in high functioning education systems in the Northeast and West. The particular funding if targeted on the poor show the best results. Spending more on wealthy students shows marginal if any benefits. It makes it harder to teach with less resources and the studies show that is a big reason why they are leaving.

I included links you can click the highlighted text to get to. Not sure if you know how links work.

And yet...the school systems that spend the MOST have the WORST results. (NYC, Baltimore, Chicago)

Make learning work again instead of fun and all will be well in education. Another crucial point, imo, is that kids need to be taught how to learn before they can actually learn.

I was never taught how to learn. I was seldom taught anything-I was ordered to do something and punished for not doing it properly. It takes one bad teacher-I went from liking school to hoping I died in my sleep every night in less than a month.

First Straight A's report card I got, I got a party! I came from an under-accomplishing bunch of siblings.

I realized too late that good grades were their own punishment-it meant anything less than perfection was not enough.

I knew someone whose mother punished her children for grades less than 98%. She considered anything short of perfection failure and said a 95 and a zero were exactly the same. (Her son hung himself at 15.)

 

[SweetSue92]

No. I get that in the post-MAGA movement the treatment of teachers by children conditioned to hate teachers has risen. But it still lands AFTER pay and resource support. The policy leader cant tell MAGA what to tell their children but they can implement resource and pay for retention. You need to address your culture issues yourselves. Stop acting like teachers are the enemy and your kids will respect them, not shit on them.

Right, I'm sure your surveys and studies are a few years ago. Things have changed. No one walks out of teaching mid-year because the pay is too low. We KNEW that. It's the behavior and the extreme expectations of parents, period

 

[SweetSue92]

I always got As in the courses that I liked or was good at. If I didn't like or care for a course I did just enough to pass. It came to a head in my senior year. One of my teachers told me that if I didn't pass his course I wouldn't graduate with my class, and that I was failing the course. I knuckled down and got a B which got me just over the line for graduation. Even so I graduated in the top half academically, but just barely.

See, you made that choice. As you could, as almost all children/teens can.

Teachers now are BLAMED for the choices children make. In 2025, with you in our classroom, we would be told we didn't "build a relationship" with you, or motivate you, or our classes aren't entertaining enough. It is ALWAYS our fault.

 

[OhPleaseJustQuit]

And yet...the school systems that spend the MOST have the WORST results. (NYC, Baltimore, Chicago)



I was never taught how to learn. I was seldom taught anything-I was ordered to do something and punished for not doing it properly. It takes one bad teacher-I went from liking school to hoping I died in my sleep every night in less than a month.



I realized too late that good grades were their own punishment-it meant anything less than perfection was not enough.

I knew someone whose mother punished her children for grades less than 98%. She considered anything short of perfection failure and said a 95 and a zero were exactly the same. (Her son hung himself at 15.)

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Yes, crazy is out there.

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[Winco]

I enjoy these "Teacher Threads"

1). Conservative teachers here on USMB will defend everything the cult supports, EXCEPT when other conservatives attack their precious Education.

You know who these posters are........ It's hilarious watching the usual attackers from the right, all at once having to defend their position as educators.
Dear Lord, these right wingers attack your profession relentlessly, and watching you right wingers trying to defend is very fun to watch.

Oh please. You trust us so little you will put children's privacy at risk just to "catch" us in whatever.

That's the level of ridiculousness I'm talking about here....

Wow, you are really in the dark on this issue

No. Sadly, it wouldn't matter. In too many cases the parents don't care or it's our fault anyway.

These are millennial parents and for the most part, they're not great.

See, you made that choice. As you could, as almost all children/teens can.

Teachers now are BLAMED for the choices children make. In 2025, with you in our classroom, we would be told we didn't "build a relationship" with you, or motivate you, or our classes aren't entertaining enough. It is ALWAYS our fault.

 

[citygator]

Right, I'm sure your surveys and studies are a few years ago. Things have changed. No one walks out of teaching mid-year because the pay is too low. We KNEW that. It's the behavior and the extreme expectations of parents, period

If you were sure they were old studies you’d know. They’re not. The last one was from September.

Maybe teaching isn’t for you?

 

[DGS49]

Here's a thought experiment for teachers and non-teachers: Imagine the faculty of the "best" school district in your County traded places with the faculty of the "worst" school district?

Would the performance of the kids in the best district deteriorate? Would performance in the worst school district improve? I suggest that neither would happen. It is the mix of households/parents that pretty much determines the academic performance of the students.

I have observed generations of parents from my own to my grandchildren, and I have never figured out what sort of parenting produces the best students. I cannot complain about my own parents but the five of us ranged from mediocre to bad, despite IQ's that were well above average. I didn't take education seriously until I got out of the Army and didn't learn how to study until I got to law school, at 29.

 

[Woodznutz]

Here's a thought experiment for teachers and non-teachers: Imagine the faculty of the "best" school district in your County traded places with the faculty of the "worst" school district?

Would the performance of the kids in the best district deteriorate? Would performance in the worst school district improve? I suggest that neither would happen. It is the mix of households/parents that pretty much determines the academic performance of the students.

I have observed generations of parents from my own to my grandchildren, and I have never figured out what sort of parenting produces the best students. I cannot complain about my own parents but the five of us ranged from mediocre to bad, despite IQ's that were well above average. I didn't take education seriously until I got out of the Army and didn't learn how to study until I got to law school, at 29.

One study I read found that when a majority white school reached 40 percent POC grades of all students suffered. The school not only loses its cultural identity but also its scholastic identity.