I Need a New Job…
The other day at the doctor’s office, I was waiting at the receptionist’s desk while she was printing up my bloodwork form thingie, and I saw the magazines that were scattered around, so I started moving them around to see if there was anything interesting–and one just jumped out at me as she was handing me the lab papers. It was the February 21 issue of Time and the cover said What Teachers Hate About Parents. Now, after all I went through last year, naturally, it caught my eye. But seeing as now the receptionist was handing me my “next appointment” card and my validated parking ticket, I thought it would look crazy just standing there and reading the whole thing, so I took my things and left.
I came home and tried to look at it online, but wouldn’t you know, you have to subscribe to Time in order to look at it. So I searched around and found a teacher’s forum,atozteacherstuff.com, which had the article, plus people’s reactions to it. Of course, parents on there were defensive, but nearly all the teachers in there echoed the sentiment of the article. I was actually surprised reading it, because rarely you get things from the teacher’s perspective…it’s always “this is what’s wrong with the education system” blah blah blah. You really never hear what the teacher is thinking, unless it’s from NEA, which of course is going to showcase the good aspects of being a teacher, because they want to recruit more teachers! But this one…you actually saw the “bad” side, a side where a lot of people don’t think about, I think. I’m hoping some will recognize themselves when reading the article, and make the change, when they understand what they come off as to the teacher. But you know some won’t. Parents have become more pushy and more demanding, wanting more attention for their child, forgetting there’s a class of 25 others…yet at the same time, if you dare scold their precious child, you’re wrong too. It’s a no-win situation.
It’s a hard profession to sympathize with, I guess, unless you know, and even then, I still got it from fellow teachers who were parents of kids in my class. It pains me to read other bloggers who say they are sick of their child’s teacher and now want to homeschool their child. I get hurt personally, when I know it’s not me being attacked, just because I’ve been there. And I know how it feels. And sometimes, it’s not as what it seems, but parents jump quickly to their child’s defense. Too quickly. Yes, there are teachers out there that make you question their training. However, people’s circumstances are different. Someone could be going through a hard time in their life due to a death in their family or a divorce. Some may need to get used to a new “culture.” Some, yes, just are not good with children. But people don’t take the time to find out what’s going on…they’re just in the principal’s office, ranting and raving, threatening to go to the newspapers and media, the BOE, whatever…just to get their way…sometimes without even letting the teacher her/himself know!
So yes, even though I read things about “argh my child’s teacher!” and it was not directed at me, I still felt hurt, remembering all the pain of last year. Though this year has been different, with much more appreciative, supportive parents, I still feel the sting of last year, and it has soured me. There are ads saying that 1/2 of the teachers will leave in the next 5 years, and let me tell you, just from talking with the teachers at my school, this is so true. But it’s not always because of the pay, as the ad says…yes, it’s a factor. But seriously? It’s because of the parents. They have the most unreasonable expectations sometimes.
Is it because of guilt that you are actually spending more time with their child then they are? Is it they need to feel superior–they are “professionals” while we’re just some lowly “babysitter” for their child? I’m always lectured by parents on how to “teach” children, and I look at them like…wait a minute, who has the training here? If you do know better than me, than be my guest, come teach in my place. See how much attention you can give to only your child when there are 25 others that need to be taken care of too. See how they react when you give your child special privledges and special work.
Other teachers are like, “Go ahead and find another school. Go homeschool your own child, then.” when threatened by parents. One less headache for me. I don’t think that way, though. I take it personally and try to better myself so that other parents don’t feel that way too. Then I find myself doing things just to please the parents, not for the sake of the children, as a whole–which is not the way it should be.
Yes, I will leave teaching in 5 years. Partly because even after 10 years, I’m already at the max I can make for my experience & education, $40,000…and that’s not even close to what I had to pay myself to receive that education to make it to the top level…but mostly is that I cannot take the stress of parents. If I could just work with the kids, I’d be much more happier. I was happy to see that fellow teachers on the atozteacherstuff forums felt the same way. You do not get paid enough to deal with all the stress from parents, and that uneasy feeling of driving to work, wondering who is going to yell at you next. I’d rather be at an office job where I can sit on my butt all day, searching the web and answering posts at HawaiiThreads 
even though I’m supposed to be working, and still making $85K while doing so! man. That beats being yelled at by an aggressive advocate parent who really has no clue.