Ouch
Am I being too sensitive? A poster on hawaiithreads recently had this to say:
” The one thing that you gain by having a private education is the individualized attention you receive because the student-teacher ratio is much much smaller and the teachers in the private school environment tend to care more about the individuals. They can tailor the learning to suit the individual rather than by some formula which generally is aimed at the students of average ability, which therefore leaves those who are slower and those who are faster learners either frustrated or bored.
Public school teachers don’t have time to care about individual students (and those that do, sometimes get jailed for having sex with them! ). My own personal experience is that private school teachers make even less than public school teachers, so for the private school teachers themselves, it ain’t about the money, either. My experience in a private education environment is that the teachers appear to be more relaxed and can engage more readily with the students because they have fewer to concentrate on.”
(emphasis my own)
Now that stings. I guess all the time I stay afterschool to tutor a child who really needs it is for nothing. The time I take out to sit with a neglected child (a foster child whose foster parent also has 10 other foster children in her house) so that she feels wanted is for naught. Because I just don’t have the time to care, apparently. How sad is that?
Now I have disagreed with some of this poster’s mana’o in the past few months, especially the way the poster is constantly talking down to the reader (”you guys need to do this.” “your government” etc.) and the poster had said some things that has made me cringe in regards to education…but man. That stung. To say I don’t care as much as a private school teacher would?
You know, maybe in a few years when I’m completely burned out from teaching because people are quick to criticize … then yes, I’d fail to care … and when it comes to that, there is no way I’d stay in teaching and deprive a child of having a teacher who really does care. But really. To say a teacher doesn’t care…we do not make $85k like that poster does…so if we don’t do it for $, then why else go through all the stress and criticism?
Even though his wife had things to say about public school education that is causing her to consider home-schooling, I was glad to read Ryan’s post about this:
“The student-teacher ratio is a big factor, yes, but I’d disagree with even a broad statement that private school teachers care more about students. Hell, when you look at a public school teacher, part of your heart aches and thinks, “That person must love their work… ’cause I wouldn’t put up with those challenges at my job.”
People don’t pick teaching for the money or prestige, they do it for the kids, and that’s an ideal shared trait no matter where they’re teaching.”
Thank you! Someone who understands. I wish I had more people out there like that. Because like I said earlier, even though the post was not pointed to me… I still take it personally, having been through a lot. And you think, why do I do this? This is NOT worth it at all! But then you see the children, and you realize, yes, it is.
So, yes, I may be too sensitive. But to say I don’t care as much as a private school teacher? ouch.