A Reflection on the Changes Faced in Teaching

I’ve been involved with teaching as a full-time teacher for ten years and worked as a nearly full-time substitute prior to that. I’ve spent most of my seventeen years of classroom work in Middle and High school classes, with a majority of my time now focused on history and English. I’ve quite a bit of change in students and parents over this time. If I think back to my own childhood and how classes were conducted and how parents as a whole were back in the nineteen seventy and eighties I see drastic changes.

Major changes since my childhood in education, child expectations, and parental effects on schooling since the 1980’s witnessed in the field the past sixteen years.

• Respect of Positions: In the in the 1970s and 1980s parents expected their children to respect their teacher, administrators, and for that matter anyone who was older than we were. Does that mean all teachers were good in that time? No. It means the respect of position mattered more in those days. If a parent saw consistent issues they would go and speak privately with a teacher, and if need be follow expected procedures to have the school take action. They didn’t send attacking letters, go on social media to complain to the world, or tell their child that they were going to get the teacher fired. Even in cases where that may have been necessary they used the correct approach of trying to work out differences to make needed changes.
• Expectations of our children was kept at a higher standard. We not only were expected to respect our elder, we were expected to treat others correctly. We were expected to complete our homework, to study for our tests, and to the best possible work we could in class. Parents didn’t blame the teachers right away when children misbehaved or made poor choices. As children we had to face our parents who generally asked, “What did you do?” and not “What did the teacher do to make you upset?” Discipline began at home and expectations of behavior outside the home had both positive and negative consequences at home.
• Students were expected to learn to manage their own work and social life. Many of us took on jobs early in life, and many played sports in middle and high school. I don’t ever remember hearing a parent in those days calling the school and asking not to give homework on a game night, practice night, or special occasions. We were simply expected to learn to learn time management and keep our grades up and things completed on time. Most of us in those days were expected to do that with little involvement of our parents, because they were at work when we left for school and long after we came home.
• Classrooms were built to teach us and give sometime to begin assignments, and not to entertain or keep us occupied every second of the day. I remember learning to take notes using the Roman numeral system when I was in fifth grade. I rarely remember getting note that were printed with only a few blanks to fill in. I remember getting assignments and working quietly with others, and knowing if we didn’t our parents would be called and consequences would be faced at home. Sadly, in today’s shortened attention span teachers often find that we must keep finding new and entertaining ways to attract attention. I’ve also seen in the past ten years a very short time capability of many students to use time in the classroom wisely, or to have any ability to occupy time even for as little as two to five minutes. If we cannot keep them entertained and entertain them they will quickly move off to talking, disturbing other learners, or even destructive behavior such as property destruction.

Teaching has devolved due to expectations and over-expectations into a place where schools and parents want and need teachers to be the the perfect babysitter, entertainer, personal coach (not team coaches), personal mentor, personal therapist, event planner, daily evaluation reporter, day planner/calendar, hand holder, encourager, and of course expert in their field educator. This is expected by every teacher in today’s world. Most schools use electronic systems of putting assignments out for parental and student monitoring, but it is expected the teacher will remind each student continually of due dates, when they get behind, and to help them get caught up, no matter how big or small the classroom. Teachers also must get grading and evaluation posted faster in our electronic age, so parents and students will know instantly how well they are doing. We can also add that to stay effective in our field both local schools, state expectations, and parents expect us to find time to continually stay up to date on material that changes in some areas by the month, day, or even hour.

Is it really any wonder that many teachers go home at the end of the day and collapse. Many teacher are also coaching, volunteering at the school in other areas, and helping to run clubs. Wearing multiple hats and doing the job of multiple people through out any given day. Finding less hours to sleep, find relaxation, or get away due to both classroom preparation and extracurricular activities is the norm for many teachers. Then people wonder why teachers feel burned out.

Adding to this is the continually disrespect of teachers from more parents than ever in the . Again, I admit there are some bad teachers in the world. Parents used to work along with parents for the best for their child’s need, but more and more it is assumed the child is right and perfect and everything is the teachers fault in learning and behavior. I understand reaching out to work on needs or with questions; However, if a parents first response to a teacher is to blame them for their child’s poor grades then there is something drastically wrong. Teachers often receive scathing, accusing, and angry emails about students missing work, grades, or attitudes. In some school that still allow phones you might be emailed before the class time is completed. If teachers do reach out to seek parental ideas in reaching their own child the response is sometimes ignored, sometimes left saying “your the teacher”, or it simply creates a negative answer on their part. The worst thing today is that this disrespect that carries in all of society turns to attacks on social media, with no actual conversation with the teacher or administrators. Often these are built from miscommunications, false accusations, and outright campaigns against a teacher. These hit social media and everyone wants to jump on the band wagon not really knowing any facts, details, or even who the teacher is that is being questioned.

Teaching isn’t the career it was forty, twenty, or even ten years ago. It has, like many jobs, devolved as the world around us keeps devolving. We can try to make a difference in our own schools, communities, and families; which we should. However, the truth is pulling the world back in such a time of anger and even hatred is hard to do. We should do our part, and we should be kind in all we do. The damage is being done, and teachers are leaving. Education is devolving and we may have a struggle to pull it all back.

Start today in your family and your life. Ask how you can help your own children to prepare for the future and succeed in life. Education begins with parents not institutions.