I come from a long line of teachers. My maternal grandmother was a teacher and my mom's sister currently teaches 5th grade. My paternal grandfather, grandmother, step-grandfather, and great-aunt were all teachers. My mom is also a teacher.
Prior to my birth, my mom taught for five years at a low-income elementary school in Houston. After I was born, she spent the next 15 years devoting all her time and energy raising my two sisters and me. She started working as a substitute teacher when I was 15 to help earn more money.
Luckily, she fell into a job teaching fifth-grade math at my youngest sister's school. I'll admit that when she landed the job I was upset that she wouldn't be around to take my siblings and me to school or bring me a forgotten assignment during the day.
Nevertheless, our family adjusted to the different constraints her new job brought. I had prepared for the things that directly affected me and my sisters, like taking the godforsaken bus every morning, but I had not prepared to see the toll my mother's job would take on her.
My mom's first full year went fine, but the second came back with a vengeance. She had several children with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, mental disabilities, and behavioral disabilities. Aside from them, who weren't the problem most of the time, there were catty girls that would degrade each other based on the brand of clothes they wore, and rowdy boys that threatened to hit, punch, slap, kick (pretty much just any form of physical harm) hourly.
Now, surprisingly, the kids weren't always the source of stress, it was the parents, and unfortunately, every year comes with these problems, just in varying degrees.
I was astonished to learn how much time these people have on their hands. Good Lord the nasty, accusatory, nit-picky, just downright mean emails she receives each day are enough to make any person quit after only a few days. These parents are (almost) always adamant that their hellacious children were perfect angels and any problems they had were because of other kids and, of course, the teacher.
These children do not shut up during class. So, naturally, my mom asks them to be quiet and threaten disciplinary actions if they do not. SOMEHOW this is construed to be bullying and harassment. Because little Hayden, Kayden, Brayden, Layden, Sayden (like Satan? lol I'm funny, okay?) just behave so well when you shove a screen in their face from the minute they get home until bed!
These children say crude, threatening things such as: "I'll sexually assault you" to a poor girl who has no idea what that means. I'm fairly certain these little dumbasses didn't know either, but "I let my kid watch Die Hard because it's a good movie!"
There are movie ratings for a reason, you imbecile.
These children will bring a vape and a thing of margarita mix to school. I don't even know what to say to this. They are 11 years old.
These children run up and down the hallways while teachers and administrators barricade every door because they aren't allowed to touch the child. Okay, you shouldn't be allowed to touch a student in a violent way, but grabbing their hand should be allowed. The child is threatening to run away, which any parent would be upset if no one stopped them, yet you cannot restrain the child to prevent it.
These kids steal things off of my mom's desk and from the treasure box. STEALING. Now, they only steal pens or bouncy balls, but nevertheless, it is a bad habit to fall into and absolutely disrespectful. But disciplinary actions shouldn't be taken for something that is illegal, right?
These children make a day at work hell, but these parents make the entire week awful. They have no compassion for how hard teachers work, and how much teachers actually love and care for their kids. Very few times have I ever heard my mom refer to her students as students. She always says "my kids" as if they are her own, and very few teachers stray from this.
For every standardized test she puts together a little treat bag with smarties, a mint, a lollipop and a pencil for each kid.
She has about 90 kids she teaches math, including her homeroom kids, and she pays for all the treats.
She collects cute things for her treasure box all the time. She goes to her kids' birthday parties even if she really doesn't feel up to it.
She gets sick and still goes to school because she knows it will set her kids back and stress them out if she misses.
She gives up her lunch when her kids have collected enough tickets to have lunch with her.
She always tells us how her kids are improving, and spends extra time helping those who are behind.
She's had to report certain things to the authorities and sometimes cries for her kids with broken homes.
She truly loves these kids and tries so hard to help them succeed, so for parents to just hate on her for trying to keep her classroom under control is beyond upsetting for me to see.
Yes, there are definitely good and bad teachers.
Bad teachers don't care about a child's success and play movies all the time so they don't have to actually teach.
Bad teachers can barely remember their students' names in the middle of the school year.
Bad teachers are rude to their students for no apparent reason. Bad teachers choose favorites, too. Bad teachers leave right after school lets out.
Bad teachers don't put forth any energy to create a lesson plan, and instead, give worksheets all the livelong day so kids are preoccupied.
Bad teachers put on a song and dance when an administrator's in the room.
Bad teachers don't care about if their kids do well or improve, but just pass so they won't get fired. Bad teachers miss a ton of days.
Bad teachers seem like they want to be anywhere but in the classroom.
That is what a bad teacher does. The difference between good and bad teachers is simple really, good teachers care.
Good teachers care about how their children are feeling. They take notice of a kid's mood and attitude, and ask if they need some help, and give extra love without question.
Good teachers get up early and leave work late to plan and ensure things are going smoothly for each kid.
Good teachers persevere when the odds are stacked against them.
Good teachers put in time and effort. I think you can tell a lot about a teacher by the way their room looks.
Good teachers have papers graded and waiting to be graded on their desks.
Good teachers have notes and cards pinned on their walls.
Good teachers have handwritten posters and multiplication tables up.
Good teachers make their room a fun, safe, and obviously educational environment.
So listen up, parents. I am tired of seeing my mom defeated at the end of a day due to a scathing email from you. I am tired of her having to put on a smiling face in an apologetic email because you're accusing her of bullying your disrespectful kid. I'm tired of my mom telling us about the mean comments made by parents and the unnecessary issues they conjure up.
Just please, before you send that nasty email, take a second to think about if you had 90 10 and 11-year-olds to teach and look after during the day. Think about the fact that this is someone's livelihood, just like any other profession. Think about that the good teachers are trying their best, and trying their best includes disciplining children that misbehave.
Okay, I'm gonna rant on that for a second. Your child is not an angel. You may foolishly think so, but you're wrong. I've listed off just a few examples of bad behaviors some kids display, but there are much more and much worse. If your child is known to be rowdy, quit telling the teacher, whose responsibility is to teach your child, to get over it, ignore it, and just be nice to the kid.
If that worked there would be no further behavioral issues. Just because you think your kid is the best thing since sliced bread doesn't make it true. You are not in the classroom every day seeing the kinds of hijinks they and their friends get into, and the blatant disrespect they show. Okay, rant over.
Think about how you would feel if you received that email. Have some compassion for what many consider to be one of the toughest jobs out there. I for sure will never be a teacher because I see the kind of pain it causes and the toll it takes on my mom, not to mention the inadequate pay, the extra hours required outside the classroom, and the general lack of respect towards the profession.
To conclude... To all the rude, overbearing, and overreactive parents who have sent a mean email to your child's teacher for something bad your kid did, please just shut up. Nope. Stop. No email. No rude comments. Just please, shut up.
