In high school, I was in a class and had a teacher who had been teaching for over 30 years. Thirty years is a long time to be teaching the same material over and over again, but that is more or less what you go into the profession knowing. I did not necessarily enjoy this class but I worked hard for my grades and I mainly taught myself because the teaching style of my teacher was not in my favor, and for others. However, the students that simply did not understand the material got bad grades and they kept receiving these low scores and the teacher wasn't doing anything about it.
Surely my teacher would have wanted their students to gain knowledge and to pass the class, I at least hoped that was the case until I overheard my teachers gossiping to another. I heard complaints about these students and why they should not have been allowed to take this class because they are slow and unintelligent. I thought to myself, "But isn't that why you're a teacher?"
I have come across too many teachers in my years of school that are not enthusiastic about their job. They praise and befriend only the students who are naturally gifted and give them all their attention. Many I know are only teaching because they have to to be a coach or they couldn't decide what else they wanted to do while in college. These kinds of teachers just press play on a documentary and hand students a sheet to fill out. If a teacher doesn't care about the subject, why should the student?
There is a psychological explanation for the saying, "monkey see, monkey do" where species tend to imitate what they observe another one of their kind. That is an example of learning and if teachers just generate activities from the internet and have you flip through a textbook, students will be miserable and complete it only for the grade, not to retain the information. Teachers need to emphasize the importance of learning and getting good grades because many students do not have supportive home lives or home lives that encourage working hard.
Many of the homes that do not show much support for their children working through school are destitute and uneducated themselves. Children from poorer communities do not have access to an organized and valuable education system because they do not get proper funding. This makes it extremely difficult for these unfortunate kids to work their way out of poverty. Indigent areas can't pay for good teachers, making it difficult for students to develop a desire to learn and they will simply never be exposed to what they could have. Even poor families in well-off communities do not motivate their kids to learn and teachers get fed up with these individuals who never try.
So if you are considering a job in the education system, make sure you are willing to help even the most stubborn of students. I understand that some students actually have apathy towards learning (usually because of their home life) but if a teacher could open these students eyes, it could change their lives forever.
