Facebook …. Sigh…. The post said, “Live in Georgia and want to Become a Teacher? Request info to see how you can start your Teaching degree online….” And I replied, “Don’t do it!” Then the nice little lady who is the administrator over the site replied to me, “Can I ask why?” and I replied this….
“After 25 years of teaching, I'm really cannot recommend the field to young adults. I have 3 degrees in education and am given very little respect for the knowledge base I bring to the table, the experience I have, and the ideas I have. No one listens to teachers. I am constantly being retrained in methodology that I learned years ago! My test score are great! I really find ways to improve and help students grow at all levels, but as soon as a new carrot (teaching style/philosophy/program....whatever) comes along, I'm told children have changed and we must too... well the truth is children have not changed that much.
They have access to technology and more exposure to mature themes at younger ages but the basic principles of child development (cognitive and physical) are the same as they were since Piaget. Quick tricks that are research driven this year but not in 3 years from now are just gimmicky. New teacher evaluation tools torment good teachers and reward teachers who are more concerned with working the "system's plan" but not necessarily the things that are best for students. Education has become a money driven industry. Everyone from big pharma to construction companies wants a piece of the pie and it seems to me teachers who work so hard to protect the innocence of children and their education have become the enemy.... Parents are sooo unaware of what is happening in school on the administrative levels.
Most are clueless as to how the their children's education and future lives are being bartered for profit (who's gonna get the computer contract, who's gonna get the construction contract to add on to the school, who's gonna get the new tech programming and IT maintenance contract, the subFinder program, the behavior tracking program, the payroll program contract... who's gonna be the school approve psychologist, physician...... it just goes on and on) and teachers trying to do our jobs say, "Hey all of that is not necessary" and we can show it with data too and then we become the problem. "Keep those kids in the room, no matter what", we're told. Give them a reward for doing what they are supposed to do.... Let's not focus on discipline. Let have a phenomena that the children "discover" the concepts from. It's just too much and I've seen
young people holding student loan bills that are breath taking be beat down by this crazy system because they sincerely try to do what they are told to do (that's overwhelming) and fail.. And they are destroyed and walk away, thinking that they didn't have what it takes to touch young people's lives and minds when in truth, the system has stacked so much against them that they could never have been successful. I hope this explains my feelings. If it doesn't ... I tried... Thank you for asking.... I've wanted to say it somewhere for a while.
And that’s all folks! I still say don’t teach…. If you have four years to invest in college, invest in something that will pay you a living wage and give you a little respect after you reach expert levels!
