I've said it again and again and let me say it one more time: People in the United States hate teachers. It seems to be the one of three professions (the others being salesmen and lawyers) where one bad apple seems to spoil it for the whole bunch...indefinitely. So you had a bad teacher once in high school? Wow, get over it. Having a bad waitress doesn't make you detest waitresses wherever you go, does it? One bad accountant doesn't make you claim they're all lazy, right? So why is it that teachers are so hated?
I have two reasons which seem to be repeated to me over and over again. The first being summers off. Everyone is bitter about summer vacation. The second is the teacher who everyone seems to have had that did their job poorly, singled them out for verbal abuse, ridiculed them...the list could go on and on.
The issue of summer just isn't going to go away. Summer vacation is such an institution, a part of the past, nostalgic even. Sure, some schools are going to a year-round system, but that's only because they've spaced out the time off. The amount of time off a student gets is about the same. What most people just don't understand is that few teachers lounge around all summer long. In fact, I don't know a single one who doesn't work during the summer. We have lesson plans to revise, new activities to create, seminars to attend, our files to organize, our brains to unfry... Not to mention the emotional recuperation all of us need after a year of forming emotional, caring relationships with students. You think teaching is easy? Try forming a personal bond with 175 teenagers, appealing to them on a personal level, being concerned about their homework and work ethic, understanding when they've had a bad day, dealing with parents who expect us to raise their child for them, grading all their papers and putting constructive comments on them.... I'll just stop there. At the end of it all, I need a break emotionally and mentally.
The second issue is the important issue though. Everyone seems to have had a teacher which spoiled it for them. Everyone seems to have had that one teacher who scarred them or turned them off of school. My response to this isn't original, but it's sincere. Of course you have. Remember the saying that you can't please everyone? Well neither can teachers! No one can even get along with everyone else! However, that being said.... I will agree....some teachers just aren't cut out for the job. However, if you insist on keeping the profession one in which you are rewarded with little pay, little respect and for which it basically needs to be a calling for anyone to want to do the job... then you're always going to get mediocre or bottom of the barrel people involved in the profession. Sure, you're going to have some great teachers. Education is lucky that so many wonderful, creative, compassionate and passionate people want to work in the field. But there are so many others who seek out the education world because they know it's an easy ride if you want it to be. You're always going to have them until you change the perception of what being a teacher is. Until you can compete with the salaries the best and brightest can get out there in the "real" world.... you're not going to get an applicant pool of the best and the brightest. Until then... thank the good teachers out there for dedicating their lives to this, because I guarantee you... behind every good teacher is a person who chose this profession because they want to make a difference. They chose it over something higher paying with more respect and less hassle. They chose you and your children.
And for the love of everything good, stop assuming all teachers are bad before you make it so that they are.
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