Most of the time, kids would be shocked to learn something very different in schools if they really got a chance to see the unfiltered truth. Specifically, I am referring to what their teachers really think about them, as well as their parents.
Here in the United States, education has been undervalued for decades now, constantly targeted for budget cuts. Not surprisingly, then, the result is that our rankings in education has seriously slipped quite a few notches, so that we Americans too often rank close to the bottom in too many categories of education in comparison to other advanced economic nations.
Budget cuts are a huge part of the problem, and a decrease in appreciation of teachers and the jobs that they do has led to both a decline in salaries for teachers, as well as finger-pointing and decreased job security. In short, you get what you pay for. And when we look for magical solutions, such as George W. Bush promising better results while spending less money doing so, then adamantly stick with the idea that this will work, the results should speak for themselves. Again, if you only view teachers as those who cannot do anything else, than you will get poorer quality teachers. Before long, you get a situation like what is going on in Florida, where standards have declined so seriously, that they are looking to put teachers in there who have not gone through anything resembling rigorous standards.
There are reasons for this beyond just budget cuts, too. Indeed these days, parents are a huge part of the problem. Many parents simply seem like overgrown children themselves. They have unrealistic beliefs about their kid's academic abilities, as well as their behaviors. It is somewhat similar to our problems with politicians: they seem to recognize that a problem exists, but it is generally "the other guy." Not my kid, in other words. Often times, though, the problems grow worse in the classroom because parents refuse to give their support to teachers, and stand opposed to any constructive criticism of their child. That is a problem.
Another thing - and this is from personal observation while working in schools myself, as well as being a parent with a kid going through the school systems - is that schools are paranoid of lawsuits. In this day and age, where so many people get incredibly offended over almost anything and everything, to the point where it sometimes seems like some people are determined to find things to get offended about, the threat of possible lawsuits has itself become toxic. And schools are one of the major places where such fears are particularly prevalent. This is not entirely unrelated to the previous point, about parents who have unrealistic - and frankly, unhelpful - attitudes regarding their own children, and against teachers and school staff. But it feels like schools rarely seem to stand up for their teachers if they sense possibly strong resistance from the outside, or in other areas, such as curriculum to be covered, or pretty much anything that is outside of the narrow little box that we generally have put our children's education in.
So it is interesting to see what some teachers reveal about what they really think about kids in their classes, as well as their parents. Some of these are funny, some are sad, and some are serious. But all of them felt like they she light on our failing educational system in this country.
One of my personal favorites, at least in terms of humor, was the one about the teacher and student who simply shook their heads no at one another after unexpectedly bumping into one another (twice!). Then, as a man, I felt that I could personally relate to "#21: Keeping a Safe Distance."
Teachers Open Up About Things They Can’t Share with Their Students by Emma Cooper
https://constative.com/lifestyle/teachers-open-up-is/11/
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