Have the teachers gotten worse over the years?

[Anonymous]

Like a lot of jobs, teaching has become about serving the interests of politicians and corporations. A teacher could spend the entire day actually teaching kids, connecting with them, identifying and meeting learning gaps, etc., basically dong the ACTUAL job of teaching, but be considered to have failed at their job unless they ALSO spend hours filling out paperwork, documenting fulfillment of testing and IEPs requirements, etc.

There have always been documentation and administrative aspects of teaching, as with pretty much any job. But like a lot of other careers, those aspects of the job have really expanded since NCLB, and then been made worse via technology (please see the idea of the "en$h*ttification" of the internet and technology for why that is). This sort of thing makes anyone sick of their job.

If teachers got to actually do the work for which they went into teaching, instead of this other crap, I think you'd see both happier teachers and better educated students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they believe that memorization is bad. They no longer practice drill. They just say ‘read’ to the students but no longer have them read out loud in all subjects. They no longer assign chapter questions out of the books after requiring reading it. They do not teach writing properly. They do not emphasize penmenship. They do not use flashcards. They teach ‘simulated’ labs on Chromebooks instead of using hands-on materials. They quit teaching phonics for a decade. They quit teaching copying of notes at a controlled pace bc now bullets are thrown up on Google slides. They do not have students work through spellers each day of the week. Words are not written 3-6 times each week, sentences created on each word, definitions written out with phonetic and parts of speech, etc. Basic grammar has been ignored. Material is not introduced in fun and engaging ways. There’s a real lack of creativity.

The new teachers pick all of this stuff up from their college or career switcher programs.

Another thing is that there is always some new fad in education that is being pushed. A new teacher today and a teacher that was trained twenty years ago had drastically different training on basically every aspect of the job.

[Anonymous]

Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

I don't see how a teacher posting about their Disney vacation makes one lose respect for them. We're allowed to have our own lives outside of the classroom. The mysticism you mention (that seeing a teacher in public was an "event") comes from the childish idea that teachers belong in one environment: the classroom. If social media did anything at all, it simply exposed teachers as fellow human beings. I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

The real problem you expose is that parents might seem comfortable mocking teachers in front of their children. I'm a Gen X teacher. I model respect in my home. If you're witnessing parents mocking teachers, and therefore encouraging their children to be equally rude, then that's not a "teacher" problem. That's a family relationship problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many parents have abdicated their roles as parents and count on their kids day care provider and teachers to parent. Kids are allowed to misbehave at home and they bring that behavior to school. Teachers try and correct behavior and parents complain that the teacher is mean or rigid or not nice to their child. There is little follow up with discipline at home when kids are acting out at school. Teachers spend more time dealing with behavior issues then teaching and that disrupts their ability to teach. Toss in curriculum changes and forcing teachers to use ipads and chromebooks after removing text books and workbooks and you have problems in the schools.

So no, teachers are not worse. Parents are not parenting and kids are more disruptive and that is reflected in behavior issues at school which impacts learning for everyone.

Kids are more poorly behaved than ever, this is true. But teachers are worse than ever too. Maybe because they are using methods and materials mandated by district that are ineffective, or they are just incompetent, or a combination. Parents and teachers are both failing kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

Where does your child go to school that parents are friends with their children’s teachers on social media? I would never do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

Where does your child go to school that parents are friends with their children’s teachers on social media? I would never do that.

Nor would I. I have a private account and I don’t accept parents or former students as friends, no matter how long it has been since they were in my classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

Where does your child go to school that parents are friends with their children’s teachers on social media? I would never do that.

Nor would I. I have a private account and I don’t accept parents or former students as friends, no matter how long it has been since they were in my classroom.

Same. I don’t know any teachers who are friends with students or parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they believe that memorization is bad. They no longer practice drill. They just say ‘read’ to the students but no longer have them read out loud in all subjects. They no longer assign chapter questions out of the books after requiring reading it. They do not teach writing properly. They do not emphasize penmenship. They do not use flashcards. They teach ‘simulated’ labs on Chromebooks instead of using hands-on materials. They quit teaching phonics for a decade. They quit teaching copying of notes at a controlled pace bc now bullets are thrown up on Google slides. They do not have students work through spellers each day of the week. Words are not written 3-6 times each week, sentences created on each word, definitions written out with phonetic and parts of speech, etc. Basic grammar has been ignored. Material is not introduced in fun and engaging ways. There’s a real lack of creativity.

We aren’t allowed to make decisions about anything anymore. We haven’t been able to do this for at least 10 years. My curriculum isn’t chosen by me. The pacing isn’t chosen by me. Whether to give homework or not isn’t chosen by me. Etc etc etc. I’d love to go back to textbooks, spelling tests, grammar instruction, etc but I’m not allowed to. I’m not the only teacher who thinks this BTW. I guess people think we get to choose these things but nope.

DP as a relatively new MCPS parent who is not a huge fan of MCPS, I can absolutely see that the my kid's teachers are truly wonderful and I am so grateful to them. It is quite clear to me at least that the teachers are not the problem. Thank you for the work you do.

The idea that all your kids' teachers have been phenomenal is implausible. We get about half who are decent and half who are bad, like most other jobs. There's no reason to elevate teachers by acting like they're all fantastic, they aren't and they never have been.

I am the PP. My kid is only in 1st grade. I know from friends that not all the teachers at the school are as great. We have been lucky, I know that. But I am genuinely impressed with the teachers and think it is a credit to MCPS that they have been able to attract and retain them and I think they do get some really good training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

I don't see how a teacher posting about their Disney vacation makes one lose respect for them. We're allowed to have our own lives outside of the classroom. The mysticism you mention (that seeing a teacher in public was an "event") comes from the childish idea that teachers belong in one environment: the classroom. If social media did anything at all, it simply exposed teachers as fellow human beings. I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

The real problem you expose is that parents might seem comfortable mocking teachers in front of their children. I'm a Gen X teacher. I model respect in my home. If you're witnessing parents mocking teachers, and therefore encouraging their children to be equally rude, then that's not a "teacher" problem. That's a family relationship problem.

Because its while the class is taught by a sub and the school is preaching about absences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

I don't see how a teacher posting about their Disney vacation makes one lose respect for them. We're allowed to have our own lives outside of the classroom. The mysticism you mention (that seeing a teacher in public was an "event") comes from the childish idea that teachers belong in one environment: the classroom. If social media did anything at all, it simply exposed teachers as fellow human beings. I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

The real problem you expose is that parents might seem comfortable mocking teachers in front of their children. I'm a Gen X teacher. I model respect in my home. If you're witnessing parents mocking teachers, and therefore encouraging their children to be equally rude, then that's not a "teacher" problem. That's a family relationship problem.

Because its while the class is taught by a sub and the school is preaching about absences.

This doesn’t bother me. Teachers are professionals and they are entitled to leave.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that teachers must sacrifice their own lives because they work with children. We don’t treat other professions like that.

And the “school” is not the “teacher.” Don’t get the two confused.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

Where does your child go to school that parents are friends with their children’s teachers on social media? I would never do that.

Nor would I. I have a private account and I don’t accept parents or former students as friends, no matter how long it has been since they were in my classroom.

Same. I don’t know any teachers who are friends with students or parents.

Yeah this is the kind of thinking that leads to this stuff being di prolific. The school secretary is in s group chat with a swim mom. She screenshots and now it’s all over the swim chat. Students have aunts and uncles and famiky friends you’re not familiar with. Even “private” social media isn’t private and if teachers don’t understand that its no surprise students don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, they believe that memorization is bad. They no longer practice drill. They just say ‘read’ to the students but no longer have them read out loud in all subjects. They no longer assign chapter questions out of the books after requiring reading it. They do not teach writing properly. They do not emphasize penmenship. They do not use flashcards. They teach ‘simulated’ labs on Chromebooks instead of using hands-on materials. They quit teaching phonics for a decade. They quit teaching copying of notes at a controlled pace bc now bullets are thrown up on Google slides. They do not have students work through spellers each day of the week. Words are not written 3-6 times each week, sentences created on each word, definitions written out with phonetic and parts of speech, etc. Basic grammar has been ignored. Material is not introduced in fun and engaging ways. There’s a real lack of creativity.

The new teachers pick all of this stuff up from their college or career switcher programs.

Another thing is that there is always some new fad in education that is being pushed. A new teacher today and a teacher that was trained twenty years ago had drastically different training on basically every aspect of the job.

Education professors cannot get tenure by publishing papers that say the current method still works. They can get tenure by publishing a paper saying to stop using the current method (whatever it might be) and instead to do something "new" (probably an old thing that does not actually work but has been given a new name).

The whole education college system is busted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

I don't see how a teacher posting about their Disney vacation makes one lose respect for them. We're allowed to have our own lives outside of the classroom. The mysticism you mention (that seeing a teacher in public was an "event") comes from the childish idea that teachers belong in one environment: the classroom. If social media did anything at all, it simply exposed teachers as fellow human beings. I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

The real problem you expose is that parents might seem comfortable mocking teachers in front of their children. I'm a Gen X teacher. I model respect in my home. If you're witnessing parents mocking teachers, and therefore encouraging their children to be equally rude, then that's not a "teacher" problem. That's a family relationship problem.

Because its while the class is taught by a sub and the school is preaching about absences.

This doesn’t bother me. Teachers are professionals and they are entitled to leave.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that teachers must sacrifice their own lives because they work with children. We don’t treat other professions like that.

And the “school” is not the “teacher.” Don’t get the two confused.

You asked why they’re not respected. Just because you don’t mind the hypocrisy doesn’t mean others admire it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers in my childhood (I’m a millennial so, boomers and some Gen X taught me) had much much more authority and dignity. Its all about social media. Teachers now have their Disney vacations on their Insta, are complaining constantly in group chats, post begging links to Facebook. None of that makes the parent body respect them, which obviously impacts how students see them. By high school the students are mocking them too.

In my childhood if you saw a teacher out in public it was an event. Now everyone knows everything that they did at the weekend and it leads to disdain.

I don't see how a teacher posting about their Disney vacation makes one lose respect for them. We're allowed to have our own lives outside of the classroom. The mysticism you mention (that seeing a teacher in public was an "event") comes from the childish idea that teachers belong in one environment: the classroom. If social media did anything at all, it simply exposed teachers as fellow human beings. I don't see that as a bad thing at all.

The real problem you expose is that parents might seem comfortable mocking teachers in front of their children. I'm a Gen X teacher. I model respect in my home. If you're witnessing parents mocking teachers, and therefore encouraging their children to be equally rude, then that's not a "teacher" problem. That's a family relationship problem.

Because its while the class is taught by a sub and the school is preaching about absences.

This doesn’t bother me. Teachers are professionals and they are entitled to leave.

I don’t subscribe to the idea that teachers must sacrifice their own lives because they work with children. We don’t treat other professions like that.

And the “school” is not the “teacher.” Don’t get the two confused.

You asked why they’re not respected. Just because you don’t mind the hypocrisy doesn’t mean others admire it.

I suspect most people are reasonable adults and won’t have a problem with teachers taking their earned leave. Most people aren’t going to demand that teachers forfeit their own lives to the job.

And there’s no hypocrisy because students and teachers don’t fall in the same category. One is a working professional, most often with at least a masters degree. The other is a child.