Reply to NY times op ed on the teacher crisis

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Daycare workers ... truly the MOST underpaid profession. We really need to fix that, among other gross issues in the American economy. [/quote]

100%

But that does not excuse parents from treating teachers like crap. 
[/quote]

Please give examples of parents treating teachers like crap. This is not something I observe in my school. At all. I think sometimes parents can be ignorant of some of the pressures that teachers are under, but that's different. I mostly see parents who are respectful, supportive, and offering help. In fact I think when teachers at our school get frustrated with parents, it is often because they are offering the wrong help. But that's not "treating teachers like crap." It's a communication/expectation problem.

The two examples given on this thread are (1) sending emails about things that seem petty or pointless, and (2) refusing to address behavioral issues at home. The first, I think, is ridiculous. All jobs involve dumb emails, you learn to deal with them efficiently and you can't let it get to you. That's not a teacher-specific complaint. The second is more serious and is a genuine issue, but even there, I wouldn't frame it as parents "treating teachers like crap." I view it as parents struggling to parent, who likely had poor role models and/or are poorly resourced now. It is a real problem in education and probably a major source of teacher attrition, but I don't think it can be accurately summarized as "parents treating teachers like crap." More like "parents failing to adequately prepare and socialize their children for school."

The issue of the pandemic is a separate one but again, other than on these boards, I didn't see or even hear parents berating or criticizing teachers. I heard criticism of the teachers' unions, frustration with administrators and the mayor. Heck, I heard a lot of complaints about other parents, when people felt that their fellow parents weren't adequately advocating for what we needed. I didn't encounter much teacher bashing except for on DCUM, and even here much of the criticism was couched as "I fully respect teachers but am frustrated with the unions approach on this." That's not teacher bashing.

So I'd really like to know where it is that parents are apparently openly berating and criticizing teachers. It is not my experience at all, which perhaps is why I am confused by the argument that teachers are quitting because parents are terrible. [/quote]

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