Teachers Fighting Back In The Public Parent-Teacher Wars On CNN

Here are a few comments from teachers, often responding to attacks from parents that were made on the CNN article, What Teachers Really Want To Tell Parents. Below the comments is our own commentary.

You are such a misinformed wreck. I have been teaching in Western NY for 18 years and my salary is $53,000. And just because you say something, does't make it true: most professionals are NOT required to get a Master's degree and then continue beyond that degree at their own expense. We're not talking about a refresher course for realtors or renewing a license or a CPR course for lifeguarding. And no teachers posting on this site are "whining;" they are mere defending themselves. Explicating. You don't seem to understand the difference. Change your name. You are NON-thinker mom. (Kristin Roids)

You MUST be joking!!! Most parents jump for joy when school starts back up b/c they can't handle their 2 kids...we have 25-40 depending on where you teach. We are not ALLOWED to HIT, we get in trouble for taking away 10 minutes of playtime for crying out loud. Teaching is not understood by most people. I once had a parent like you, disrespectful and overbearing. He decided to switch jobs because he saw teaching as "easy". He called me within a month and apologized for his behavior and told me how hard it was. (Diane McHugh)

That is hilarious!! I left teaching a couple years after winning teacher of the year at my school. I made more money when I waited tables, and now I make more working part-time. You do not have a clue, and I am sure you have spent no time volunteering and being a positive influence in a school since you left high school. YOU are why the good teachers leave. (J-Ro)

The frustrating part is the lack of respect for the difficulty of the job. My largest class has 36 kids in it. All day long I work with them, usher them in and out. I don't have 2 seconds to sit down and breathe. Kids are often disrespectful and have no desire to learn, I plead and reason with them. I am their coach/cheerleader/parent/counselor (not a paid position.) Administration is always telling me everything I do wrong because test scores are NEVER high enough. The planning period is filled with meetings with parents, and meetings with administrators and other teachers. Parents are often telling me problems they have with the kids at home and asking me for advice on parenting, or drilling me on why their kid is failing (the answer almost always being they choose not to put forth the effort.) It is a very high-stress, frustration-filled environment, no quiet desk where you can ever sit alone. No second where you are not required to give 100% attention to someone or 36 someones. Some days I love it and I am able to celebrate huge victories with kids, and some days I want to quit. A little respect and recognition for the job that I put so much effort towards would go an extremely long way. Not many people could work with 96, 13-year-olds on a daily basis.

Commentary On The Teacher Comments

In the CNN article, there are really two kinds of teacher comments. One type is rational, polite, and respectful, and involves trying to present information to parents on the realities of teaching. The second type is reactive, argumentative, and insulting. It's not surprising that teachers, being human, react to what they see as attacks, in kind.

Often name calling ensues for the second type of teacher comment.

Here's the kicker. It's immediately clear that rude, reactive counter-attacks to rude attacks from parents aren't going to be terribly constructive. And, they may garner support from the peanut gallery for standing up to ignorance, or whatever. One thing is sure. Insulting someone's intelligence, calling him ignorant, and similar counter-attacks arent' going to change anyone's mind.

But, neither will rational, fact based countering of the facts underlying an attack. It's simply the nature of the beast that when it comes to discussions about schools, many opinions are not based on fact, and therefore cannot be countered with facts.

It's an important thing for school staff to understand. Some arguments aren't worth having, because it's always going to be a lose-lose situation.

(see Pick Your Battles)