Character defamation: the struggles of a teacher
When I was younger, the Ignorance Syndrome didn’t run through society, so I never thought it would plague people in society and begin to affect the people I love as well as myself. But then, I heard people say things that just didn’t make any sense, things like:
“I failed English or Art this year; it’s the teacher’s fault.”
“My parents are divorced and chose to put an ocean between them; it’s the teacher’s fault.”
“I didn’t get my dream job; it’s definitely the teacher’s fault.”
“Ugh, the government is raising taxes; it must be the teacher’s fault.”
“I went to Starbucks today and I received terrible customer service, it’s the teacher’s fault.”
“Wars, genocide, rising standard of living, who’s to blame? The teachers…”
I honestly, can’t believe it, the world has gone insane, not that I didn’t know that already but now it hit home in a more personal way.
Don’t you see the world is sick, and needs help!
Well now there is help, introducing “Idiocorrek,” also known as the Stupid Correction Pill for people who think they know what’s wrong in the education system (of course teachers are the problem). “Idiocorreck” rejuvenates the withered brain cells within the affected person’s brain that spouts the “It’s the teacher’s fault” nonsense, leading to an almost immediate return to a more intelligent way of thinking. It’s the only medicine prescribed for the Ignorance Syndrome.
So ask your doctor about “Idiocorreck” today.
___________________________________________________________________
This week I was totally flabbergasted and angered by a parent’s unfair and idiotic comments about me.
All blame rests solely on the shoulders of teachers, isn’t that so?
Because if it isn’t then why is it that teachers face the harshest criticisms and are blamed for the misdeeds, lack of respect and failure of students?
I visited a teacher-support forum for this post because it occurred to me that my issue is one in a wide-range of issues, that teachers face world-wide that are too frequent to count. The question posed on this particular page was: “In a conference with a parent, the parent blames you for the child’s lack of progress. What do you do?”
There were more than 20 comments under this particular scenario but the one that stood out was:
“In a situation like this, I find I usually have a fair amount of evidence that I’ve done everything I’m supposed to, and more, and I just provide that to the parent. Some will make the kid accountable, but I’ve found lots are unwilling to accept that their kid is to blame. In those cases, when the blame is deflected back on me, I get admin involved, document everything, and try not to take it personally. I keep telling myself that you can’t fix stupid. Or crazy. If I know what the truth is, then whatever their opinion is doesn’t matter. I had a parent this year who was totally manipulated by their kid into thinking I was a miserable frustrated cow who had nothing better to do than think the worst of kids and treat them horribly, and that their little angel wasn’t capable of doing any wrong. He came into interviews, chewed me out without allowing me to address anything he brought up, then turned mute when I asked him how to go about fixing whatever it was that made them all so unhappy. The issue was totally in his head, and he wasn’t willing to open up his eyes and see the reality I tried to show him. That’s his issue, not mine.”
___________________________________________________________________
The “Failure” of schools
Schools that manage to “succeed” and produce high quality graduates “has never been of interest to most politicians or the media, and has seldom been brought to the attention of the public (Tomlinson 1997).” Many career politicians hold schools responsible for economic and social ills. Margaret Thatcher expressed fervently her, “deep personal dissatisfaction with…standards of education” which she blamed on “teachers who are less competent and more ideological than their predecessors.”
Just like, the eye of Sauron, the “pundits” and politicians have fixated their terrible and overwhelming gaze on teachers with little to no attention being placed on “lack of resources, crumbling buildings, under-paid teachers and the spread of poverty and unemployment (Tomlinson 1997).” What’s more, the focus of dissatisfaction shifted to identifying and pillorying certain schools rather than acknowledging and changing the dysfunctional and archaic educational system.
A very significant characteristic of so-called “failing” schools are that they serve areas of socio-economic deprivation (Tomlinson 1997). As such the general unknowing public and policy-making bureaucrats blame the school personnel for the lack of performance and achievement of its students without allowing for environmental and cultural considerations.
Teachers are the scapegoats for any shortcomings in the education system. Maurie Mulheron, argues that, “Many of our schools are akin to emergency wards in hospitals. No-one talks about the quality of doctors and nurses — they talk about the quality of health and the resources the hospitals need.” Furthermore, “reforms have characteristically happened to schools and teachers, rather than in collaboration with them (Stephens and Stephens 2015).”
Consequently, frustration with the system results in teachers leaving the service, “largely because oppressive policies and practices are affecting their working conditions and beliefs about themselves and education:” This according to Alyssa Hadley Dunn, assistant professor of teacher education at Michigan State University (Henion 2017).
Where’s the respect for the teaching profession?
Family and Society also participate in the Educative Task!
The educative component of society is not only a process that occurs in school rather, family and society also participate in this task actively. The school is “the place systematically organised for educating, by means of pedagogical process, the learning of contents of the culture defined by humankind throughout history and, from it, to promote the development of capacities of children and their singular form of being and acting socially (Bissoli 2014).”
Yes, the institution of education is everything explained in the last paragraph; however, children grow, develop and learn from their first educator — the family. According to Vigotski (1931; Bissoli 2014) both development realms — natural and cultural — coincide with and merge together. This social/cultural and biological process formulates a child’s personality. Social/cultural development cannot compare to any other type of development, since it is produced simultaneously and together with the organic maturation process.
People must acknowledge and understand that family nurturance truly matters. “Children’s brains and children’s attitudes are formed in the first five years of life and children’s opportunity to learn is affected by the homes and communities in which they grow, their respect for learning (Ravitch 2016),” their respect for authority and so forth.
Politicians, Nay-Sayers, media and employers all profess that teacher quality is all that matters. But, millions of teachers are demoralised by the narrative that equates low academic scores with low quality, under-qualified teachers hence it’s the teacher’s fault for not doing and being enough. Family, poverty and the social conditions don’t matter, only the teacher matters. This makes teachers responsible for things beyond their control.
“Every child, irrespective of the circumstances into which they are born, has the right to achieve their potential, irrespective of their parents’ wealth and class. And we recognise that…”
However there needs to be “serious and sensible debate about the roles and responsibilities of parents and the support that they can reasonably expect of schools and teachers (Bousted 2009).” A report by Estyn, an independent inspection body, “shows that over the past five years the proportion of five- to seven-year-olds achieving good levels of reading and writing skills has stopped rising (Bousted 2009).” The inspectors concluded that children are coming to school with poor skills in speaking and listening. Thus they recommend that schools to do more to improve their students’ oral skills, without questioning “why it is that pupils are starting school unable to converse and to listen effectively.”
We have to acknowledge that the family, community and respect for education matters. All those things are important and teachers play a very important role but are not responsible for the success or failure of children.
All in all, the policy-makers and the producers of the children should take “Idiocorrek,” then familiarise themselves with their roles and responsibilities so that everyone who has a part to play, ultimately contribute; creating a well educated, respectable new generation of citizens.
References
Bissoli, Michelle de Freitas. 2014. “Development Of Children’s Personality: The Role Of Early Childhood Education”. Psicologia Em Estudo 19 (4). doi:10.1590/1413–73722163602.
Bousted, Mary. 2009. “Don’t Blame Teachers When It’s Parents Who Are Failing”. Theguardian, , 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2009/apr/05/children-social-skills-parenting.
Henion, Andy. 2017. “Why Do Teachers Quit? Read Their Resignation Letters — Futurity”. Futurity. http://www.futurity.org/teachers-education-1396012-2/.
Ravitch, Diane. 2016. “Why We Blame Teachers”. Big Think. http://bigthink.com/in-their-own-words/why-we-blame-teachers.
Stephens, Jesse, and Clare Stephens. 2015. “NSW Minister For Education Adrian Piccoli. The ABC Of Why Teachers Are Responsible For All Our Failures, And Other Political Silver Bullets”. Newmatilda.Com, , 2015. https://newmatilda.com/2015/08/30/abc-why-teachers-are-responsible-all-our-failures-and-other-political-silver-bullets/.
Tomlinson, Sally. 1997. “Sociological Perspectives On Failing Schools”. International Studies In Sociology Of Education 7 (1): 81–98. doi:10.1080/09620219700200006.
“When Parents Blame YOU.”. 2017. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/3fkk9p/when_parents_blame_you/?st=j8n61v1k&sh=28d9c7be.
Worzel, Richard. 2016. “Why Parents Don’T Respect Teachers”. Teach Magazine, , 2016. http://www.teachmag.com/archives/128.
