treestarfae Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 http://dianeravitch.net/2012/10/27/nc-teacher-i-quit/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JumpyTheFrog Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 My neighbor teaches 3rd or 4th grade. He wants to quit and become a programmer because of the beauracracy and testing requirements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PuddleJumper1 Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I hear various parts of that letter every day from dh. He's in his 13th year in ps teaching and getting more burned out by the day. Not from teaching(which he LOVES) but from the ever increasing paperwork, meetings, politics, little or no raises etc..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I hear various parts of that letter every day from dh. He's in his 13th year in ps teaching and getting more burned out by the day. Not from teaching(which he LOVES) but from the ever increasing paperwork, meetings, politics, little or no raises etc..... :iagree: Reminded me of the scuttlebutt in the teacher's room at lunchtime. ;) BTDT. Another reason I quit after 14 years as a public schoolteacher to homeschool in 2004. Not much has changed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 The sadness of what school has become is why I dreamed of having a meaningful after school/ summer program in my neighborhood. It probably will not happen, because, sadly I can make more money catering weddings in 1/2 the time. But things like this really make me rethink what is important in this country. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unicorn. Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I hear various parts of that letter every day from dh. He's in his 13th year in ps teaching and getting more burned out by the day. Not from teaching(which he LOVES) but from the ever increasing paperwork, meetings, politics, little or no raises etc..... :iagree: Dh is in his 22 year of teaching, and that letter describes teaching exactly. For the first time ever, dh really wants to quit. He can't even teach properly because of all the administrative red tape B.S. And that whole ipad initiative is a joke. That's what he's dealing w/ this year. The kids cheat, play games in class, and one student got caught at home using his to watch p@rn. His parents took it away, and the school told them they couldn't do that. Umm, wanna bet! My ds (sophmore) was angry last year, because he knew that this year's freshman were getting ipads and the upper classmen weren't. Now he's angry that they are giving the upperclassman ipads next year. He doesn't want them, because two weeks in to school, he saw what crap they were. Our dds won't be going to the same high school. It's sad, because there are some great teachers there that they would benefit from, if only they were allowed to teach. :glare: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bang!Zoom! Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I think I've been following Diane and the associated issues and authors for about 2 years now. I see something or rather that gets me reading just a little deeper about once a week. That letter is pretty much par for the course of things - but do try to remember that there are other stories that balance them out some. There was one particularly vicious one that went through my feed last week and I've silenced it for a while, just need to step back for a bit. I think things will be better after the elections, like a year after anyway. It tends to get hopped up during national election cycles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shannon in TN Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I hear various parts of that letter every day from dh. He's in his 13th year in ps teaching and getting more burned out by the day. Not from teaching(which he LOVES) but from the ever increasing paperwork, meetings, politics, little or no raises etc..... :iagree: Dh is in his 22 year of teaching, and that letter describes teaching exactly. For the first time ever, dh really wants to quit. He can't even teach properly because of all the administrative red tape B.S. My dad taught in NC for years and years. First in a "regular" high school, then in an "alternative" high school, before quitting. He said the same things before quitting and this was 20 years ago. He did eventually go back to teaching at a community college, but he retired this past year, again, saying the same things about the administration not letting the teachers teach. It's sad, really. I grew up in the NC public school system and I think it worked much better then than it does now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 (edited) The thing that kills me about NC schools is that at least where my nephew is, you can ace their classes in the "gifted" program and get high scores on their tests and still be woefully unprepared. My nephew, a very bright kid graduates this year at the top of his class. When I was helping him study for the SAT it was clear that as far as writing and verbal went, he was not going to do all that well. I know the SAT is far from perfect but it seems that if you are at the top of your class in a large school you should be able to pull 700 plus each in verbal and writing. This is a very talented kid, but he is swimming in a small pond with low expectations and his crazy mom and criminal stepdad put pressure on him not to achieve as well. Between bad home life and sucky school standards, he is really not where he could be. Edited October 27, 2012 by kijipt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kokotg Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 I hear various parts of that letter every day from dh. He's in his 13th year in ps teaching and getting more burned out by the day. Not from teaching(which he LOVES) but from the ever increasing paperwork, meetings, politics, little or no raises etc..... :iagree: DH is in his 10th year; I'm used to him being burnt out and frustrated by the END of the year, but he's already there now, and it's only October. He did web development for a non-profit before he started teaching, and he's started to seriously think about going back to that. If only he could find a spare minute between teaching, chauffering kids to math tournaments, grading papers, planning, and tutoring to make up for all the pay cuts he's taken over the past few years to brush up on his programming.... It's really frustrating how people who love to teach and are great at it are driven out of the profession by the parts of it that have nothing whatsoever to do with teaching. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
readinmom Posted October 27, 2012 Share Posted October 27, 2012 Wow, it's like someone was reading my mind... It's sad but true for a lot of teachers. I am measured by worth of my test scores and how many students pass the high school exit exam. I will prep from now until March, hopefully have above a 90% pass rate, and know that they move on only knowing material that was written at an 8th grade level. It's the ridiculousness of the entire system. I wish it was different but it's not. I love teaching, I love the kids, I hate the model that we are currently under. Success is a test score %. Imagine if we used that philosophy in life? Sorry, Timmy, you fell down off your bike. Therefore, you have been labeled a non-biker. Please choose another activity that you will not fail in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted October 28, 2012 Share Posted October 28, 2012 DH has a friend who was a teacher passionate about the public school system. He tried to convince us we were making a mistake when we started homeschooling. It is now several years later and he has quit teaching at public schools and is now teaching prison inmates. He loves it; the students WANT to be taught and he has the freedom to teach. He has apologized to us about his remarks about homeschooling. He now thinks we are doing the right thing. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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