Teacher Rant-Feel Free to Ignore

At the Texas Roadhouse waitresses wear t-shirts that say “I love my job” on the back.  Today was one of those days where I needed that saying plastered all over my room, and it wasn’t really even a bad day.  Some bad days for teachers include when “that” kid is just annoying you over and over, or a lesson (s) don’t go as planned, computers shut down…whatever it may be…today was one of those days where I just feel as though the American education system is completely failing. 

Day in and day out teachers are having to be held more accountable.  Besides the obvious job requirements (which are much extending the 8-3 job most people think we have) it seems like we are so focused on these standardized tests.  I spend so much of my year analyzing data that become irrelevant the next year because the tests are changing all the time, yet my students MUST pass their high stakes testing, and other testing in order to promote and eventually graduate. 

The whole, “don’t teach to the test” mentality is really faltering when the test is what matters to the state.  Students will not pass if they do not pass their state tests, teachers don’t get bonuses if their test scores aren’t high enough, and the tests do not evenly match the curriculum, but we aren’t supposed to “teach to the test.”  Students even EXPECT that school is over once testing is completed.  I’m the “bitch” that teaches to the last week of school.  I had a student last year ask me why they couldn’t just show up on the first day of freshmen year and take all of their tests, and if they passed them, they could graduate- I was shocked- but more and more I’m thinking she was right and that’s where education is headed.  

In our school parish we aren’t allowed to give zeros accept on assessments.  This year, we were also not allowed to give F’s on daily assignments (anything not a test).  High School is supposed to be preparation for college or the work field, and we’re teaching students that they will never fail, they can be as lazy as they want and will have 100 chances to make that work up.  I’m pretty sure is Mason missed his target every time he was dropping bombs- he’d be out of a job.  Students are only supposed to be absent 7 days per semester, but if they have doctors notes they can be excused—I have a student with two pages of absences listed for the year.    Anyways, back to the grading…I understand that it is acceptable to let a student redo work if they don’t understand it, or need help with certain concepts.  But WHY should I let a student who sleeps through class/chooses to not do any work during class (or ever) have ALL YEAR to complete their work and do it until it’s passing.  Maybe I should wait until the last week of school to turn in a year’s worth of lesson plans.  Did I mention we aren’t supposed to give more than 20 minutes of homework per WEEK!!!  Students in my school DO NOT DO HOMEWORK- what?  Students in my school WILL graduate with their year group because we lose school performance points if they drop out or are retained.  

I have a senior student who has two pages of absences, is re-taking Junior level English and I HAVE to pass her.  She has a child, got pregnant again on purpose, has failed the first half and is barely passing the second half or the course, and she failed her state final exam for the course- but I have to pass her so she can graduate.  This isn’t right!  Because now, all of my Junior students in that class are seeing this and have said, “well, we don’t have to come to school next year, because they’ll pass us anyways.”        

Another student is the most horrible person I’ve ever met.  I don’t like anything about him.  He’s a mean-hearted person and only thinks about himself and he will fully admit that life IS all about him.  He treats teachers HORRIBLY and is allowed to get away with it.  We wonder why he’s so rotten-because no one has the balls to put him in his place.  He thinks he rules the school, and at this point I’m beginning to think he’s right. 

Teacher accountability is at an all-time high, yet our students’ accountability is at an all-time low.  The problem is higher up that school level- it’s a parish issue stemming from the state, and something needs to be done about the state of education, because right now, I feel it’s failing miserably.