Sobering Teacher Thoughts

To the Editor:

For those of you that keep bashing public education and teachers, Sobering Teacher Thoughts, author unknown:

After being interviewed by the school administration, the eager teaching prospect said, “Let me see if I’ve got this right. You want me to go into that room with all those kids, and fill their every waking moment with a love for learning. I’m to instill a sense of pride in their ethnicity, modify their disrupted behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, and even censor their T-shirt messages and dress habits. You want me to wage a war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for weapons, and raise their self-esteem.

 I am to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship, fair play, how to register to vote, how to balance a checkbook, subject knowledge to get them into the best college, and how to apply for a job. I am to check their heads for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of anti-social behavior, offer advice, write letters of recommendation for scholarships and employment, encourage respect for the cultural diversity of others, and make sure I give the girls in my class fifty percent of my attention.

My contract requires me to work on my own time after school, evenings, and on weekends grading papers and I am to spend my summer vacation, at my expense, working toward an advanced certification and a master’s degree. On my own time you want me to attend committee and faculty meetings and to participate in staff development training. I am to be a paragon of virtue, larger than life, such as my very presence will awe my students into being respectful of authority. You want me to incorporate technology into the learning experience, monitor websites, and relate personally with each student. This is to include deciding who might be potentially dangerous and liable to commit a crime in school.

I am to make sure all students pass the mandatory state exams, even those that do not attend school regularly or complete any of their assignments. Plus, I am to make sure that all students with handicaps get an equal education regardless of the extent of their mental or physical handicap. And I am to communicate regularly with the parents by letter, telephone, progress report, newsletter or website, and report card. All of this I am to do with just a piece of chalk, an outdated computer, a few books, a bulletin board, and a big smile. All of this you want me to do on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps. You want me to do all of this and you still expect me not to pray?

Tim and Linda Sykes

3 Old Bridge Road, Sandy Hook                              February 9, 2004