Talk:Teacher’s rights

From WikEd

I have been teaching for 11+ years, and I have to say that even though some of my experience was rewarding (with the kids actually learning), I feel teaching is fast becoming the most powerless, demoralizing profession due to the approach of administrators to their staff. With No Child Left Behind, the focus of teaching is removed from the teaching of the "whole child" to achieve, but to the performance of children on standardized testing. Teachers are highly accountable for what their students have learned over the course of a year--that's as it should be, but as I have heard one teacher say, "How can I be totally accountable for someone who doesn't live with me?"

Administrators are in the same boat...

I am an administrator and NCLB has done the same thing to adminstrators as it has to teachers. I am struggling with the same feelings as in the previous comment. Many days, I ask myself, "Is it worth it?" Parents constantly challenge teacher and administrator discipline decisions because, in my opinion, the parents think that good parenting is upholding their child in his actions no matter what. Many parents in my experience constantly verbally abuse teachers and administrators and think that they will get their way by yelling loud enough and threatening to call the district. Lately, I've been thinking about going into another profession because it seems that every year gets worse. Child behavior is out of control and we, as educators, do not have the tools any longer to be able to maintain order in public schools. From my own teaching experience in urban public schools, most of the teacher's time is not spent on teaching but, rather, on disciplining. In my view, parents and government need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for their child's behavior and for taking care of educators. If they do not, there won't be any educators left to teach.