Elementary school teachers

boldpilot31 said:Where on earth did you pull that conclusion from? 😲 😲
I don't feel the need to justify myself to you, I am simply curious as to how you managed to extract that specific point from my entire post 😂:

@lana74 I don't have children of my own, but I do have a younger brother and I work with kids quite a bit through coaching. And let me tell you, seeing the violent games and cartoons being pushed on them makes me realize how much is being forced upon them; when I see what they actually watch and play, isn't it just laughable to hear someone being afraid of Harry Potter? 😂

@Jeffrey Cook55 Some children might be more sensitive than others, but why should that stop the rest of the class from going to the movies?

I am certainly not viewing the world solely through my own lens, though perhaps I didn't express myself clearly enough in that sentence you highlighted 😉 I realize that for some families, this represents $6.75 an overwhelming amount of money. However, as far as I am aware, the original poster is unemployed, and her boyfriend is unemployed as well. Is it really fair for a mother in that situation to complain about a teacher constantly organizing trips to the beach, visits to the cinema, or outings to the theater? My parents worked from dawn until dusk; I mentioned before that there were three of us brothers, and we never lacked for anything because my mother would be willing to go out and clean houses after her regular job just to earn those extra $67 for our field trip fees. Instead of complaining that the teacher takes us everywhere, shouldn't she be grateful that we get to go anywhere at all, knowing exactly what those opportunities meant to us? 😉 It is always so much easier to complain 😉

You need to read more carefully. I never said that, nor was I even implying it. Look, if "The Ghost and the Cop" isn't part of the required reading list for a first grader, then I don't see any major reason why they needed to organize a special "field trip" just for that.

I'm not looking at the world solely through my own lens here. Maybe I phrased this specific sentence you bolded poorly 😉 I realize that for some people, $6.75 is a massive amount of money. But from what I can gather, the person who started this thread is unemployed. Her boyfriend is unemployed, too. And yet, this mother is complaining about her teacher constantly organizing trips to the beach, the movies, or the theater... My parents worked from sunrise to sunset. Like I mentioned before, there were three of us brothers, and we never went without because my mom would go straight from her job to cleaning houses just to scrape together those extra $67 for our field trip fees. She wouldn't be whining about the teacher taking us everywhere; she’d be grateful we actually got to go somewhere, because she knew exactly what that meant for us 😉 It's easy to complain when you're not the one struggling. 😉

I'm not going to get into why the original poster is out of work, but I am telling you that things aren't as simple or black-and-white as you're making them out to be.

It honestly drives me insane seeing how they handle English in the lower elementary grades. If I had my way, I’d personally hunt down whoever designed those curriculum books and give them a piece of my mind.
They are still just trying to master reading and writing American English, and then suddenly—boom—they're expected to juggle English at the same time.
If this were being taught through some interactive game, fine, I could get behind that.
But with my little girl? Every time English class rolls around, she’s dealing with full-blown stomach aches and nausea from the sheer stress of it all.
I even heard about this ridiculous situation in a first-grade classroom where the teacher asked the kids to write out numbers as words in their notebooks. She says "five," and of course, all they hear is "five" pronounced with that weird phonetic twist. Suddenly, half the class is in tears because they haven't learned the letter "f" yet.🙂
I mean, seriously, is this actually considered normal??
And look, I don't blame the teachers entirely; they're stuck following a brainless curriculum, but man, I feel like tearing up those stupid textbooks and those even stupider educational CDs—you know the ones, all that repetitive, mindless "yum yum, cola" nonsense. Who on earth was the moron who actually made money off such idiocy?🙂
There used to be an actual system in place back in the day.
Now, I'm not a native English speaker myself—my German is pretty terrible, to be honest😁—but I remember when we used a dedicated notebook specifically for tracking how words were spelled, how they were actually pronounced, and what they meant.
That doesn't exist anymore...
In German, you don't really run into massive hurdles with reading, which I always appreciated.
But with English? You see "I" and you have to guess if it sounds like "eye." It's exhausting. I've decided that my child and I are going to build our own custom study notebook from scratch, because if we follow this current mess, things are not going to end well.

Charles Murphy6 said:It honestly drives me insane seeing how they handle English in the lower elementary grades. If I had my way, I’d personally hunt down whoever designed those curriculum books and give them a piece of my mind.
They are still just trying to master reading and writing American English, and then suddenly—boom—they're expected to juggle English at the same time.
If this were being taught through some interactive game, fine, I could get behind that.
But with my little girl? Every time English class rolls around, she’s dealing with full-blown stomach aches and nausea from the sheer stress of it all.
I even heard about this ridiculous situation in a first-grade classroom where the teacher asked the kids to write out numbers as words in their notebooks. She says "five," and of course, all they hear is "five" pronounced with that weird phonetic twist. Suddenly, half the class is in tears because they haven't learned the letter "f" yet.🙂
I mean, seriously, is this actually considered normal??
And look, I don't blame the teachers entirely; they're stuck following a brainless curriculum, but man, I feel like tearing up those stupid textbooks and those even stupider educational CDs—you know the ones, all that repetitive, mindless "yum yum, cola" nonsense. Who on earth was the moron who actually made money off such idiocy?🙂
There used to be an actual system in place back in the day.
Now, I'm not a native English speaker myself—my German is pretty terrible, to be honest😁—but I remember when we used a dedicated notebook specifically for tracking how words were spelled, how they were actually pronounced, and what they meant.
That doesn't exist anymore...
In German, you don't really run into massive hurdles with reading, which I always appreciated.
But with English? You see "I" and you have to guess if it sounds like "eye." It's exhausting. I've decided that my child and I are going to build our own custom study notebook from scratch, because if we follow this current mess, things are not going to end well.

That book you're thinking of was called a dictionary. 😁By the way, phonetic pronunciation is usually taught using special symbols, often introduced in the second or third year of study. It’s a big stretch to expect them to dive into that during first grade. Honestly, I think the teacher's approach here is a bit off. Have you had a chance to talk to her about it yet?

Btw, remember what our English textbooks were like back in the 4th grade? "I have a red bike. You have a blue bike." "Catch the ball, Sandy! Catch! Catch! Catch!" 😂

It honestly drives me up the wall when my daughter mentions she doesn't like the drawings in her required reading, only to have the teacher snap at her because "it's an illustration." And we're talking about first grade here! I try my best to foster some actual independence in her; I don't just hover over her shoulder the second she opens a book. Once she's finished, I’ll either grill her with a few questions or skim through her work and circle the parts that need fixing so she can actually think for herself. I only step in if she's truly hitting a wall.
I read the books myself—heaven help me, they haven't changed since the 1970s, let's be real🙂—so it's hardly a mystery why kids today find reading such a chore.
I have these absolutely gorgeous, wonderful books at home that might actually inspire a love of reading in some people, but apparently not our lot. Instead, it's all this nonsense like Anderson or those dusty old philosophical tracts about being and nothingness... honestly, they can take that outdated curriculum and go jump in a lake.

Jeffrey Cook55 said:That book you're thinking of was called a dictionary. 😁By the way, phonetic pronunciation is usually taught using special symbols, often introduced in the second or third year of study. It’s a big stretch to expect them to dive into that during first grade. Honestly, I think the teacher's approach here is a bit off. Have you had a chance to talk to her about it yet?

Btw, remember what our English textbooks were like back in the 4th grade? "I have a red bike. You have a blue bike." "Catch the ball, Sandy! Catch! Catch! Catch!" 😂

It’s all just one big, exhausting mess. You have these veteran teachers who think they can run the show exactly how they please, regardless of what actually works, and frankly, they just stomp all over anyone who disagrees. And the worst part? It isn’t even isolated to my kid’s classroom anymore—it’s become this widespread, systemic epidemic that’s infecting schools all across the country, which is honestly nothing short of infuriating.
Every single conversation we have with my parents eventually devolves into a relentless interrogation about my English proficiency, and frankly, she remains as stubborn as a mule on this subject.
To be honest, I’ve always viewed this whole program as nothing more than a glorified way for people to actually get close to one another.

My kids are in second grade now—and they’re actually expected to write their answers in English in their notebooks..
So, what, should they just be handed a dictionary at this point??
It’s honestly such a massive headache for me because I’m not a native speaker; I can speak it and I get what's being said, but when it comes to writing? I am absolutely hopeless.🙄

Charles Murphy6 said:It honestly drives me insane seeing how they handle English in the lower elementary grades. If I had my way, I’d personally hunt down whoever designed those curriculum books and give them a piece of my mind.
They are still just trying to master reading and writing American English, and then suddenly—boom—they're expected to juggle English at the same time.
If this were being taught through some interactive game, fine, I could get behind that.
But with my little girl? Every time English class rolls around, she’s dealing with full-blown stomach aches and nausea from the sheer stress of it all.
I even heard about this ridiculous situation in a first-grade classroom where the teacher asked the kids to write out numbers as words in their notebooks. She says "five," and of course, all they hear is "five" pronounced with that weird phonetic twist. Suddenly, half the class is in tears because they haven't learned the letter "f" yet.🙂
I mean, seriously, is this actually considered normal??
And look, I don't blame the teachers entirely; they're stuck following a brainless curriculum, but man, I feel like tearing up those stupid textbooks and those even stupider educational CDs—you know the ones, all that repetitive, mindless "yum yum, cola" nonsense. Who on earth was the moron who actually made money off such idiocy?🙂
There used to be an actual system in place back in the day.
Now, I'm not a native English speaker myself—my German is pretty terrible, to be honest😁—but I remember when we used a dedicated notebook specifically for tracking how words were spelled, how they were actually pronounced, and what they meant.
That doesn't exist anymore...
In German, you don't really run into massive hurdles with reading, which I always appreciated.
But with English? You see "I" and you have to guess if it sounds like "eye." It's exhausting. I've decided that my child and I are going to build our own custom study notebook from scratch, because if we follow this current mess, things are not going to end well.

🙂

For those who know, don't they teach kids English using a phonetic approach?🤷

Charles Murphy6 said:It’s all just one big, exhausting mess. You have these veteran teachers who think they can run the show exactly how they please, regardless of what actually works, and frankly, they just stomp all over anyone who disagrees. And the worst part? It isn’t even isolated to my kid’s classroom anymore—it’s become this widespread, systemic epidemic that’s infecting schools all across the country, which is honestly nothing short of infuriating.
Every single conversation we have with my parents eventually devolves into a relentless interrogation about my English proficiency, and frankly, she remains as stubborn as a mule on this subject.
To be honest, I’ve always viewed this whole program as nothing more than a glorified way for people to actually get close to one another.

Anywhere else, that kind of behavior would be grounds for firing...🙂 but nope... not happening...

They are basically working hard to make sure generations upon generations of people end up hating education.

Like there isn't any other way to do it.

There is one harsh reality we absolutely have to face: you can rarely count on a principal to actually stand up for their staff.
They’ll play the hero in public, sure, but once those doors are closed, they’ll tear you to pieces behind the scenes.
Look, you find all kinds of personalities in any profession, and I’ll be the first to admit that teaching has its own unique perks that I can't deny.
Yes, we’re dealing with kids who are increasingly difficult, and parents who are even harder to manage, but honestly, every single job has its headaches—they just aren't usually involving children and their families.

Change is incredibly difficult to come by these days; I see it firsthand at the high school where I work, where the younger generation is truly giving it their all, while the ones nearing retirement seem to be slowly losing their edge. That’s exactly why I argued that we should force earlier retirements through legislation; because even if some people can physically grind through from age 60 to 65, for heaven's sake, it's the students who end up paying the price for that endurance.
I am fully aware that pensions are pathetic and meager for almost everyone out there. But when you simply can't give what is required anymore, I believe it is time to make room for the younger colleagues who are waiting for an opening like they’re standing in the scorching sun...

Back in my day, our parents didn't just hand over cash whenever the school organized a field trip or some event; besides, we didn't go nearly as often as kids do today. If there was an extra fee for a meal, the parents would vote on whether the trip was even worth it first. Then, the teacher would collect the funds collectively. If a student couldn't afford it—we had about five kids in our fifth-grade class who were truly struggling—the other parents would chip in to cover them, working closely with the teacher because no one wanted anyone left behind. I vividly remember our teacher paying out of her own meager salary for several students more than once. For our eighth-grade graduation, both she and the chaperone instructor waived their fees for travel and hotels, and we even secured two free spots through an agency. We all split the cost for the fifth student, and while parents provided pocket money, our substitute teacher would step in to buy a sandwich or a soda if someone ran short; the rest of us simply covered the bill. This was the standard pattern with my beloved teacher from grades one through four, my substitute from fourth through eighth, and my favorite homeroom teacher in high school. Is it really impossible that my teachers were the only ones with integrity—people who actually cared for children and taught us mutual respect regardless of a family's bank account? Surely not...

We never looked down on a child just because their trip, lunch, theater ticket, or pool pass was paid for by others. All those kids grew up to be successful, independent adults with families of their own, and none of them are living on the edge anymore. More importantly, they are all still my lifelong friends from elementary school. As for the high school crowd, I've lost touch. Being part of the war generation, we had refugee kids in our class from Pine Village who eventually moved back to Memphis; I haven't heard from them since. Where is all this heading?

The teacher made a mistake by not sitting you down privately to discuss this. Go talk to her directly and settle it face-to-face. If it were my substitutes, they would have coordinated that trip to MD beforehand so everyone ate the same thing; they would have snagged a few free Happy Meals, and if necessary, they would have paid out of their own pockets without making a scene...

Ever since the old days back in Ljubanovac, kids have always gone on field trips
.
To them, hitting up a McDonald's is just as vital as visiting a museum, a movie theater, or the opera house. Why? Because it’s a part of the culture they actually live in. It’s the same logic as a teacher taking them out on a city bus to show them how to navigate the transit system or how to safely cross a busy three-lane avenue. That’s the whole point of field trips—to see how people live in different environments, to encounter new things, and to gather life experiences. School isn't just about sitting at a desk and memorizing facts 😉
.
As for this whole mess regarding the Happy Meal and that ridiculous $3 price tag... honestly, I think the person who started this thread is just acting out because of her current life situation. It feels sad, maybe even pathetic. She seems angry at the entire world, and the teacher is just an easy target. Look, honey, keep your head up. The teacher did the right thing in a really awkward spot; she protected your child, and you can't put a price on that. One day (hopefully soon), you'll have much more than a few bucks to your name, and when you do, pass it on to someone else. You know, the whole circle of kindness thing.

Sarah James4 said:Rotating homeroom teachers every year actually gives more opportunities to younger educators and those who truly care about working with kids. It lets people who aren't delivering results find a different career path before it's too late.

You can easily track performance and progress throughout the entire school year. Those meeting national education standards will quickly stand out from the crowd of burnt-out, unhappy staff who seem to resent everything. For those who actually value teaching, there’s always a chance to fix their methods or knowledge gaps and keep their jobs.

Obviously, most people won't agree with this.

As a parent, my priority is simply seeing happy teachers and happy students.

Real success doesn't come from using the exact same outdated methods decade after decade.

Sure she

if performance reviews and result tracking become a mandatory requirement for absolutely every government employee in the country, rather than just targeting teachers. 😉

boldpilot31 said:I am reading this thread and I honestly cannot believe what you all are writing! 😲😲

First off, regarding the actual situation, I completely understand why the teacher offered to lend a little $6.75 for the MCA trip, and if I were in her shoes, I would have done the exact same thing... Granted, I might not have asked for the money back, but she was absolutely within her rights to offer. After all, she probably didn't want you, as a parent, to feel obligated because she bought something for your little one. Besides, who wouldn't be heartbroken seeing a child be the only one not eating, especially when they keep insisting they are hungry?
Personally, throughout elementary and middle school, I went on so many trips—some long, some short—to museums, field trips, and beyond...
I was quite active in sports, so we were constantly traveling for tournaments. My parents didn't always have extra cash since there were three of us kids in school at once, but it was never, ever an option to sit something out. In fact, it was quite the opposite; my parents were always so thrilled to see me traveling, socializing with other kids, and coming home bursting with new experiences. And if, for instance, we were heading to New York City, my parents might not have been able to give $6.75 for me, but they certainly would have found $5-$2.00 for a burger, and I truly knew how to appreciate that. They definitely wouldn't have let me miss a trip or sit there watching the other kids eat hamburgers while I sat there with my little snack and peanut butter sandwich. 🙄

I really won't get into judging your parenting or the reasons behind why you aren't working while having two children (though I am in complete agreement with what Jason Ortiz5 wrote), but this story of yours just doesn't hold water at all...
Not to mention that you actually sent a message to the teacher claiming your little one couldn't remember what he saw in a cartoon and that he doesn't come from a "happy family" he can describe 😲😲
What kind of mindset are you passing down to your child by doing that? Not to mention how much you are bothering and stressing out a teacher who simply left a comment stating that the boy hadn't completed his age-appropriate homework 😲

And just to briefly touch upon this complaining about too many trips, museums, or beach outings. To me, none of this is surprising; as I mentioned, we were always on the move, and those are some of my most beautiful memories... 😁 Most teachers announce trips well in advance, and it is also possible to pay for larger trips in installments (that $200 a month you mentioned for the beach trip really isn't that much considering the experiences a child gains 😉), so parents truly have plenty of time to save up the funds. It’s all about coordination and communication between the teacher and the parents. Back in elementary school, we had twins in our class, and for most trips, we would all agree to chip in an extra $5-$3.25 just so the cost of one twin's trip could be covered 😉. The same went for a few families who were going through a rough patch financially at the time...
Also, we used to collect scrap paper, and whichever class collected the most throughout the year earned a free field trip. For Christmas and Easter, we would make ornaments, cards, and all sorts of things, then organize school fairs, using the money earned to pay for trips again...
We looked for sponsors, and we were rewarded based on our athletic achievements (we played in county championships, and since we often came in first, we’d be taken somewhere as a reward for representing our school—if nothing else, we'd get a modest little celebration), and so on. There are so many solutions; it's much easier to just moan and carry on against the teacher. You have no idea how many children don't get taken to museums, movies, or horseback riding because their parents don't take them. A school trip is often their only chance. In my opinion, that is such high-quality time spent, because kids come home full of life and talk about it for ten days straight. Ultimately, they learn so much more than they ever could within the four walls of a classroom, not to mention how much more they socialize.😉

It’s the exact same thing for me, though it feels like I'm writing this myself (except there were only two of us, my sister and I 🙂).

I'd always get a little bit of pocket money (my sister would usually pay back at least part of it, but I never did 😬).

We actually used to "earn" our own way back in school—collecting old scrap paper, making stuff to sell, mostly to our own relatives 🤣, or putting on shows and charging for tickets. But the whole point was learning that money doesn't just grow on trees—which is a much better approach than just telling a kid straight up that they can't have something because money doesn't grow on trees. 😲 😲 😲
That way, you actually grasp that money comes if you work for it. It seems to me that most of the parents posting here have completely forgotten
that lesson.
edit: OMG, I just realized that even back then, we were basically little capitalists😂

Michael Miller39 said:It’s the exact same thing for me, though it feels like I'm writing this myself (except there were only two of us, my sister and I 🙂).

I'd always get a little bit of pocket money (my sister would usually pay back at least part of it, but I never did 😬).

We actually used to "earn" our own way back in school—collecting old scrap paper, making stuff to sell, mostly to our own relatives 🤣, or putting on shows and charging for tickets. But the whole point was learning that money doesn't just grow on trees—which is a much better approach than just telling a kid straight up that they can't have something because money doesn't grow on trees. 😲 😲 😲
That way, you actually grasp that money comes if you work for it. It seems to me that most of the parents posting here have completely forgotten
that lesson.
edit: OMG, I just realized that even back then, we were basically little capitalists😂

Kudos to you guys for recycling all that paper, but as far as everything else goes, it sounds like you just learned how to hustle people with cheap tricks. It sounds like you think you don't actually have to earn anything since you can always just sell a kidney—or at least find some rich uncle who'll buy whatever nonsense you're peddling. 😛

Michael Miller39 said:Sure she

if performance reviews and result tracking become a mandatory requirement for absolutely every government employee in the country, rather than just targeting teachers. 😉

exactly........ we end up right back at square one. It’s been the same loop for 20 years now... someone else always takes over...☕

The American education system is probably one of the least productive parts of society...🙄 student numbers have been dropping for years, yet nothing changes. Results are just getting worse.

How is the Department of Education even going to answer that?

Expecting anything from them or their members is basically masochism... except for those few brilliant individuals who actually remember why they joined the profession in the first place.

James Perez54 said:Regarding grades, I am talking about actual, non-fictional student knowledge (measured by As) and you are intentionally twisting my words.

Who is to blame for the inflation of As and honors? Are parents writing the grades in the report cards? Are they threatening teachers at gunpoint?
You tell me, what's really going on here? 😁

I don't know anyone who pays for tutoring to get an A (sic!), let alone to fix an F.

By the way, I have never encountered such a massive collection of hypocrites, emotional wrecks, insecure people, and frauds (exceptions exist, obviously) as I have within the education system.
Why is that?
Back in my day (I'm 43), anyone who couldn't get into their preferred college (lower-performing students) or couldn't find a high-paying job in their field (unrelated) would regularly end up working in a school, taking out their frustrations on children.
I highly doubt things have improved since then.

Aside from the topic itself—where plenty of nasty, useless comments have been tossed around—I just felt the need to weigh in on this one specific detail.
Just so we're clear on a few things—

I personally know of plenty of cases where parents have threatened teachers.
It’s true—most of the issues centered on specific teachers in the upper elementary and high school grades—though, granted, there were threats made against some of the female instructors as well.
And that’s only because mommy’s little golden boy can't handle getting anything less than a five.

It all starts small—slashed tires, keys scraping against car paint, threats involving spray-painted front doors, those middle-of-the-night calls... then it escalates to knives being flashed at information desks, and eventually, yes, gun threats and even bringing a bomb onto a school campus.

Just so you have some idea of what people actually tolerate—before you decide to make fun of it again next time.
Smart move.

Jeffrey Cook55 said:The state of our education system boils down to three main drivers:
1) the structure of the educational system itself
2) the teachers and professors (and yes, let's include preschool teachers too)
3) today's kids and their parents

Now, I’m not saying everything about these three elements is broken, but if we need to change things, we definitely do.

Sure, there are some truly terrible teachers out there—people who don't care about the job, lack basic decency, and act like a cancer within the system. But there are also plenty of educators who give it their all despite every obstacle in their way.

But you can't ignore what kids are like nowadays. I know this from firsthand experience because I used to work in a school. A huge number of them do absolutely zero work at home. Even if you give them the exact same practice problems an hour before a test, they still can't solve them during the exam. To me, that just shows that we, as parents, have raised them to be lazy. Meanwhile, a ton of parents seem to think teachers should use magic wands to download knowledge directly into their children's brains, otherwise, they're deemed incompetent. They completely forget that old truth: nothing worth having comes without hard work. And honestly, that goes for those lazy professors, too.

Then there’s the blatant lack of respect younger people show toward their elders. It isn't just happening in schools; it's everywhere. I had the "honor" of being on a packed subway once, standing right next to two younger students while an elderly man approached them. He said to another passenger loud enough for them to hear, "And here I thought the customs in New York City were the same as they are back in St. Louis—that the younger generation gives up their seats for the older ones." The girls just laughed it off, stared at him, and did nothing. They kept sitting there next to the old man for another ten minutes until they reached their stop. You know that feeling when you feel embarrassed on behalf of someone else? Well, I felt second-hand embarrassment for their behavior, even if I wasn't the one blushing. We see this kind of thing in public every single day, so it’s no wonder we see it in the classroom too.

Personally, I would have kept sitting, too. I have absolutely no intention of rewarding someone else's passive aggression. 🙂

Nancy Cruz3 said:Aside from the topic itself—where plenty of nasty, useless comments have been tossed around—I just felt the need to weigh in on this one specific detail.
Just so we're clear on a few things—

I personally know of plenty of cases where parents have threatened teachers.
It’s true—most of the issues centered on specific teachers in the upper elementary and high school grades—though, granted, there were threats made against some of the female instructors as well.
And that’s only because mommy’s little golden boy can't handle getting anything less than a five.

It all starts small—slashed tires, keys scraping against car paint, threats involving spray-painted front doors, those middle-of-the-night calls... then it escalates to knives being flashed at information desks, and eventually, yes, gun threats and even bringing a bomb onto a school campus.

Just so you have some idea of what people actually tolerate—before you decide to make fun of it again next time.
Smart move.

This is the cold, hard truth. Unfortunately, we live in a society filled with all sorts of unstable individuals, and these things happen; I’ve heard stories about it more than once... an aggressive dad shows up, claiming he has PTSD or was a veteran, threatening to kill everyone just because his "gifted" kid got a grade slightly lower than what he decided they deserved.

Given everything I read in the news or see on TV, my life would seem pretty easy compared to worrying about a single grade... honestly, I don't think I could handle working under those kinds of conditions. I’d probably quit within a week.

Good grief... 🤦

Look, nobody’s saying crazy, aggressive, or totally unhinged parents don't exist. But the way people talk about it makes it sound like being a high school history teacher is actually more dangerous than being a soldier deployed in Afghanistan.

My mother-in-law actually admitted that even in her 40s, she’s only had a handful of real conflicts with her own parents. And that’s over her entire lifetime. Mind you, this woman is basically the gold medalist of playing the victim and complaining about every little thing under the sun.

Jason Ortiz5 said:Good grief... 🤦

Look, nobody’s saying crazy, aggressive, or totally unhinged parents don't exist. But the way people talk about it makes it sound like being a high school history teacher is actually more dangerous than being a soldier deployed in Afghanistan.

My mother-in-law actually admitted that even in her 40s, she’s only had a handful of real conflicts with her own parents. And that’s over her entire lifetime. Mind you, this woman is basically the gold medalist of playing the victim and complaining about every little thing under the sun.

Look, there is a massive gap between what happened 30 or 40 years ago and what is happening today; any rational person can see that. Back in the day, a professor was highly respected—a doctor was even more so. People used to bring gifts (bribes, let's call them 😁) because those professions were held in the highest esteem. You had the elite tier: the teacher, the doctor, the lawyer. You simply cannot compare the past to the present while my sister-in-law is working now. So much has shifted in the interim—economic instability, social shifts—which has left many people on edge, causing them to lash out at anyone within reach. The current state of society is just different, and while it affects teachers heavily because they deal with such diverse groups, it isn't limited to them.

It is not the same thing to be a teacher at a prestigious prep school where the kids are decent, actually want to learn, pay attention, care about their grades, and come from educated, cultured families. It's an entirely different universe compared to teaching at a three-year vocational school populated mostly by delinquents who lack basic vocabulary, manners, or any sense of decorum.

Middle schools are essentially a volatile mix of both extremes, and no one can dispute that. Being a teacher at a top-tier academy (specifically the one I attended, though many others are similar) is, in my opinion, a fantastic career. But being a teacher at some vocational school (I won't name names to avoid offense) is 🙂