Education and Ignorance

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Most people know that education in California has not been the premier, number one, envied program that it once was. There had been so much blame passed to parents, students, and teachers.  Everyone has a role in education. The one that has been overlooked had been the policy makers (aka politicians). They don’t get the blame. In fact, they had been pointing the finger at people. The last decade it has been the teachers fault. Unfortunately not enough fingers are pointing towards the politicians.

There is so much that could be said with this topic. I am going to write a series of blog that talk about a vast number of topics related to education. One will be about policies that are not good for our state. First off, I am going to talk about the ignorance that surrounds education as a whole. Most people do not understand how much time and effort that is involved in teaching.  

I had a friend who always talks how teachers have it made. We get so much time off and we got off early every day. It must be great to be a teacher he would say. Work Monday through Friday and get months off. Also, teachers get holidays off and don’t forget spring break. It is nice to be a teacher. He would wonder why I would come home tired at times. My friend would tell me, “Why are you tired?” He thinks I just sit most of the day telling kids how to add numbers or write sentences. Easy work. He is like most people in this country. Teaching is a lot harder than first appears.

Hours: People think teachers come to school and then leave when the children leave. Not true. Teachers can easily have 50 to 60 hour week. That does not include parent teacher conferences or back to school night. Besides the regular hours in the day, teachers also work on lesson plans at the end of the day or wake up early in the morning and do lesson plans. Also, gather material that goes with the lessons. Additional training the different districts provide is usually after school or on Saturday. Teachers find new posters or artwork that will inspire students. Have discussions with other teachers about certain problems. Don’t forget teachers must grade the work from the day and put the scores in the grade book. There is so much that goes into teaching that people do not understand.

My friend decided to become a substitute teacher.  He thought it would be easy. Well, he receives an eye opener. My friend would come home tired and worn out. Now he understood why I would come home tired. It is not the physical work which is minimal. It is the mental work that is so demanding. The amount of attention a person must have when they are in the classroom and outside the classroom. The amount of information we must pass to students and reteach when students are not getting it. So much mental energy is used up in a day by teachers. That is why at times they come home tired.

There is so much more for me to talk about. I will be writing more blog in the near future.