It makes my face burn hot, red with shame
As I peer through classroom doors
And see those shouts, the language too.
I didn’t bring them up this way,
To drag my name through sludgy mud
And make that dirt stick to my skin.
Now, I’ve just started my second teaching placement at the same school that my son goes to. He is in Year 11 so I’ve not seen him in lessons but I have been told by staff that he is ‘a lovely boy’. And I’m glad to hear that because I’d feel really let down if I knew he was misbehaving.
But there are some kids that I teach that have absolutely no respect for teachers, they refuse to open their books and get writing, they roll their eyes when you ask them to do something and they seem to think rules don’t apply to them.
I look at these kids and I wonder what their parents would think if they were to come in and watch a lesson. Would they actually care? And what do they teach their kids at home to make them think that their behaviour is acceptable in school?
I wonder if they would feel any shame? I would love to get them in for a lesson without their kids knowing just so they can see what we have to put up with. I wish that they could teach their kids some manners.
I’ll get off my soapbox now. But I am very angry after a day of being ignored by teenagers. God, I feel old!
Much Love
Rachel xx
Margot Kinberg
I know what you mean. Having taught teens myself (and raised one), I think it’s a few things, actually. One is, as you say, that parents are either tacitly or overtly supporting what their children do. Another is that parents don’t always know what their children get up to, or they suspect, but don’t want to admit. If they actually heard the words and saw the actions, they might do something. Another is teenage bravado. Kids want to ‘score points’ with their mates. If they see that that sort of language, etc., doesn’t ‘score points,’ they won’t do it.
Greg Dennison
Sadly, the parents probably wouldn’t care…
clcouch123
In the USA and I imagine elsewhere, public education was started as an extension of learning in the home. Now it’s seen as a replacement, a substitution for parental participation.
patientandkindlove
Yes! Parents will blame teachers before they even look at their own kids and how they behave. I’m learning to just take it on the chin.