“The Fine Print”, by Michael Schrader

PARENTS SHARE BLAME FOR SCHOOL FAILURES

(Written 02 September 1998. Published in the Neighborhood Journal. Posted 13 July 2009.)

I'm sorry. There, I said it. Unlike a certain Chief Executive, I am willing to admit when I am wrong. And I am wrong. And I apologize.

Back in February, I rather harshly criticized math teachers for the abysmal scores on the statewide proficiency test. I was told that I really need to spend some time in a math teacher's shoes before flapping my jaw, that it is not as easy as it looks. Hogwash, I replied. It's just an excuse. Well, wouldn't you know it, months later I had the opportunity to walk in a math teacher's shoes, and, well, I apologize for my criticism.

For the better part of ten years now I have wanted to teach in secondary school. Last week, I got my chance. Let's just say, I've changed my mind.

You see, I signed up to be a substitute teacher. Last Tuesday, I got the call that they needed a ninth grade algebra teacher for a little while. It took me a whopping four days to realize that I really don't want to be a secondary school teacher.

During my four days in the trenches, I discovered that I was reaching perhaps six of the thirty kids in each of the classes, which, if you do the math, is twenty percent. Twenty percent just happens to be about how many kids passed the proficiency test. In other words, those students that are really paying attention pass; the others fail.

What about the others, you say? Well, I found that it was a challenge just to get them to "behave" and not disturb the students who really want to learn. It sounds easy, but it is not. You see, we have gotten so "touchy-feeling" about hurting a child's self-esteem and all of that other rot that there are really no tools that a teacher can use to control the rowdy ones. When I was growing up, I had a geometry teacher that would not hesitate to strike you with a yardstick. Teachers can't do that anymore, because some liberal "do-gooders" have declared that it is child abuse. I was told not to kick them out of class unless absolutely necessary because of all of the frivolous actions taken by parents against the school district. You know, you're picking on my kid because he's black or left-handed or gay or red-headed or some other nonsense like that.

What I saw my four days teaching at a public school were students who thought that they should be treated as equals by the teachers; students who had absolutely no respect at all for adults; students who expected the schools to baby-sit them and kowtow to them. One young lady had the audacity to tell me that I had absolutely no right to tell her what to do in my class.

In my four days, I was repeatedly cussed with words that, when I was in school, would have resulted in a good mouth-washing with soap. (You can't do that anymore, you know. It hurts a child's self-esteem.) I had a student threaten to hit me. I had books thrown in my face. I frankly do not know how teachers put up with it day in and day out. It is a war-zone.

If the pathetic performance is not the teacher's fault and is not the school district's fault, then whose fault is it? I blame the parents, for it is at home that children are taught values, manners, and respect for authority. I also blame the liberal, wacko, "do-gooder", "touchy-feely" child psychologists who have brainwashed society that disciplining a child is evil. I have had people who were shocked that I actually discipline my children and don't find it necessary to bribe them to behave.

The way to solve the problems in the schools is for parents to start being parents, to teach their children proper morals and ethics so that the teachers can actual teach. Me? I've decided that I would rather stick to tutoring.

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