I would like to know 

Why Do You Want To Become A Teacher? or why are you teachers?

I was asked this question and I would like to know about you!

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                    

I agree with MapleLeaf on the whys.

 

Now here are my 11 reasons for not wanting to become a teacher in an American school:

 

1.        everyone blames teachers if students fail even if a teacher has 90% of their students succeeding, they get chastised for the 10% regardless of demographics and individual circumstances (i.e. parents abuse drugs and are absent in child �s life just for example)

 

2.        Mentally challenged students being required to take the same standardized tests as the rest of the student body and the score being calculated with the same weight, thus hurting the school�s overall average!  This one makes NO sense to me whatsoever, as if you could combat nature itself as a teacher??

 

3.        ESL students who�ve only been in an English speaking country for 2 years being required to take the same standardized tests as the rest of the student body and the score being calculated with the same weight, thus hurting the school�s overall average.  Interestingly, we were near a refugee center and had a high ESL population.  Some of our students who were being placed in high school because of their age had never received any formal education nor new English. So not only were we battling language issues we were battling educational deficiencies that spanned ten or more years?  Do government officials really believe teachers are miracle workers? Can we make up for ten years of no formal education as well as help a student master the entire English language in just two years?  Of course not!!!  It�s an absurd expectation and goes against research!

 

4.        people claim teachers teach because they couldn �t do anything else---

such statements make you want to leave the profession to prove otherwise. 

 

5.        parents who think complaining entitles them to have their children�s scores raised as well as extensions for assignments that are well overdue.

 

6.        certain students claiming your racist despite the fact students of the same race succeed in your classroom--- perhaps, you should study more and quit blaming others for your own failures

 

7.        students who are good at athletics getting pushed through the system

 

8.        students being disrespectful and wearing outfits unbecoming of a young lady or young man- - our school had a policy of not wearing baggy clothes or too short of skirts, and despite this most students continued to wear such clothing.  Teachers were afraid to call them out on it because of two things: no consequences for those students and secondly, because those students would become hostile towards teachers who complained.

 

9.        student violence in the classroom towards one another and teachers-- and once again teachers being blamed for it via questions such as "How could you have defused the situation?"--- Hm. I don �t know he has on an ankle bracelet and he �s involved with gangs. I don �t know what I could have done to have kept him from charging me.  Perhaps I could have taken him to the floor as did the little petite blond teacher in the 1995 Dangerous Minds. Then they could respect me and see that I care about them once I proved I was the alpha female of the classroom??

 

10.    known gang members allowed to continue being in school because they supposedly deserve an education despite the fact they make a hostile learning environment for students who actually care about their future

 

11.  watering down of curriculum so that more students can be successful:

a friend of mine told me that the books her honor classes were reading in high school were the same ones read in mainstream middle school in the 80s. 

 

I am not trying to sound like a negative person, but I think these educational issues, although not problems in all American schools or districts (primarily again due to demographics) need to come to light and not be ignored if they are to ever change.  Since coming to Japan, I have not encountered even one of the same problems I faced in American schools (one of my 19 year old students threatened me and then the following week ended up in jail for attempted murder and armed robbery)!  This is most likely due to cultural and family values instead of the teachers or schools themselves, but it sure is a breath of fresh air.

 

 

Point 5 is a very very common thing here in Japan. They are so called � �monsterparents � � which every country has I think. They should call them monster mothers because in 90% of the cases it �s the mother who complains about the teacher. In Japan it �s always the teachers fault and the students are getting away with it. Worse thing is that they know this.

 

I became a teacher for the same reasons Mapleleaf had already pointed out.

 

Sorry to hear that point 5 is common!  I personally don �t have to deal with it, but then again I don �t understand the complaints! ;) 

 

Have a look at this, may be it may also be useful to you:

Teresa

I agree with MapleLeaf but...

I �ve always LOVED teaching because it gave me an opportunity to be creative. I liked that something funny was happenning in class almost every day (I teach young students). My students and their parents are nice to deal with. I don �t really have much to complain about, but somehow recently I have been incredibly BORED with teaching, although I still try to be professional and deliver proper lessons. I �ve been teaching for 10 years now... I hope it �s a temporary feeling...