Teachers Easy Targets While Parents Avoid Blame

A political candidate poses with his two daughters as they work together using a tape measure to measure and mark a board before cutting it. Turning to the camera, this candidate states that he has spoken with employers around his state and has been told by many of these employers that new and potential employees all seem to have trouble with tasks as simple and elementary as using a tape measure. He then goes on to talk about how he will make changes in the state's educational system to fix all of that. What's the underlying message in this ad? The same tired, worn out finger pointing that it is our education system that is broken, our teachers are "bad" and/or don't care about educating our children...basically...it's all teachers' fault.

I concede that there are some real and substantial problems with our education system not just at state level across the country, but on the federal level as well. There are definitely problems that need to be fixed. Funding is a big one. How in the world can you expect an institution that is funded so poorly to perform to the lofty standards expected of it? That's like buying a Ford Focus and expecting it to look and perform like a Ferrari. When many schools can't even afford basic supplies like paper or textbooks and teachers have to dip into their own meager salaries to make up for the lack of these supplies and to outfit their classrooms, is it logical to expect a great outcome?

Are there bad teachers? Yes, of course. But there are also bad lawyers, bad doctors, bad computer technicians, bad businessmen, bad salesman, bad garbage men....well, you get the idea. Schools definitely do not hold a corner on the market for "bad" employees. Should bad teachers be fired? Of course! However, in a profession where the starting and average salary are far below those of other professions requiring the same amount or even less education, how many people do you think are out there lining up to take their place? Some want to blame it on teachers unions and to a small degree, there's some truth to that, but why do you think it is that these unions are so adamant about protecting the jobs of teachers? Partly because they know the reality of how hard it is to fill these positions with qualified and quality people with the pay offered and the in many cases poor working conditions and inadequate supply of necessary materials to do the job. Add onto this the enormous amount of "off the clock" work involved, the overwhelming stress of dealing with the issues children are coming into the school with in today's world and the frustration of dealing with more and more parents who are not supportive of teachers and exhibit poor parenting skills that impact a child's educational performance, attitude, and behavior, there's little question as to why it is so hard to find people for the jobs available and to take the place of these teachers who should be given their walking papers.

But are "bad" teachers a majority? NO. They are not any more than "bad" employees in other professions are the majority. So why is there this stereotype out there that politicians jump on every chance they get that our teachers in this country are so bad? Mostly because there is a serious misunderstanding about what exactly a teacher is and what is reasonable to expect from them. If you send a broken computer to a tech, you expect him to look at it, find the problem, and fix it. If your car breaks down, you send it to a mechanic that you expect to be able to do the same. People view teachers in the same light. People send their kids to school many times looking at the situation just as they would look at sending a broken whatever to a professional to "fix" it. They expect no matter what issues their child has, no matter what kind of parenting the child has had, no matter what that the child will come out of that school like a computer comes out of the shop...like it is a factory that should be able to stamp all kids brains with the necessary information to be considered well educated. They don't take into account that children have a mind of their own, that children are people that for the most part you cannot just "stamp" and control, and that THEIR parenting and support or lack thereof of the teacher and the educational process has a great deal to do with the outcome of their child's education. Children are not computers or cars or something you can put through a diepress and make into what you want because they are consciousless, mindless, lifeless things.

So what is the real reason these new and potential employees this candidate talks about can't use a tape measure (if this is even true)? Is it because the teachers aren't teaching it? Very unlikely. I was a teacher and have a degree in education (though at this time I am taking time off to stay at home with my young children) and I can tell you that even in what I would consider the "poor quality" district I taught in, the curriculum was fairly thorough and covered such things many years throughout elementary, middle, and high school. To be honest, the same things that were taught for the most part 30-40 and more years ago are still being taught today. But presenting and teaching a thing to a class, even multiple times over a period of years, does not guarantee that the student is going to pay attention to it and choose to learn it, especially if they are not given the motivation to do so by teaching the value of that skill or don't have the consequences for not doing so reinforced at home. So while teachers themselves may have a small bit of responsibility for these children not learning what they should, I believe the bigger culprit is outside the school's control....the parents.

For all the criticism that teachers have endured for low test scores and failing students, very little attention has been paid by the media and poltiticians to the role of parents in the educational system. Teachers can do the best they can to motivate their students, to teach the curriculum, to reinforce skills, but if the child is not taught respect for educators and education itself, is not taught responsibility and a good work ethic at home, is not supervised by parents so that they do their homework, study for tests, etc., the chances of a good educational outcome for the student is very low. If parents don't support teachers or act as "defense lawyers" every time their child is reprimanded for breaking the rules or not following expectations behaviorally or educationally, in other words, if parents undermine the teachers' efforts, the child's educational success will suffer greatly. I find it ironic that it is said by so many child psychologists and other related experts that a child's primary teacher and greatest influence in life is their parents, yet when a child is not succeeding in school, the first person put on the chopping block for it are the teachers and the educational system as a whole.

I have seen schools that have had great success and I have seen schools that are, to be honest, dismal. What are the differences between these schools? Good funding meaning adequate supplies and teacher salaries are one part of the equation in "good" schools, but equally important is the "quality" of the parents and their involvement in the school and with their children. To prove that point, I will compare and contrast the school I used to teach at and the school my children now attend.

In the school I once taught at in a small suburb of St. Louis, the poverty level was very high. A majority of children lived with only one parent, many did not even know or had not seen for some time, their other parent. Parents worked two and sometimes three jobs to support their families (many of which were led by single mothers who at best graduated high school but many didn't even have that and worked minimum wage unskilled labor jobs, started having kids young and had many more children than they could support, many of their children each had different fathers with few even being "in the picture.") Many of these children got themselves up for school and got themselves to school in the morning and went home to an empty house or to other siblings at the end of the school day and didn't see their parent until bedtime if not after. The rate for return of completed homework for my classroom averaged about 5%. When questioned about unfinished homework, many parents would complain that they either didn't have the time to help with homework or make sure it got done or that they themselves didn't know how to do it or understand it in order to help (this was 5th grade level work.) Some complained I gave too much (On average I sent home one or two assignments every night that should have taken the child at most 30 minutes to complete everything and that would have been considered "a breeze" when I was a student at that grade level.)

From the start, children were coming into this school at a severe disadvantage due to poor parenting/lack of parent interaction. Kindergarteners were coming in with no clue whatsoever as to how to function educationally or behaviorally. Some of them actually behaved in a way I can only classify as "animalistic." I was astonished at the reaction of the kindergarten teacher the day I brought my then 3 year old daughter to school before school began to work on setting up my classroom and we went to visit the kindergarten room. My daughter was pointing out shapes and colors, numbers and letters, she knew them all and the entire alphabet. Yes, I worked with my daughter at home, but not to a degree I felt was an "abnormal" amount for the average parent. It was mostly just spending time with her and exposing her to books and other things that were age appropriate and at least somewhat educational. The teacher told me that my daughter at 3 years of age was already far ahead of most of her kindergarten students even at the end of the kindergarten year. She told me most kindergarten students in that school came in knowing next to nothing...not even basic colors or shapes. Many could not name any letters of the alphabet and many even by the end of the year was only at the level my 3 year old daughter was already at. She said it was a triumph for her when the majority of her kindergarten students could merely write their name and identify basic colors and shapes by the end of kindergarten. (My daughter was reading simple books and writing sentences by the end of her kindergarten year and so were most all of her classmates.) Was she a "bad" teacher? No, not at all. But there are only so many hours in a school day, especially at this school that had at that time only half day kindergarten, and the things she was teaching were not being reinforced at home and these children coming into kindergarten already so behind on what should have been preschool skills pretty much led the whole kindergarten year to be nothing but a game of catch up. Add into the mix having to teach kids the most basic fundamentals of how to behave in school and even how to hold a pencil or crayon or use scissors to make basic cuts (many did not even know how to hold a crayon to color a picture) and it isn't a surprise that these children were far behind my 3 year old and would continue to fall farther and farther behind with each passing year (the majority of my 5th graders came into my class at the start of the year reading at a 2nd grade level or below. Most stated that their parents never had them or encouraged them to read a book at home or had books read to them.)

If I reprimanded a student for breaking the rules, I would almost be guaranteed a phone call from the parent arguing with my decision, blaming another student, even calling me a liar or accusing me of "setting up" their child. I was often accused of being "racist" for reprimanding a child (nevermind that all but 2 children on average in my class were African American...if I were racist, why would I have chosen to take a job at that school?) I got a phone call from one parent stating that I had no business as a white woman teaching about slavery. Nevermind the fact that just being black doesn't necessarily mean someone knows much about it and nevermind the fact that my minor was in history and I have done a great deal of research on my own about the subject out of a personal interest in U.S. history. If the parent didn't call me about it, I knew I'd probably have the principal calling me into the office to question me about my decision to reprimand the child because the parent went to the principal without even speaking to me first.

The administration was so bogged down with dealing with these parents not only from my class but most others (and wanted to avoid having them go ranting to the school board about their child being "mistreated"...I found it interesting that many of the same parents who claimed to have no time to help their children with homework or make sure they got it done or even to provide general supervision/interaction had plenty of time to go to a school board meeting to rant and rave) that they would bend to the parents at almost every turn. Thus children learned quickly that the school wide and classroom discipline plans had little to no teeth and they ran roughshod over everyone. In one instance, I had sent a child to the vice principal for serious and repeated violations of both my classroom code of conduct and the school wide code. Not ten minutes later, the child was returned to my room unpunished with the VP telling me that she had had so many dealings with this child's parents that never accomplished anything and just proved to be a headache that she wasn't going to do anything. I had a few students that were transferred to other classrooms after having had too many disciplinary events and/or referrals to the principal and parents complaining. That was the administration's answer to the problem...appease the parent, transfer the student to another class where it wouldn't be long before they began displaying the same behaviors in the new class.

When discipline breaks down because students learn there are few to no consequences for breaking the rules, even those children who were not much of a problem in the past jump on the bandwagon and chaos ensues. The school had trouble finding substitutes and many would simply turn in the room key and walk out halfway through the day due to a majority of students physically running around the classrooms, jumping on desks, screaming and yelling, among other behaviors.

Then there were the seriously disturbed/troubled students that could actually be dangerous to other students, themselves, and faculty. I had one student who was classified as emotionally disturbed and had displayed physically violent and aggressive behaviors towards other students and staff since kindergarten. He would walk in each morning with what can only be described as a murderous expression on his face. He once menacingly held up a pair of scissors at me when disciplined. Another time, he came close to stabbing me in the hand with a pencil. I reported this behavior many times but there was honestly little that the school could do about it. They had their hands tied. A lack of funding and thus programs and help for these types of students was a serious problem. These children were "mainstreamed" in with the general student population, thus creating an environment of anxiety and disorder in the classrooms. (This also proved a problem for students who did not have behavioral problems per se, but serious learning disabilities. I had one student with an IQ of 67, below the threshold for being considered mentally retarded. However, due to budget cuts and lack of funds for special ed programs, the district kept lowering the IQ score at which a child would be considered for services...therefore he didn't qualify for any special help. He was barely able to do kindergarten level math at 5th grade and was functionally illiterate, yet he was still expected to perform to the same standards as other children with normal IQ's.) It wasn't until this child physically attacked an administrator in the school cafeteria that he was finally transferred out of my classroom and into a self contained classroom for students with serious behavior disorders. This child's mother never once checked in with me to see how her son was doing, never made any attempt at communication with me, the only time I saw her was when she was required to attend meetings pertaining to her son's individual education plan or when he had one of his major outbursts and the school psychologist was called in. You would think if you knew your son was having such major behavioral issues, you would be very involved with the school and his teacher, but she only showed when it was absolutely required that she do so for these special meetings.

The amount of parent involvement was a key indicator of why there were such problems at this school. When there was a school function such as a musical program, perhaps 20 parents out of a whole grade level of 100 students would show up. Many parents would actually drop their children off at the school to perform but would leave and not attend to watch their child. The number of empty chairs in the gym where these were held said a lot. Open house nights were dismally attended. Even incentive programs to woo parents and students to after school type activities failed miserably.

In contrast, the school my children attend is in pretty much every way the opposite of the school in which I once taught. The poverty level is much lower. There are still families of children living in poverty and those who do not technically meet the poverty criteria but are struggling badly. However, the average family of students in the school is by no means "rich" either. They are mostly lower to average middle class families that are getting by fairly comfortably, but without a lot of disposable income or money for luxuries or higher quality goods. Yet, the parents in this area for the most part seem much more involved with their children and their education, much more supportive of the school and the teachers, more likely to back the teachers in disciplinary matters, and more involved with school activities. I was astonished when my oldest child entered kindergarten and attended her first Christmas show. They held it at a large auditorium in order to be able to fit all the parents in and there were still some standing for lack of seats....such a contrast from all the empty chairs in the small gym at the other school. At this school, after school and evening activities such as open houses and carnivals, book fairs, etc are well attended and the halls are so packed with parents and their children that it's actually at times difficult to maneuver through.

School and classroom rules are consistantly enforced and seem to be well respected by most students and their parents. The administration backs up the teachers and so do the majority of parents. Students know that because the school and the parents are working together as a team, that there are teeth to the consequences for not following them.

Is this school perfect? No. Just like any school there are still those children with discipline issues and such, but they are dealt with effectively and they are not able to overly influence other children, the class as a whole, or bring about an environment of chaos to whatever classroom they are part of.

Test scores at this school and district wide are some of the highest in the state even though this is not one of the "richest" districts. Students are learning the material because they are not only getting excellent instruction during the day by teachers who feel appreciated and supported by both administration and parents (Ithus making the job much more enjoyable and motivating the teachers to achieve as well as the students) but they are also being supported at home by parents who take the time and care enough to make sure that homework gets completed and turned in, that children get the assistance they need with it, and also are enriched educationally by the parents in the home. With only rare exceptions, children are not being allowed to roam the streets at all hours of the night, have a set bed time, have rules at home enforced, and are taught to respect authority. They have parents that are INVOLVED and show concern and interest for their childrens' education and wellbeing.

The differences between the school I taught at and my childrens' current school are HUGE....and the one glaring difference I see between them is the amount of parent involvement and the "quality" of parenting of the students in the school my children attend. Both schools have comparable numbers of students and almost the same teacher student ratio. My children's school is slightly better funded, but not enough that it could be the major factor in the difference between them. Teachers even at my children's school often have to dip into their own pocketbooks for supplies and such much the same as at the other school. Yes, there are some other small advantages that my children's school has over the other one, but nothing that is significant enough that it would explain the vast difference between them. As I said, the one glaring difference is the level of involvement, interest of the parents and the difference in the "quality" of the parenting outside the school.

So the next time that you hear anyone criticizing teachers as a whole for the problems of the educational system, keep this article in mind. While there are some bad teachers, the real heart of the problems in our school aside from funding issues, primarily lay outside the school house doors and out of the power or control of the teachers. The next time you hear someone, politician or parent, criticizing teachers for their or any child's lack of knowledge or educational success, perhaps the best advice to them would be to look in the mirror, to take a good, long, honest look at themselves and see what role they are playing in their child's difficulties with their education. Until people start taking notice of this aspect of education and start saying what most people are afraid to say and doing something about it, nothing will substantially change in our schools and more and more blame will keep being shifted onto the schools/teachers' shoulders, further damaging the chances of quality candidates entering the teaching profession and further exacerbating the problem of teacher shortages and getting rid of truly "bad" teachers.

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