I guess everyone who attended school is an expert on how school “should” be run.  All teachers have horror stories about angry/deranged/misinformed/forgot their meds parents, and it’s understandable– they only have one child in your care, whereas you have 30 children to care for (on average, at any given time).

And, of course, I understand why kids sometimes appear to hate their teachers.  After all, we have expectations and we enforce them– sometimes we need to deliver discipline, homework, word problems, and other things kids don’t like.

I certainly understand the animosity that often exists between teachers and administration, too. “They” are expected to balance budgets, mind protocol and ensure teachers do their job.  “We” want professional autonomy and all the resources at our disposal that we may require.

But here is the thing I don’t understand. We spend, on average, 7 hours a day with other people’s kids. If those children are to become successful members of society, they must receive an education– there are laws in most countries that are very clear on that.  And yet…. there is nothing the public and the press love better than a good round of Teacher Bashing.

Of course I am not naive enough to think that every teacher is a credit to the profession– there are bad teachers, just like there are bad cops, bad waiters and bad journalists.  But society seems to revel in any story that casts a teacher in a bad light.

I don’t expect to be revered because I am a teacher, but I do expect the profession to be held in the highest esteem.  I take great pride in saying “I am a Teacher”.  I am dismayed when that is the punchline instead.

Some websites that take lascivious pleasure in debasing the Teacher:

http://www.detentionslip.org/

http://www.wikiality.com/Teacher

http://arrestedteachers.com/

http://emailsfromcrazypeople.com/2009/07/29/old-school-anger/

http://chalkandtalk.wordpress.com/2009/06/07/financial-guru-suzie-orman-joins-teacher-bashing-bandwagon/