always the teachers fault...

Why is it when you turn on the news and there is something on about a school they always blame the teachers??
School shootings always come back to somehow being the teacher's fault,"they should have known how depressed he was", "why didn't the teacher's do something about it?". When a school has not performed well on a state mandated test, it's always the teacher's fault!
I wish parents could actually see how their little "angels" behave when they are not around! I wish parents could hear the filth that comes out of their mouths, the lack of respect kids have for other adults! I wish parents could see how their kids refuse to work or bring supplies to school!
Somehow, all this and more is the teacher's fault!?
I would love to be able to have a video camera in my classroom, like the cop's have on their cars, so that parents and the general public can see just how unruly kids can be.
I personally think that school should be a privilege, not a right! I think that if parents were to have to pay for school, they would make their kids behave more.
Why do you think kids in private school do so much better... parents have to pay for the education! When you have to pay for something that expensive, you tend to want your money's worth!
I teach in a very low income, inner city school and let me tell you... most of the kids are very unappreciative of the education they are receiving. They think that everything should be given to them, they don't have to work for anything, and you should respect THEM, not the other way around!
Teacher's are nothing more than glorified babysitters who work their fingers to the bone and don't get the respect or the pay they deserve!
If you are lucky and get a classroom with mostly "normal" kiddo's in it, you might be able to get a point or two across! But if you get a classroom with a lot of Special Ed. kids in there... good luck!!!!
I teach 8th grade and have kids in my classroom that can't even read on a first grade level! How am I supposed to get that kid caught up in less than 9 months??
Our former leader came up with a brilliant idea of "No Child Left Behind" which translated to... every child needs to be in a regular classroom!! Any teacher will tell you that not all kid's need to be in a regular classroom setting!
It is frustrating to see what a child needs and know that there is nothing you can do for them. Paperwork takes forever, moving them to another "special" classroom is almost impossible, and leaving them in a "regular" classroom is detrimental to them and the other kids in the room, as these kids are usually the most disruptive!!!
I have had a kid that actually talked to dead people... I've had a kid that self mutilated... I've had kid's that openly recruit for gangs, I've had kids threaten me!
What are we teacher's supposed to do?? Why doesn't anyone ever blame things on the principal? the overall administration? the superintendent? the president??
Trust me when I say... teacher's do turn in kid's that they suspect will do harm to themselves or others. What happens though is the sea of paperwork and documentation that you have to come up with to get these kids any help or removed from the school is exhausting! Why does it have to be so hard?? What happened to the Paper Reduction Act?? What happened to Teacher Rights?? Why don't parents turn around and look at their own child and think, "yeah, he can be a pain in the ass!" and do something about it! I can't tell you how many times I have heard a parent say,"well, I guess it's your problem now!" or "I don't know what to do, I can't control him/her".
Yeah, this is what we have to put up with and more... so the next time you think teachers get too much time off, please remember...
1. we don't get paid for those days off, not even the summer!
2. we are usually grading papers, filling out paperwork, or buying supplies for YOUR kids or attending workshops!
3. we don't get reimbursed for: buying things for our classrooms, or when things get stolen, or when our tires get slashed, or when kids think it's funny to scratch your car up, etc..
4. we certainly don't get paid extra to do anything after 3:30pm like: watch football, volleyball, basketball, golf, or any other sport because the parents can't go, supervise dances, help out with fund raising events for the kids, detention after school, home visits, helping kids with their homework, etc.
5. we usually have to pay to attend redundant classes in order to keep our certificates to teach, of which we have to pay for those too!!!!!

Teaching needs to be a respected profession, like anything else! We can not and should not keep teaching because it's for the "sake of the children", we all need to remember that teacher's have families too, and they don't live on bread and water... and no magic fairy comes around and pays the bills and makes everything rosey red for the next day!!!