Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Teacher Troubles

My son has had a few experiences with teachers lately that sure frustrate me. Last year he had a teacher who had huge mood swings and would always scream at the class. I talked to a woman who actually had that teacher as a student, and she said she had trouble with her back then. She told my son's principals that she didn't think they should hire her, but they did. My son survived the class, but I feel bad he had to put up with her. But this year he got some difficult teachers too.

Experience number 1:
One of his teachers is legally blind. He can see up close if he uses a magnifying glass. He is very strict with his class because he can't see if they are misbehaving. At the beginning of class, he told the students that they needed to write dark enough for him to be able to see. This is an easy math class. My son hasn't been the best student, but this class has been good for him because he is succeeding, and has felt good about his accomplishments. At least, that was until he took a recent test in the class. He got the answers right, but according to the teacher, he didn't write dark enough, so the teacher took of 40% off his grade! My son tried to argue that he had done the problems right, but the teacher said that part of their learning in his classroom was to learn life skills, and that should include adapting to those with disabilities. Huh? I thought he was supposed to be graded on the subject matter! I was going to write him an email and complain, but my son asked me not to. He doesn't want to get on his bad side. I said, "Well, what if he does this again?" My son said, "If he does it again, I'll let you complain." He said he might just use a pen, even though he is supposed to use pencil.

Experience 2:
You know how in this country there is a big push to keep a separation of church and state? This extends to the school system. There is not supposed to be any mention of God or Christianity in the classroom. Of course, you can talk about the Muslim religion all you want, just not Christianity. Well, my son has found that there is an exception for teaching about the Bible in the classroom. Recently his class was studying about the Puritans. His teacher explained that they believed in the Bible strictly. He said, "Can you believe they actually believed the Bible word for word? They actually think that all of that happened! They believe that God actually took one of Adam's ribs and rolled it around in the dirt and made Eve." Sorry, but if you can't teach kids to believe in the Bible or Jesus Christ, then I think you should be allowed to teach them NOT to believe.

My fear is that when I'm old and gray, and I look back on my life, my biggest regret will be that I didn't home school my children. Not only do they have to put up with a leftist teacher's union, but they have to put up with school shootings, ghetto influences, and poor school management. Who knows....maybe I will end up home schooling at some point in the future.

4 comments:

Nene said...

The only thing I have against handicapped people is against those who are constantly throwing their handicap in your face. I think he was wrong to take 40% off. Maybe he should have written a note on his paper as a warning and then if he continued to not write dark enough, then take off.

Inklings said...

I agree 100% with Nene, he was wrong and should have given a warning.
Don't homeschool, move. :0)

Stick said...

I'm sorry, the teacher was wrong. It is handicapped people who need to learn to adapt to the world, not the other way around. This is poor teaching, period. I would complain right now, and go over the teacher's head to do it. That comes from a teacher.

Mr. Giggles said...

I will disagree with one thing. I see the point, but as I mentioned before, I HATE when parents "go over my head" without any hint of a problem. Talk with the teacher first. Help him see, painlessly, that he is an idiot. If this provokes a response, request that the conversation be moved to the principal's office. If he just kisses your butt, but continues, THEN go to the higher authority.

As for the anti-religion teacher, Go WAY over his head immediately. It IS just as illegal for him to say those things as it would be for me to proselyte. You may want to go straight to the school board on this one. If this issue continues, I would also go to the press. This goes beyond stupidity, and into criminal.

Everyone remember, a teacher's job is to educate. We don't always do it without making mistakes, but if a teacher is no longer trying to do this, perhaps they should go sell insurance or something. Above all, teachers must love teaching enough to fulfill their task. Trust me, we don't do it for the paycheck.