Well...

Well! When I went to school…

If I hear these words one more time I am NOT going to be held accountable for what I do! When YOU went to school, you walked up hill, both ways, in 10 feet of snow with no shoes! I know. When you went to school, students sat quietly and respected not only the teacher, but one another. When you went to school, foolishness was punishable with a leather strap and a worse beating when you got home and had to own up to what YOU did. When you went to school, your mother and father wanted you to do well, be better educated then they were and to succeed.

Well fast forward to today because when I go to school every day, and I do mean every day because taking a sick day would mean going back a week in any progress that has been made, I work at making students into not only one day being useful citizens, but to be somewhat humanly behaved in the school building ! When I go to school, I listen to parents ranting and raving that the bus is coming three minutes early every morning and their son is missing the bus. What are we going to do about it? I’m going to come to your house every morning and kick that little bastard out of the house 5 minutes earlier every day so he doesn’t miss the bus anymore; he’ll be early!

When I go to school, I can be called to a parent meeting whenever parents want…because really, aren’t we in the business of keeping them happy? NO, I am NOT in the business of keeping parents fucking happy, as a matter of fact…their happiness does not ever cross my mind! I AM in the business of educating their child, only after I have fed him and given him the supplies he needs for my friggin’ class because he doesn’t have any. I am not going to be pleasant sitting through my lunch hour discussing your child that acts like he’s 6 instead of 13! Parents aren’t coming because they’re concerned over their child’s behavior…they need to vent because they too see the same damn behavior at home and are ready to lose any sanity they have left and where better to vent  than school…after all, they’ve spent years there, they know what’s going on!  “It wasn’t like that when I was in school!” No, of course it wasn’t.  You weren’t in a class of 27 with 5 unmedicated ADHD young males that have mastered every animal sound known to man! When you were in school, students didn’t refuse to move, or tell you to shut up or tell you you were a fucking bitch because you asked them to close their locker. You want me to call YOU every time YOUR son doesn’t come for extra help? I have 90 students, 15 who should come for some extra time…so should I call all of their parents as well, or are you special? Here’s an idea…why don’t we make your son accountable for coming to extra help? WOW! There’s a new one, whew! Oh, that won’t work because he won’t come? Well empty out his bedroom of everything but a blanket and a pillow and see if that will inspire him to get his arse to extra help- I offer it; I’m not dragging kids to it!

Oh, but please, don’t go away thinking all parents are like this…because truly they are not. We have, on the other hand parents who certainly have more education than I, albeit not IN the field of education, who feel that their mere presence should intimidate me into giving their bright, and they usually are bright, child an A. Well, they may as well by pass me and go directly to my principal because if they know so fucking much they should be homeschooling and not wasting my time. I will not spend 10 minutes discussing why little Janie got a B in English and all of her friends got an A. Her friends got an A because they earned an A not because I like them more because, really, see paragraph 3.  I’m not in the business of making people happy! If you earn it, you get it, if you don’t earn it, you don’t get it! Grade 7 English is not getting your child into Harvard law-perhaps you should be more concerned that your child is late every day, skips class and is hanging with a whole new crowd of friends. Get your head out of your ass and see what’s really important here. The A isn’t it!

Here’s what you need to know about when I go to school. I love going to school and I take my job seriously. I may not like your child, but I will always respect them. I will feed your child any day they tell me they are hungry. I will provide pencils and paper to your child every day, because I have bigger battles to fight.  I will listen to your child if they need to talk to someone, or refer them to someone else who can.  When your child is absent, I will tell them upon their return that I missed not having them in class…and I will mean it. When your child is rude, I will call them on it. I spend quite a bit of time explaining why their actions are NOT acceptable for class or school.  I will go up one side of your child and down the other if that’s what the situation calls for and then I will encourage them to do their best, because that’s all I ask. You are the parent, and I respect that. I have my own children.  I don’t need yours. I do not question what you do at home so why, why must you question everything that I do? I have three university degrees, working on my fourth, and almost 17 years experience. Before you decide you’re not happy, ask your child what they think. You might be surprised to find they really like set expectations and very clear guidelines of what is and is not acceptable.  Maybe the problem isn’t with the child…just maybe.

W