As IF Times

link Teacher who blogged about her lazy students gets her job back – On Deadline – USATODAY.com.

When someone decides on a career in teaching, presumably they are pursuing some idealistic dream of conveying knowledge and enlightening young minds.  It must be a jarring jolt of reality when the classroom experience is one of indifference, hostility and entitlement from students. 

Hamstrung by administrators and political rot, there is more and more anecdotal evidence that the effectiveness of teachers is being compromised by the stifling social malaise of entitlement, at least in the public schools.  One of the most insidious forms of entitlement is that of censorship.  If you can’t even call a spade a spade, then the whole notion of an enlightened education is moot.   Students have been unruly and petulant forever, according to such experts as Aristotle and Socrates.  It appears that it’s only been in recent history that such behaviour is supported by administrators, parents and society at large.  Ironically, while the whole world fights for access to education, in our culture, people fight for the right of not having to learn.

Consequently, we observe instances of kids who have notionally graduated, but for all intents and purposes are functional idiots.  Legend by now are stories of teenagers and college graduates who can’t properly read or write and are then offered up to the unforgiving working world.  Since their academic and social skills are malformed, these kids are eligible only for entry level service jobs or as cast members on reality TV shows.  Teachers like the one featured in the story are no doubt discouraged that they act merely as enablers for students to be passed along to next processing station without any positive impact.   If kids are in fact lazy and entitled, shouldn’t that behaviour be called out?  The comments at the bottom of the article are the most amusing, because many are chastising the teacher for her candor, instead of realizing that it is their very defense of the ‘kids’ that is responsible for the malaise that affects education today.  As if it was the teacher that was at fault for not tolerating petulant kids.

Rahm Emmanuel, the new mayor of Chicago was publicly prickly when asked about where he sent his kids for schooling.  Like many wealthy people, his kids were attending private schools.  While the quality of teaching may be arguably better at the private schools, it’s likely the main difference is the culture that contrasts with the public schools.  At private schools, there are thresholds of achievement that must be met and certainly standards of behaviour much stricter than is enforced in the public system.  Parents pay for this.  They know that certain standards of academic and behavioral accomplishment must be met in order to be properly educated.   At the root of this education is a value system that encourages study, excellence and integrity, things that used to be taught in the public school system.  It’s a mystery as to why the public would allow their tax money to support a system that was any less rigorous.