There is one thing that I truly hate about teaching: grading. Students always want to know if you've graded their test, and my usual nap swear is that I'm working on it. Grading is one thing that is a constant in the teaching profession. It really doesn't matter if you teach college or high school, you still have to grade. I have a large stack that needs to be graded right now. I even brought it home to grade, and I despise bringing home work. By the end of the day, I can't stand to look at another paper. I especially find it exasperating when I've said something many times in class and the students stills don't know it. Nothing drives me insane quicker than to spend time preparing for class, doing my best to make things interesting, and the students just don't care.
Apathy is the ugliest disease in America. I think seriously think that apathy will be the downfall of America. Students, and you see it in their parents too, want to be told how to think and what to think. The problem is that they listen to the wrong people. If they'd only listen to me, this world would be a better place. Haha!
Seriously, though, it is frightening how little students care these days. It's scary how little respect they have for anything or anybody. It worries me that America's youth want to only do the minimum. So few of them have the desire to be better, just average at best.
More and more, I've been thinking that I am just not cut out to teach high school. I just don't have the patience or the energy. I much prefer to teach college, but so few jobs are out there and so many applicants vying for the same job. The whole thing becomes discouraging.
Working with a college-age crowd is definitely more satisfying, but it helps if you are teaching a subject that they choose instead of something they are required to take. Those required classes are filled with students with little enthusiasm, but the others have more students who care about the matter at hand.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with your hopes for a better position. Don't give up!
Same thoughts from each generation of teachers I am sure:
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, it is frightening how little students care these days. It's scary how little respect they have for anything or anybody. It worries me that America's youth want to only do the minimum. So few of them have the desire to be better, just average at best.
And they are correct in what they say!!! The colleges today have been dumbed down in so many ways because the highschools have been dumbed down because the lower schools have been dumbed down...When college students can not make a coherent sentence, then we have a problem....and we do have a problem!!!
While you are looking for teaching positions, don't forget to look around at other related fields. I have a good friend who was unable to find the job he wanted teaching at a college or university, but he got a lot of satisfaction working as a librarian helping other people with their research. One thing he liked was that every day brought a new challenge. And he learned a ton about a wide variety of topics.
ReplyDeleteIt paid pretty well, too, which surprised him. Not as much as a tenured professorship at an Ivy League school, needless to say, but more than enough for his own needs and interests. Admittedly he had been able to get a job with a union contract and benefits -- something rapidly disappearing from the public employment sector.
But keep working, keep looking and wander outside the box from time to time.
I taught HS approximately 40 years ago and you echo my sentiments exactly. So I am not sure it is worse now than then. I liked a lot of the kids as individuals, but in a group of 35, they were a nightmare. Also totally bored with the subject material.
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