I say hello with a big smile every morning as you shuffle in the
door, but I secretly seethe with hatred for almost each and every one
of you. Your stupidity and willful ignorance know no bounds. I have
seen a lot of morons in my 10 years of teaching high school, but you
guys take the cake. Your intellectual curiosity is nonexistent, your
critical thinking skills are on par with that of a head trauma victim,
and for a group of people who have never accomplished anything in their
lives, you sure have a magnified sense of entitlement. I often wonder
if your parents still wipe your asses for you, because you certainly
don’t seem to be able to do anything on your own.
A handful of you are nice, sweet kids. That small group will go on
and live a joyful and intellectual life filled with love, adventure,
and discovery. The vast majority of you useless fuckwits will waste
your life and follow in the footsteps of your equally pathetic parents.
Enjoy your future of wage slavery and lower-middle-class banality.
Amazing how teachers are blamed for the state of education in this
country. Look what you give us to work with. I am done trying to teach
the unteachable.
wow this sounds like one of my old high school teachers. she made her feelings clear during classes though, and i highly respected that.
don’t smile and cater to them. don’t pass them simply because you think you need to.
help them. don’t let their bullshit fly. clearly parents aren’t doing their jobs – don’t bail on yours as well. we need good teachers who aren’t afraid to teach something other than history or math.
those nice sweet kids you’re talking about have to grow up in this world too and if you give up on the shitty kids, you’re doing just as much to contribute to the fucked-uppedness of it as any of the parents are.
Never accomplished anything? How old are these kids? Sounds like some is projecting a bit.
Oh shit. I wonder if that’s me: lower middle-class banality.
Now this is why I read this column!! Let it all out baby!!!!
Let’s see: perfect punctuation, use of the phrase “lower-middle-class banality,” – with hyphens! – careful syntax…yep, definitely an English teacher.
I used to drink heavily while correcting my students’ papers and then rage at them the next day. Anon, I feel your pain.
It would seem to me that inspiring intellectual curiosity and teaching critical thinking skills is part of the job requirement of teacher. If you can’t do your job, maybe you should quit and let someone more capable take over.
“wage slavery and lower-middle-class banality.”
That’s being a teacher.
@2 Teaching should be considered one of the most important professions in our culture because it is. Someone that dedicates their lives to teaching younger generation has accomplished something for which we should all be thankful.
All students? Or one particular group?
Think about a different job if this is how you really feel. If you had a bad week and are just venting that is one thing, but otherwise I’m thinking you need to find a new line of work.
Also, try going to a shit office job for a few months and then tell me that you can’t deal with your state-paid benefits, 401K, job security and 3 months off every god damned year. If you think those kids are bad, try dealing with adults. At least you have some measure of authority, even if it’s not much. You can give detention, send those fuckers to the office or threaten to call their parents.
You know what happens in the real world when people get unruly at your job? Nothing. That’s right. You don’t get to call anyone’s parents or have a meeting about it. You just have to deal with it. You have to watch your back, because the economy is so bad that people will literally sabotage you so that when the layoffs come, they will hopefully still have a job. Both customers and coworkers can make your life hell and there is not a damned thing you can do about it except get creative in how you work with these bloodsuckers.
You have no idea what a shit job is until you have had to fight for work that isn’t even in your field and doesn’t even pay the bills. So, basically, um, you are a whiner and you can shut the fuck up until you have been through 2 reorganizations and had to work at least 6K-10K less than you are worth simply because the economy is so bad that you have to take what you can get.
That handful of good, sweet students may still grow up to be complete fuck-ups and the ones that you think will slave away for the rest of their lives may end up being some of the most brilliant minds out there. Like #1 said, don’t give up on the shitty kids just because you think they’re stupid. Sit down and have a conversation with them. If they’re teenagers, remember what being a teenager was like and find some way to drag those opinions out of them. Some of my best teachers were complete assholes in class until they got to know their students and were able to bring out their students’ potential intellectual sides in class. One of my teachers in particular created an open forum every day based on something he read in the newspaper while we took 20 minutes writing in our journals. When he would ask for opinions on the subject and no one would say anything, he would pick someone. If he didn’t agree with them, but thought they made good points, he would say so in a polite way. If they said something that was sarcastic or just made them look like a complete fucktard in front of the whole class, he would outwardly tell them that they were being stupid and needed to rethink their answers. Then they’d have to write a 5 page essay about the topic they were discussing and turn it in by the end of the 2-hour class period. If he agreed with someone, he would make an example of them. Sometimes, even if he did agree with them, he would say he didn’t just to find out the reason why they believed their opinion, or if they really believed it. He ended up getting good results from his students in the long run and didn’t have to fail anyone. By the end of the year, he had our respect and he was able to make us think about bigger things than what to wear to the dance next week. I also went to a school that was terribly overcrowded and that particular class-size was roughly 35-40 students. Teachers are not necessarily to blame for the problems with education today. It’s the fact that there aren’t enough of them and there are even fewer good ones among the ones that are out there. Learn to care about your students and you may find it a little easier to teach them. No one is unteachable…you just have to know how to connect with them.
I used to think idiots were on the fringes of society until one became President for 8 years.
And I fear it never gets any better. I’m a college professor at a middle-tier school, and I still have about 30% of the class that is dull-eyed and slack-jawed. Ignore those that say this is somehow your problem as an educator. You can do your best, be a great teacher, and you will still encounter people out there who think reading is tantamount to a root canal and have all the intellectual curiosity of a mole rat. Ignore those who say that your job is cushy because they have some shitty desk job. The reason why teaching is so demoralizing is because you go into it with such enthusiasm and passion. In the beginning, you are going to SAVE THOSE KIDS. You are going to enlighten them, fill them up with the bright light of knowledge. Which, of course, is why it hits you so hard when, year after year, they wear you down…
@#1 “don’t pass them simply because you think you need to”… The problem is not that you think you need to. It’s because high school administrations cave in to parental pressure. The little darlings whine to mommy and daddy, and everyone fixes everything for them.
Ugh. Fuck teaching high school. That’s why I teach at community college – no parents to deal with and if you don’t show up for class, that’s YOUR problem.
6 nails it. If you can’t motivate your students, you’re a shitty teacher. This I Anon is a big part of why I hated high school. What makes students give a shit is a teacher who gives a shit.
The kids described here sound like examples out of “The Narcissism Epidemic”, a fascinating, yet horrifying read about modern Americans’ inflated sense of entitlement. How frustrating for this teacher. The baby boomers meant well, I’m sure, but I fear they did raise the most self-centered, entitled, arrogant generation ever. I am a child of baby boomers and I hope to learn from the patterns and mistakes of generations past and raise my child to be a much better person than the lazy, arrogant, vain types of people who seem to be becoming far too common.
Dear anonymous, most teens are insufferable brats who don’t live in the real world yet – because they are still teens. It’s why we don’t call them adults.
As an educator, I’m not really sure why this is coming as a surprise to you. It’s *expected*. Were you that unaware of your fellow teens when you were in high school yourself?
Perhaps you should consider a change of employment?
Dear Stressed Teacher,
Quit teaching. You can make far more money in the private sector and you don’t have to put up with anybody under the age of 18. Nobody who hates kids that bitterly should spend time with them.
Did I write this?
I remember this teacher. Fuck you, you cynical twat. Maybe when you decided to quit and become a cynical POS, and had really quit, letting someone with some positive energy have a go, it might have made things easier. Get over yourself.
Ten years teaching high school even though you hate it and therefore can not possibly be a decent teacher and these kids hormone addled kids are the useless fuckwits? At least they’ve still got a chance to outgrow their useless fuckwittage, things aren’t looking so great for you.
Y’all can’t blame someone who teaches high school for doing some venting. Be glad she or he isn’t literally putting vents in people with a pistol.
All I can say is, if parents really knew what goes on in school, at almost any age, homeschooling and internet schools would be the only schools! If you do not believe it, stop by your kids’ schools to visit, make sure it is a surprise visit! After that, make sure you visit and volunteer (or get a family member who is available) asap and as often as possible! It makes a world of difference. Students do not even know how to sit in class and be physically as well as mentally ready and willing to learn.
You sound bitter and hateful. Just because you drive a beat up old Datsun while the children of wealthy, successful people roll a BMW 135i. Newsflash: kids grow up, go to college, and become successful in spite of the worn down old hippies in the high school teacher’s lounge. Oh, and if you think that as a high school teacher you’re in some great service to academia, wake the fuck up. You want to be an academic? Go to the university. Now shut the fuck up and teach or quit stealing my tax dollars and go dig ditches.
Why do so many of these types become teachers?
Suck it up, I, Anon. This is what you signed up for.
And that said, don’t blame the kids. Blame the parents. I know it’s cliche to say that but goddamn if it isn’t the truth when it comes to kids’ attitudes and behaviors in public school. Shitty parenting makes for shitty kids.
Also… thanks for trying. I understand your frustration. It’s an uphill battle that never ends, teaching. Don’t let it get to you or you will permanently, miserably be the part of yourself that wrote this rant, and no one wants that, least of all you.
Dear Anonymous:
I was a teacher for 15 years. I learned early on that from September to Xmas, you try to teach EVERYONE. Then send them home with a sincere “Merry Christmas”. When they come back in January, you invest your energy ONLY in those who repay you with effort and interest (even if they achieve very little, it’s the effort and interest that “make” a student).
When I went to work, I did it for that minority of wonderful, miraculous kids who are going to make great adults. The rest are just placeholders. Don’t waste your time on them. Good luck.
@ 16, i agree completely. what i’m saying though is let the school board be the ones who fuck things up – don’t just give in yourself and cater to them. if they’re not passing the class, fail them. if they want to take it up from there, at least you did what you could.
there is so much about the school systems in this country that is beyond fucked up that i won’t even bother going into it. imho teachers should be paid as much or more than doctors because their job is just as important, if not more. but they don’t, which means the reason they are teaching to begin with is to try and improve the minds of young adults. don’t let the dumbass school boards and the dumbass parents of the kids be an excuse to give up on that.
@25 i’m pretty sure you have it backwards. “these types” don’t become teachers…. teachers become these types.
as balderdash said, it’s an uphill battle. its easy to see how 10 years of it would turn someone into a cynic.
As an educator I sympathize with the author. I am proud of what I do and know I do it well. I have had those moments with students asthe author has. If you have never been a teacher, you might think about you ability to judge this position accurately.
You might feel you can relate as all of us have been students. As students were were not mature enough (well, most of us), to realize the amount of responsibility and stress teachers face; but we all seem to think we have a valid opinion since we’ve all be in a student’s desk. I believe it’s not sound to judge a teacher until you have taught. Sure there are poor quality teachers that are not effective, but this post is a sentiment even the brightest and most motivated teachers share on certain days. I don’t know how a plumber feels to be a plumber, so I would not pretend to have an opinion on their trials and tribulations, since I am not a plumber.
As a (hopefully) former moron in high school with very little motivation, I humbly apologize. When I think about how much I made your life hell, when all you were trying to do is help me learn, I feel like crap. All I can say is that I eventually got to college, miraculously found motivation, and turned out all right.
Hang in there.
Some of those fuckwit teenagers might become asshole teachers like yourself.
And the endless cycle continues….
@ 10 you nailed that fucker right on the head.
at #10, this isn’t a contest. Do you reply to everyone’s grievances with the story of your pathetic, meaningless job?
PS. dealing with parents is no picnic. (see #24; his perspective on teachers and “sucess” as warranting apathy and ignorance is part of the problem. One day he’ll hire thugs to prevent his sons’ rape victim from squealing.)
at #16, right on. This is my theory: at some point in the past 30 years, after discovering the importance of the teen market in the mid-XX century, vendors everywhere decided that was the market to cater to. Now, because SO many shows and singers and restaurants and movies and etc. are marketed for kids, they place them at the center of the universe, constantly outdoing and correcting the mistakes of their unfair, obtuse elder. The baby boomer’s motto of “question authority” has now been watered down to “fuck you” to everything, including human empathy.
To all those assholes who talk meanly about teachers, TRY BEING ONE. I bet you this teacher isn’t nearly as mean as she sounds to those bratty little ingrates, she’s merely letting it out, as we all wish we could. There is always that ONE classroom that makes you want to shake hands with the souls of the Columbine killers.
at #27: that sounds healthy.
I work at a private school and you’d think it’d be better with upper middle class kids. But not always. And before assholes start posting ignorance about me, I’ve gotten a pay raise every single year and the students every year hold a birthday party for me and beg me not to leave (which I probalby will next year to go to grad school). Why? I tell them like it is and am always respectful and try to inspire, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel like this Anon on occasion.
NEWSFLASH ANGRY POSTERS: NOT ALL THOSE CALM-DEMEANORED TEACHERS LOVED YOU; THEY OFTEN WENT TO SMOKE PACKS OF CIGARETTES AFTER CLASS BECAUSE OF YOUR LAZY, TURGID-BRAINED TEENAGE SELF AND/OR PEERS.
Anon, I feel ya.
I suspect the sympathy comments are from people over 25, and the fuck you, quit already comments are from those under 25.
Assuming that a teacher must be crappy to be so depressed is crazy; in many school districts/ schools, you’d have to be super human to succeed.
27 has it right.
Those who think it must be the teacher’s fault if kids aren’t motivated are wrong. I had a pretty wide range of good and bad teachers through high school (and college, for that matter). Even in the classes with the best teachers, there were plenty of kids who just didn’t give a fuck. You can’t tell me that’s the teacher’s fault.
I am a teacher. It is a job where you could work 24 hours a day and there would always be that one thing left undone. Many teachers have issues with burnout, because it’s hard to just turn your back on helping people. I really strive to set clear boundaries for myself now though, because I have found if I don’t I quickly become deeply resentful…it’s almost like a weird martyr complex, but it’s my spirit and energy that die in the name of perfectionistic teaching. Things go much more smoothly when I have a fulfilling personal life, even if that means every scrap of prep isn’t done.
I teach students with severe behavior problems. At one time or another, a student has tried to hit, kick, spit on, or bite me. I’ve had a student look me in the face and tell me to fuck off more than once. I absolutely love my job. Does every strategy I try work? No. That’s the challenge. Yes, it’s hard not to take it personally when students fail. I’ve thought the phrase “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink” more times than I can count. I don’t give up though, because you never know when a student will make a breakthrough. You never know who you are making all the difference for. I agree with the posters who suggest this author consider getting out of teaching though. You are not doing yourself, your students or the profession a favor right now. Think seriously about that.
I’ll close with a few quotes that I hold dear:
“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” – Theodore Roosevelt
“A teacher affects eternity. He can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry Adams
Get over yourself bitch. Who the fuck wants to go to a “class” they’re forced to go to at one of the most confusing/exciting times in a person’s life?
fuck. yes.
you must teach in bellevue. im sorry.
Oh yeah… and you are lower-middle-class… sadly.
lol I ASPIRE to lower-middle-class banality–it would about TRIPLE my income!
Those who are angry with the poster need to get over themselves! Expressing ones opinion does not mean that this teacher doesn’t care.
Just like most of you there were teachers who were good and bad, those who provided what you needed to get moving for yourself and those that tried to tear you down.
Guess what? That is about the same thing that happens in real life. The sooner kids realize that life is what you make it, then the sooner they will stop being apathetic and get a clue.
Amen stormblade. Projecting into the future, what does the entitled student expect? After highschool/college/professional school, I’ve never heard of any boss “inspiring” their employees to excel at any job. Such inspiration has to come from within. Unfortunately few people realize this and choose to blame others be it their parents, teachers, bosses, which is truly sad and counterproductive. Thus, it’s easy for exceptional people set themselves apart from the rest of the pack.
I’d also add, what then is the student’s job? It’s been proven that leaning is an active process which requires concentration and hard, time consuming work. Sitting in the presence of greatness confers nothing to the passive student.
That said, I respect those who make the choice to focus on other aspects of life, but I expect that those people will take responsibility for that choice and not complain.
One can forget that kids between 12 and 18 are clinically poisioned to insanity with hormones. You can’t expect to get crap out of some of them for that reason. Wait 5-10 years and the worst ones will have wafted out of their stupor and have become relatively productive citizens. Some of the nice ones will have knocked up or have been knocked up several times and will owe their continued existence to a steady supply of fill-in-the-drug addictions. You just never know. In the meantime, and for a nice refreshing lift, get a job with the police as a booking officer. Hahaha.
My spouse had a traumatic brain injury and her critical thinking skills are excellent. It’s the short-term memory that’s the problem.
#37. Excellent points, I’ve been spit on, kicked and bitten by children too- but you know what, when those kids come around, it’s so so worth the effort.
Thanks, 47. I agree. Working with my type of student has caused me to reconsider my definition of a successful person. I had one student who had things so incredibly stacked against him…tough diagnosis, crazy family life, etc…that I remember thinking if he could just manage to get a job when he grew up – any job, flipping burgers, scrubbing the floor, whatever – and go every day and get through it, he would be the most successful person that I have ever known. Fingers are still crossed for that one, he’s got a few years to go.
I think some teachers expect to turn everything around for a kid in a year. I just do what I can.
Last quote:
“To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived…that is to have succeeded.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Teachers need to be paid far more to put up with what they do. I’m 24, and I hated teenagers when I was one. Even my friends get on my fucking nerves with their vapidity and lack of intellectual curiosity, and the generation under me is ten times worse. You want my advice, quit teaching and run. Our youth is a lost cause.
49, you might have a point about the pay. I was thinking about that after I posted – one thing I never communicated to everyone is I’m Canadian. I don’t know exactly what teachers in Seattle make, but I’ve heard some amounts from other places in the States and was shocked. I work for the public school board in a city of about a million. Teachers for my board earn forty five thousand their first year of teaching, and get a raise of approximately two thousand dollars a year until they are capped in their eleventh year at seventy thousand. The benefit plan is pretty good – better than most of my friends in other fields.
Although I meant what I said – I do love my job – I can guarantee you if I was earning much less than what I do now, I would find it much harder to stay motivated and upbeat.