What it’s like being a teacher in Omerica

[andhra_jp]

A new book Teachers By Alexandra Robbins focuses on three teachers working in the US and the many difficulties they face in an increasingly untenable system.

In many places, a teacher makes $30,000 per year after taxes and insurance payments, which means nearly 70% of teachers have to take on a second job to makes ends meet.

Unfortunately, systemic racism is not something teachers can teach because they're also being attacked and censored in what they can teach. In the first six weeks of 2022, "state legislatures introduced more than 100 bills aimed at censoring classroom discussions of race, racism, gender, LGBTQ+ issues, and American history," Robbin writes.

Politics, greed, and mismanagement have made this profession incompatible with physical and mental health.

Over the years, teachers were required to take instruction in social-emotional learning and accept an increase in mandated compliance training to monitor for neglect and child abuse.

In addition to the long-held attitude of disrespect (“those who can’t teach”, etc),  teachers must contend with diminishing resources, internecine power plays that compromise their abilities to do their work, and Republican politicians championing “parents’ rights”, aka decimated curriculums and bookshelves. 
The pay doesn’t make up for the trouble; the majority of teachers have side hustles to make ends meet.

Especially unsettling is the experience of Miguel, a middle-school special-education teacher, who is teetering on the brink of leaving the profession because of the excessive requirements placed on him without adequate time and resources. His previous school year was a nightmare of abuse, with his students frequently attacking him; 
every few months he had to get HIV and hepatitis tests because of student bites. Complaints to a district administrator resulted only in Miguel’s being told, “That’s part of the job.” 
Ultimately, Miguel sued the district because of permanent disabilities caused by the attacks and won lifetime medical care.

Robbins says that the most shocking revelations she uncovered during the course of reporting were how fraught relations were between teachers 
and district officials as well as the odd helicopter parent. Administrators and parents are so much more aggressive and accusatory to teachers now than they were pre-pandemic, she says.

The public stigmatizes the teaching profession, yet also expects teachers to solve all problems and blames them when they can’t,” Robbins writes.

Experts say that what causes teacher burnout is a lack of proper workplace resources and support and unmanageable workload, high stakes testing and so forth, Robbins says.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/30/the-teachers-book-alexandra-robbins-review
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/20/1164653389/alexandra-robbins-book-the-teachers-highlights-pressures-of-educating
https://www.amazon.com/Teachers-Americas-Vulnerable-Important-Profession/dp/1101986751
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/03/08/teachers-woes-vulnerable-profession-robbins/

[Guest]

Eventually, these teachers will be replaced with online education & reducing the need of teachers. It was tested during COVID & necessary changes will be made to make everything work out. 

In fact, kids might be surveilled in school by the parents to monitor what content is being taught especially in the Republican states.

[andhra_jp]

1 hour ago, rushmore said:

Eventually, these teachers will be replaced with online education & reducing the need of teachers. It was tested during COVID & necessary changes will be made to make everything work out. 

In fact, kids might be surveilled in school by the parents to monitor what content is being taught especially in the Republican states.

yaa future alagee anipistundi that teaching profession may be yesterday's profession with advances of AI ...

[andhra_jp]

1 hour ago, andhra_jp said:

A new book Teachers By Alexandra Robbins focuses on three teachers working in the US and the many difficulties they face in an increasingly untenable system.

In many places, a teacher makes $30,000 per year after taxes and insurance payments, which means nearly 70% of teachers have to take on a second job to makes ends meet.

Unfortunately, systemic racism is not something teachers can teach because they're also being attacked and censored in what they can teach. In the first six weeks of 2022, "state legislatures introduced more than 100 bills aimed at censoring classroom discussions of race, racism, gender, LGBTQ+ issues, and American history," Robbin writes.

Politics, greed, and mismanagement have made this profession incompatible with physical and mental health.

Over the years, teachers were required to take instruction in social-emotional learning and accept an increase in mandated compliance training to monitor for neglect and child abuse.

In addition to the long-held attitude of disrespect (“those who can’t teach”, etc),  teachers must contend with diminishing resources, internecine power plays that compromise their abilities to do their work, and Republican politicians championing “parents’ rights”, aka decimated curriculums and bookshelves. 
The pay doesn’t make up for the trouble; the majority of teachers have side hustles to make ends meet.

Especially unsettling is the experience of Miguel, a middle-school special-education teacher, who is teetering on the brink of leaving the profession because of the excessive requirements placed on him without adequate time and resources. His previous school year was a nightmare of abuse, with his students frequently attacking him; 
every few months he had to get HIV and hepatitis tests because of student bites. Complaints to a district administrator resulted only in Miguel’s being told, “That’s part of the job.” 
Ultimately, Miguel sued the district because of permanent disabilities caused by the attacks and won lifetime medical care.

Robbins says that the most shocking revelations she uncovered during the course of reporting were how fraught relations were between teachers 
and district officials as well as the odd helicopter parent. Administrators and parents are so much more aggressive and accusatory to teachers now than they were pre-pandemic, she says.

The public stigmatizes the teaching profession, yet also expects teachers to solve all problems and blames them when they can’t,” Robbins writes.

Experts say that what causes teacher burnout is a lack of proper workplace resources and support and unmanageable workload, high stakes testing and so forth, Robbins says.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/30/the-teachers-book-alexandra-robbins-review
https://www.npr.org/2023/03/20/1164653389/alexandra-robbins-book-the-teachers-highlights-pressures-of-educating
https://www.amazon.com/Teachers-Americas-Vulnerable-Important-Profession/dp/1101986751
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2023/03/08/teachers-woes-vulnerable-profession-robbins/

 

 

What are three concrete steps that school districts could take to fight burnout,  Alexandra Robbins gave three good answers:

1) Invest in personnel rather than new programs. Adding teachers and support staff (paras, aides, counselors, and a nurse in every school) while paring down newfangled curriculum initiatives and other programs would at least be a first step to better keep a teacher's job within the paid contracted hours.

2) Increase teachers' pay. No teacher should have to work a second job just to be able to afford to keep teaching.

3) Increase teachers' decision-making power and autonomy. Every committee that determines school operations should be led by a teacher; teachers know best what will work in today's classrooms.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/petergreene/2023/03/14/a-new-book-captures-the-reality-of-teacher-work/?sh=484e3bef2923
 

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[andhra_jp]

Looks like non-STEM teachers are looked inferior in many public schools in US according to Alexandra Robbins author of "The Teachers"
 

Quote

School librarians, music, PE, art, drama, and other teachers commonly known as “specialists” also said that districts, coworkers, or parents minimised or ignored their contributions at school.

School communities may be more likely to view PE as a peripheral or “low status” subject because, experts say, it requires more physicality than cognition.
Music teachers, too, said they’re misjudged because of their specialty. Music is considered a ‘fluff subject’ and I hate that,” said an Ohio charter school music teacher.

We should be taken seriously! We are real musicians who play real music on real instruments. I can connect this ‘fluff subject’ to any other subject taught.
A midwestern Latin teacher’s coworker told her that Latin shouldn’t count as a foreign language credit “because it’s not spoken and you really just teach history.”
(She was proud that when a physics teacher told one of her students that the class was a “colossal waste of time,” the student retorted with a list of scientific terminology rooted in Latin.)

The focus on STEM is concerning. It puts language, music, art, and other programs in danger.


A New Jersey high school English teacher said that for students, her class is always last on the hierarchy.
Math, science, history—all those come before us in terms of time dedicated.
Even those who love literature spend time on math homework or even reviewing for the SATs instead of reading or writing.
We simply cannot convince most of our students that English class matters.


Private and public school social studies teachers in Pennsylvania said that because the subject isn’t frequently tested on state assessments, districts and schools tend to neglect the department, such as when ordering new books or necessary supplies.
Social studies is like the ugly stepchild of core subjects,” a public school teacher said.
Some administrators at my school are pushing to make social studies classes practice for the state literature tests and take out requirements for students to know any social studies content.

Source : The Teachers By Alexandra Robbins