IF YOU THINK YOUR JOB IS DIFFICULT, PLEASE READ THE EXPERIENCE OF SOME TEACHERS IN THE DIASPORA

I know sometimes we feel pressured and overwhelmed by the expectations from all and sundry. Truth is, the demands are quite herculean in some parts of the globe more than they are here.

If you think your job is difficult, please read the experience of some teachers in the diaspora.

“I had a parent (and her son) refuse to sign my rules and expectations sheet at the beginning of the year because one of my expectations in class was that students are awake and attentive. She argued that her HIGH SCHOOL aged son should be able to nap whenever he feels the need to.

“I was teaching home Ec and a parent told me I was unreasonable to expect the students to wash the dishes they used…that was my job and he was going to report me to the Ministry of Education!”

“A high school student was skipping classes and not turning in his work. His mother wanted us to follow him in the hall to his next class (“Follow him, but stay far enough away so he’s not embarrassed!”) and then make sure he went in to his next class (“But don’t confront him because he doesn’t like that!”) she also demanded that since he couldn’t keep track of his binder that his teachers should carry the binder to the next class for him. She also emailed and called the school throughout the day to check on him. It was horrible.”

“One parent wanted keys to all of the tests and quizzes I gave my class to make sure I was grading correctly.”

“A mother asked if her daughter could have an excused absence for the day because she had lost her virginity the night before.”

“One parent called me because she was concerned about the hours her daughter was playing video games at home. She wanted me to talk to her [daughter] about how she should be working on her homework at home and not sitting in front of a screen.”

“A mom called me one time and asked why I hadn’t taught her kindergarten child how to get dressed. Because if I had taught him right, she said, he wouldn’t need so much of her help getting ready in the morning.”

“I had a parent who said kids should be able to use their smartphones on tests because ‘as grown-ups, when we don’t know something, we Google it.’ He was also one of our admin.”

“I teach high school English. And to be clear, reading is an essential part of any high school English class. It’s often the only homework I assign, and often our classroom discussions and work are based on the assigned reading. But that didn’t stop one mother from scheduling a conference to ask if her daughter could skip the reading because she had signed up for too many after-school activities and didn’t have time to read.”

“A parent emailed me once and told me she had heard that I had asked her six-year-old son to teach the other kids. She went on to explain that teaching wasn’t her son’s job, it was my job. And if I wanted to keep getting paid, I needed to start working for my paycheck.”

“A fourth grader’s mother told our school secretary she needed to blow on her daughter’s soup at lunch in case it was too hot.”

“I emailed a parent about her child name-calling another student as an ongoing issue. Parent wrote back and said that was a normal part of growing up. Every child does it.”

“A parent emailed and asked me to send her a text message every day with her son’s homework assignment (he’s in ninth grade) because he had a hard time keeping track of his assignments. In the same email, she also requested that her ‘very gifted’ son never work with a partner or in groups because her child was going to college and she wasn’t so sure about the other students.”

“A mom called and asked me to teach her ninth-grader about hygiene. She recommended a crash course on brushing teeth, using deodorant, and even table manners.”

“I had a mom tell me that there was NO WAY I could teach math every day. Once or twice a week was already overwhelming for her son. Math makes him sad.”

“A mother called to let me know that she had to take her daughter out of school for a week because [they were] going on a trip. She wanted her sixth grade daughter to be able to write a paper about the trip instead of doing the work that would be assigned in class. When I told her that [her daughter] had to follow our district’s curricular standards and complete the work that she missed, [the mother] threatened to sue me because I wasn’t making necessary adaptations for her daughter.”

“I got a note from a mom telling me that her son had a sore throat. She asked if I could make him hot tea throughout the day. She sent in a fist full of tea bags in his bag. At the bottom of the note she told me that if I had any honey laying around, I should add that to the hot tea to soothe his throat more.” —M.B.

Remind her to flush, too!  “A mom asked me last week if I would remind her daughter, a second grader, to wipe front to back really well each time she [went] to the bathroom during the day.” —S.H.

He will be a CEO someday. “After a struggling student of mine stood me up for three study sessions, his father called and asked to schedule a conference. When I arrived at the conference, the dad stood there in his business suit, glared, and told me he owned a $30 million company, his son would succeed in school, and that I would change the grade to 100 percent regardless of his previous scores.” —N.C.

She also likes sashimi. “We were going on a full-day field trip, and one of my students came to school without a lunch. I called her mom to see if she could bring something to the school before we left. Her response? She asked me if I could just drive through and pick her [daughter] up some sushi on the way to the farm.” —L.B.

Could we just call it an open-hand test? “I caught a student cheating on a test. His dad called that night and explained to me that it would be unfair for me to take points off of his grade for cheating because that would lower his grade.” —K.H.

There must be something in the water. “A mom emailed me that her ninth-grade son had a condition where if he got dehydrated, his brain stopped functioning, which explained his failing grades. Her solution? She wanted me to make sure he had a water bottle with him at all times and that he was drinking from it regularly.” —T.O.

I had a student in 7th grade (math) whose mother moved him from my room because he should be in the accelerated class (he was making C’s). Then I moved to Algebra 1 and got him again. He talked constantly, didn’t always have his work done and was constantly whining. Mother emails me OFTEN (because I refused to give her my phone number). Finally, his grade drops to a D and she emails me –“You need to tutor him before school, after school, at lunch or during his PE time. He CANNOT have a D.” I let her know that I don’t tutor and during my 26-minute lunch, I actually eat lunch and use the restroom and, no, during his PE, I have another class. I also let her know that I would be more than happy to find her a tutor but math tutors charge $30-50 per hour. She changed her mind.

One of my students hacked other student’s google accounts and started logging on as other people and starting rumours. Once the student was caught and the mother was informed of her child’s unacceptable use of school property, she declared that it was the district’s fault for making the passwords so easy to figure out.

I had a parent who wrote a letter to the school asking that one of my students be expelled because he was “bullying” her son (which wasn’t even true). This was in Kindergarten. And she was a teacher in the same school!

I had a SEN mom who insisted that her 8th-grade daughter needed a copy of all the upcoming science tests three weeks in advance with the keys so her daughter had time to memorize the answers. This also applied to district unit assessments. Mom filed a filed a complaint against me because I followed the IEP that stated a study guide was to be given out at least one week in advance of an upcoming test. Her complaint was that the study guide was not worded right or in order like the actual test.

Remember what I always say about teaching not being for the weak? The late Prof Adesanmi said in his Plato's allegory of the cave that "education is the only superior force that can free mankind. If you are privileged to be a medium of public education and enlightenment, fate and destiny have chosen you for a solemn duty to not just your fatherland but to mankind. You have lost the right to such statements as I’ve given up, they rain insults on me any time I write to enlighten them or they are in love with their chains.

#schoolreopening, #teacherresilience