Location: St. Augustine, FL
About Me: A high school Biology teacher's coping with rosacea while living in the interesting and sometimes insane world of public education.
November 07, 2004
Threats and other joys of teaching
Hi all,
The flushing has settled in at a constant mild level now. The daily stress and tiredness will probably keep me from improving it past the current point. I will be SO thankful to have a break. This past week was a killer. We had labs two days in which I was constantly walking from table to table all day. Whew!!
My nextdoor neighbor at school poured out her frustration and fears to me Friday. She took a day off for 'sanity leave'. In her absence the classes behaved very rudely towards the substitute. It's a long story, but the gist of it was that they showed the sub no respect and would not even sit down when asked to do so. When my coworker returned, she cleaned house by chewing the classes out and sent several to the dean for detention. Two of these wonderful examples of adolescence were overheard at lunch telling others that they were going to 'do something really violent' to the teacher. One of them was seen cruising through the teacher's neighborhood the following morning. This teacher was afraid for her own safety as well as the safety of her family. I recommended that she strongly demand that the youth services officer and the deans pursue this and take appropriate action. They finally took the two students out of her class after the teacher threatened legal action aganst the school for failure to act on threats against an instructor. It's sad that teachers have little support. The administration is so concerned that they will upset some parents that they bend over backwards to appease them. Teachers have no value today at many schools except for being image promoters and babysitters.
I have 4 more years after this current school year before I can retire. I had been thinking of trying to work longer, but with the current environment I really do not think I could survive with my sanity intact. I am tired of dealing with the daily administrative garbage and lack of support. I am sick of the stress and what it is doing to my body. The good moments of being an instructor are often overshadowed these days by absurd demands and crazy expectations. We have little support, poor salaries, and no self-esteem. It's no wonder that my body is breaking down.
Posted by Ken Albin on November 7, 2004 04:25 PM