System Break-Down

I had one of my top 5 worst days in education as a teacher today....

Ya, I hear ya, "but it's Saturday, how is that even possible???"

I worked Saturday school this morning. Saturday is supposed to be a time from 7am to 10am for the kids that are behind to come and have help from teachers to get caught up. It has in the past been a great thing, and a lot of the kids really use it to help them stay caught up. It just so happens that some of the kids that are so far behind, also some behavior issues.

When Natalie and I were kids going through the public school system, we never got in trouble... :-) Ok, so maybe we did once in a while, but if and when we did, according to our parents it was always our fault. Not once, not EVER was it even a remote possibility that it may be the teacher's fault! It was always up to us, to go back to the teacher/person in charge and apologize, or find out what we did wrong, and what we could/should do or have done differently. At the time, I thought it was so unfair that my parents wouldn't even listen to MY side of the story. Now I thank them for that lesson! From what I hear, Natalie's parents were the same way.

So here's the issue, if you haven't already figured it out, the kids with behavior issues, bring those issues with them to Saturday school. Defiance, disruptions, distractions, not listening, arguing every single thing you say, I think you get the point. And you say, why not tell them to be quiet or just to get to work? For one they don't listen, and two, there are different ways you are supposed to approach/instruct each kid, and if you happen to say anything that they don't like, they will go home and tell their parents, and then you (the teacher) get in trouble because the parents don't like how you told their child to get to work. The last time I worked Saturday school, I kicked a kid out for being a major disruption, then had to hear from his dad how I wasn't fair to him, and he just wanted to be there to get caught up on his work, and I was taking that opportunity away from him. 2 times ago when I was working, I kicked a kid out for being a major disruption, and then his mom called and accused me of not being fair to her child, and not being just, and she cussed at me, and told me that I just don't know how to deal with kids with learning disabilities... (I had a chuckle at that one...)

So what it has come down to is you have kids there that want to work and get caught up, and you have kids that are there because they refuse to do anything. ever. And teachers think they should go to Saturday school for punishment. Those kids distract the ones who are behind and use it to catch up on things, so then the Saturday school concept is no longer working. And if kids are being distractions, how dare you (the teacher) say anything to them and ask them to stop, cause they will have their parents take care of you. So you are just stuck.

Let them be distractions while still trying to help the others? Or Try to get them to stop being distractions and risk getting in "trouble" for doing so?

This morning about 9am, the other teacher and I were just at a loss as to how to proceed? What do you do?

The system (public education) is breaking down, and has been for several years now. Classroom teachers deal with it every day, and it's just a part of the job. I respect them for their ability to do this. Some are very good at it, and some not so much, and for that reason they tend not to stick around long, or are always involved in confrontations with kids and parents.

It's just so different from how we were raised, and I only see it getting worse.

It just scares me because I wonder what our society will be like when all these kids are grown up?