Kelsey Jensen

Mrs. Jackie Burr, Instructor

English 2010, Section 3

11 February 2019

Self-Important Students and Parents

Dear Students and Parents,

Since when did the lacking good grades become the teacher’s fault? A student’s failure to

understand something is not the teacher’s fault. Teachers spend years of training, and not to

mention money that they will not earn back because their salary is crappy, to try and endlessly

explain the same concepts to students, year, after year, after year, after year. Do you honestly

think that the poor grade reflecting the student’s work, is because the teacher doesn't know what

they are talking about? Teachers go to college to get their jobs, they have to, in some cases, they

have to get masters degrees, like my mom.

During those endless years of teaching, my mom has had to make constant “upgrades” in

the curriculum she teaches. Making it so she has to change every lesson plan she teaches for the

whole year. And this doesn't even begin to cover the meetings that keep popping up in teachers’

spare time, when instead of grading the hundreds of assignments that are turned in, they have to

attend because it will help them relearn things they learned in college, in previous meetings, or in

real life experience. Sometimes, the point of the whole meeting is generalized, and while it may

help one subject area teachers, it doesn't help others, but all of them still have to show up and

listen to how they have to be better teachers. My mom has had to go to many meetings, where

they tell her that she should have her students involve more technology in their learning, she is a

dance teacher. There’s not much more she can do with that than finding music on their
technological device. Beyond generalized improvement advice, there is a constant pressure that

teachers have to be better. While looking up teacher struggles, I came across countless articles,

TED talks, and papers on how teacher can improve how they teach. Yes, every job pushes for

improvement, but in teaching the students are watching for screw ups. As a teacher, they have

hundreds of students depending on them to teach them the best way that they can, if they mess

up, even on accident, that student’s perception of that concept or class could be skewed for who

knows how long. Students that have even one bad experience with a teacher, might carry that

with them for forever, it can affect their whole reputation. Students tell their parents, then the

parents complain. My mom has received countless emails from parents, some as lone as full

blown essays, on how she is a failed teacher, and how she is not doing enough.

Just as a side note, my mom has stayed up past midnight grading assignments to put in

for her students, she has spent hundreds of hours of time after school for which she is not paid, to

help her students. So please, do explain again how she is not doing enough, please put your one

student's needs above the needs of the others that actually do what she says, and do not make

things harder for teachers.

On another note, grades should not be something that teachers are pestered about for

weeks on end, in the case of middle and high school teachers, they have at least three more

classes, most of the time seven to eight, filled with twenty to thirty students who turned in the

same, if not, then more complicated assignments that they have to grade individually. In high

school many teachers have after school obligations, such as clubs, and sports they have to attend.

College professors have even more students on average, with a more intense workload to grade.

And if you are one of those students that insists on turning in your work late, every, time, do not

expect to be instantly gratified with a perfect grade. The current assignment is a more pressing
concern for the teacher, seeing as there are hundreds of other students who deserve to have their

assignment graded, because they were there, did the work, and turned it in on time to make life

just a tiny bit easier for the teacher. So sorry, you’re personal grade is not of the utmost

importance to your teachers.

To those parents who send rude emails, and refuse to work with teacher’s on their

students inappropriate behavior, because your child is a little angel with so many problems that

are just too hard for them to cope with, shape up. As Principal Ryan of Hunter Junior High so

eloquently put, the teacher does not need your student in their class (5 Feb. 2019), they do not,

and should not have to put up with your child’s problems. They are there to teach, maybe the

implication of teachers actually teaching is so bland to you that it flies right over your head. They

cannot be there to pat your student on the head, and give them an A because their life is so hard.

Life’s great secret: everyone’s life is hard. The rest of us seem to struggle through it somehow

without blaming it on the fact that the teacher just doesn't understand me, or they don't respect

me. When students move on in life, people are not going to have an obligation to be kind to

them. Pandering to students´ every want and ¨need,¨ is just going to end up hurting them later on

in life.

Teachers are willing to work with students that struggle, providing that student is willing

to put the work in. In an adult world, if a worker behaves inappropriately to a boss, they are fired

on the spot. Unfortunately for teachers, your student is required by law to be in school, yes they

can kick troublesome students out of their class if the behavior is too much of a problem, but

then that student just goes to another teacher, and causes more problems. In extreme cases,

studets are expelled, but just put in another school, where they will continue to cause problems,

until they are forced to confront the fact that they are the problem. The teacher should not have
to click perfectly with your student, your student’s teachers are their boss. Your student is being

paid with knowledge they can use as a functioning adult, with a job, and a stable life, so heaven

forbid your student try and meet the teacher half way to learn something in their class.

For those reading this, and are still blaming it on the fact that it’s a bad teacher, it’s called

self teaching. There are teachers out there that will not be perfect for teaching certain students,

but education should not be totally up to the teachers, or even parents trying to spur their children

to learn something. It’s up to every person involved, students need to be willing to go and learn

something on their own. Otherwise, they’re not getting anything, you’re being fed information.

Information, that because it was force fed, will be forgotten later. Learn to question, learn to

think, learn to thank the teachers who taught you, learn to thank the parents and other guardians

in your life that have cared about you enough to push you to the point when you decided to do

something besides post, text, and play video games. Parents learn to support your kids in their

education, and help them learn, do not be afraid to push them to be better, it is what this life is

about. You can be the best kind of teachers because you can personalize it for them, as much as

we would want to have teachers be able to personalize your child’s education, there are hundreds

of kids that teachers have to worry about. Just learn to learn! We need to stop blaming teachers

for students’ short comings, we all share accountability in our own education. Teachers are

dedicated their lives to making the community around them smarter, the less we blame our

shortcomings on them, the more teaching they can get done.

Works Cited

Jensen, Emily. Face to face interview. 7 Feb. 2019.

Oaks, Ryan. 7 Feb. 2019.