I have arrived home tonight late, having had to attend a reports evening for years 7 to 10. During the course of the evening I only saw about 8 parents. They were mostly parents of well behaved children. The ones we really need to see never come. This despite the fact that it's the only way they actually get to see a report since we will not give them to anybody else or post them.
During the course of the evening one of the parents bizzarely offered to flatten me if I stepped outside, because I asked his daughter why she had not been in lessons fro the last two weeks. I stepped away and tried to remain professional. He followed me and continued to threaten me. He wouldn't let it drop and we ended up nose to nose, and would probably have come to blows had not other members of staff nearby not stepped in to drag us apart. Now this guy was clearly not the sharpest knife in the draw if you get my meaning. I suppose I should have the police intervene and prosecute for threatening behaviour, but that wouldn't do his daughter's education a lot of good. I think she's embarrased by him, I know I would be. I guess I'm wrinting this just as a way of getting it off my chest. I'm 46 and my blood pressure must be near bursting right now, and the more I go through it in my head the more I want to bounce the little sh** all over the school. I know it would cost me my carreer but right now it feels like it might be worth it. I don't want to teach anymore. I'm sick of it. NOW I'm beginning to feel a little better. Have to go through it all again tomorrow. Yippee.

Vinnie

Well, All I can say is if you like to teach then teach! It's the kids that count right. I had a teacher who taught world history, He was a mouse of a man and would stutter when intimidated by a student but he brought history to life for me !!! he did not just rattle off what was in the cirriculum he made it fascinating. He would travel to the spots he taught about and then bring it back and make it alive. Next I had a teacher for english and business english and she treated everyone like an adult and expected adult behaviour in return . Everything was "Mr" or "Miss" and that proper enlish and grammar were more important to communication than any collection of 4 letter words a body could muster. She said that a well read well spoken invidual could "Berate and cut a person to shreds" with just the use of proper english.


She was right!! teachers affect people for thier entire lives, your antagonist will fade without even making an impression on the world.

I'd rather be you than him.

Thanks Probuilder

Vinnie

Thanks James!

Vinnie I can only say you've got one of the hardest, most thankless jobs in the world. I can only imagine what you go through on a regular basis. Teachers, real teachers that is which I suspect you are, put in more time, and expenses out of their own pockets than just about any career I can think of. Note I said career, because anybody who looks at it like a "job" shouldn't be doing what they're doing.

Like ProBuilder said, it's the kids that count. Blow off steam, have a beer or two, build a model, forget that idiot father, and concentrate on the kid. Sounds like she has problems enough at home and can use all the help she can get in school.

Vinnie:

I know how you feel. I was a high school teacher here in Houston for 11 years. I was lucky enough to teach at a well to do private school, but even there we would only get maybe 20% participation by parents on parent-teacher evenings. Occasionally there would be the angry parent where their child's problems were everyone else's fault but their own. But now, 12 plus years after I left the profession, as I needed to earn enough to support a family, I still miss it and have done nothing in my legal career as rewarding as teaching those students. I hope that one day, when the financial demands on me have been reduced, that I might be able to return to the classroom. Stick with it, because in your profession the benefit to your students are tremendous but not noticeable for many years.

Keith

Yep, Rodger hit it on the head...it's a thankless job. But you know what? I'm thankful each and every day that there are teachers such as yourself whom are dedicated enough to stick it out and continue to teach year after year. You have my greatest admiration. If you reach a handful of kids, then you've accomplished what you set out to do. That, my friend, gives us yet another handful of hope as a species.

Thank you Vinnie.

If I were there I would buy you several rounds.

Vinnie

this fall il be in secondary five, which is hte last year of high school for us in quebec. I have noticed the deterioration of the educational system around here. I met my teacher in the parking lot of a local groverystore today while coming back from work. Apperantly children entering hightschool with have hte same teachers 2 years in a row to reduce the level of dropout. This program had aperantly been tried out in switzerland( not to sure if thats the right place) 10 years ago and it was cancelled because it wasnt anygood. and now the ministers of education who have no idea what the real conditions in hight school are choose a plan that has proved itself by failing to its purpose. Thats how I as a student see how school is going.

I agree with what you are saying. some parents over react when htere kids get in trouble. its confusing when you ask yourself which of hte two realy is the child.

Dont give up Vinnie, Works always a pita( pain in hte ass) But as my teachers usualy tell me: its not the paycehck thats matters, its having kids come back in a few years and thanking you for helping them.

Frank

Thanks guys! My stomach is beginning to unknot, my blood pressure is just about back to normal, and I've decided that the guy is a whole lot less important than that brown mess I accidentally stood in last week and had to scrape off my shoe.
I fell better thanks to you guys and ready to continue the war tomorrow. Roll on the summer vacation!

Vinnie

Vinnie, I agree with above, but I know it must be hard sometimes for you.
What that father did sounds like an act of fear to me...
Perhaps you should not have police intervene, but it is a good thing when they (or perhaps some other agency?) take discreet but official notice of it. It can be part of something 'bigger'.

I too remember several teachers that have had a great influence on my life, at that moment or later on in my life. I don't think they know, or even remember me, but they did.

You are doing a great job; keep your head up!

Paul

Now Vinnie, I don’t remember the exact words to this therapeutic message, but here goes….

Take a deep breath and let it out very slowly. Close your eyes. Think of a tranquil enclosed garden, in a serene green hillside setting. See the colourful masses of the most beautiful flowers, smell their fragrant aromas. Now listen carefully to the tranquil stream, hear the gurgling sound the water makes as it passes over the rocks before it enters the clear pond.
Now look down into the clear pond. The water so clear that you can unmistakably make out each feature of the IDIOT’S face as you hold his head under the water!

Feel Better Yet?

No Vinnie! THANK YOU. If it not for you and others like you there would be no one out there on the frontlines of education fighting quite possibly the only good fight there is.

I often wondered what I would truly do IF i was ever blessed enough to win a very large lottery and I have pared it down to this scenario:

Give money to my family and wifes family. Move to a small community in the mountains and open a Hobby shop/Bookstore and anonymously support the local schools with large donations as needed.

IMHO My tax dollars should go to 1)Education 2) Health Care 3) A Combined military service


Does anyone else think it is strange that more people would spend money on homeless pets and pet healthcare than on education. someday there won.t be any Vets because the never got a good education.

Vinnie, my wife and I are both teachers, and I know exactly where you're coming from. The thing that gets me through when something like this happens (and thankfully and hasn't happened too often) is to try and concentrate on the good kids, and the good parents, the ones that really do care. Those small things like when a former student comes back to visit me after they have gone on, or when I see a parent and they tell me how much they enjoyed having me as there childs teacher. These are the kind of things that make it all worthwhile for me.

Cheers,
Mike

As for the ones who don't care, just remember that the world still needs ditch digers and custodians.

Vinnie:

There will always be at least one in that class that needs you. Focus on that one. Be the best you can be always. Rewards aren't tangible sometimes, but one day one of them will walk into your classroom and say "I'm a lawyer thanks to you." You can't reach them all so concentrate on those you can. For what it is worth, you should have have called the police. Papa needed to "learn" more than little girl. There used to be a bumper sticker that said "If you can read this, thank a teacher" Thanks Vinnie

Steve Joyce

Hi Vinnie!

I never was in the situation you described... I guess it is because you don't have that much consideration as an Art teacher! Art is not that important to be noticed by angry parents! I'm lucky in that point!
But in all, what you wrote happens the same way in France! I used to be teacher in a ZEP (Zone of Educational Priority) and it was not easy to handle kids that couldn't write two words without making a spelling mistake, did not have any pencil to draw nor any motivation for nothing! I wasn't an art teacher at that time, but an adult trying to have the kids respect the authority and respect each other! I never ever tried to tell them about Picasso, Rembrandt or Pollock! They are billions of years far from that!
The problem is we have to fight against TV, Vidéo Games, Internet, Portable Phone etc... with our Chalkboard! It's like fighting a Tank with a little stick! Our educational system is the same as in 1900: kids sitting in front of a teacher who writes something on a board! But the kids aren't the same anymore!
The kids today desperatly want some attention because their parents don't give notice of them anymore! I don't blame parents, but the kids are to often left on their own! It's certainly because life is hard, both parents work all day and they don't want to handle the school problems of their kids too!
Vinnie, have you noticed that a kid, behaving badly in class, can be very kind and pleasant when you talk to him alone! It's because he got that attention he hasn't at home or at school in most of the time! The parents are different! They are quiet in society but act badly when alone with a teacher...
Anyway, I was in the same mood as you sometimes but fortunately changed school last year! All I can say is the job isn't the same anymore! Here I don't have to bother too much about respect and so, and I can use the names of Picasso, Rembrandt and Pollock without being considerated as an alien coming from another galaxy!
I don't know the British system, but if you are really feed up with teaching, consider changing the school! I wouldn't have teached longer in ZEP! It gave me physical problems (psoriasis due to stress!) No job is worse it to ruin someones health!

Good luck!

P.S. About summer vacations. I always figured a teacher like a swimmer in the middle of the sea and the summer vacations like islands to rest. The problem is the islands seems to be farther away and difficult to reach each year! And the sea is full of sharks!

Vinnie, we were out late last night too, attending our daughters’ School Awards evening.

To think that a few years ago, they were having problems (language wise) at school, and then sitting in the audience watching them receive their awards last night, for achievement, sure felt superb.

Yeah just a few short years ago, they were struggling, but thanks to the teachers’ time and attention they not only pulled through, but also are now slowly mastering the challenge.

From one grateful parent, all I can say is THANK YOU! Ignore the few bad apples and remember the hundreds you have helped and will help in future!

Vinnie,

All I can say is that I wish my teachers had been as passionate as you are. It might well have motivated my classmates and me to work even harder.

We need more teachers like you not only in Britain, but throughout the world!

Rudi

Curious postscript to that story comes from the (private) school SWMBO teaches in. There is a group of doped-up drongos in her school who do little apart from drink and stick crap up their noses. For some reason they have decided to turn their attention to one of the art-teachers who is around five feet tall and has little in the way of personality. Not in the school, outside. Last saturday she was surrounded by this group of pond-life and threatened (not the first time). This was raised at the staff meeting yesterday and (as usual) the cry of 'not our problem, please don't bring the police in, good name of the school etc...'

So the usual garbage - no protection for teachers and the muppets in the management sticking their heads in the sand. Very much a universal problem.

I still teach, but as a teach privately, i'm lucky. I don'tike their behaviour or attitude, they are out. I've always been lucky in that sense, teaching under-grads and then teaching spoiled brats in the English dept. of a large FE college....Enjoy your holidays..Jim

All I can say is thanks to everybody who replied. Reading all your comments made me feel a whole lot better about teaching these kids, and that there are a lot of good kids out there who will turn out OK and far outweigh the nutcases. The angry parent was allowed to continue around the Hall, intimidating other teachers and glaring at me. I have now been informed that the incident is under investigation. Isn't Senior Management cool?!

Vinnie

Vinnie as a retired cop I understand perfectly Feral is the term used today for a lot of our children much to our shame.I mainly dealt with there parents I cant explain in words what I think of those type of people but a journalist wrote recently why he was leaving the U.K. to live in france he used the term Brutal and Vulgar my sentiments exactly and Im off to buy a little place in Brittany this summer because I have had enough of this place.I was talking to a work collegue the other day and we found that we went to the same secondary school thirty five years ago, we both spoke of our old teachers with much respect and warmth, even though they warmed my backside a few times.all the best Vinnie its a hard job but some of us still respect you for doing it.

Thanks John. I envy you moving to Brittany

Vinnie