What's Wrong With Today's Teachers

Whats wrong with todays teachers Its a well known fact that academic performance is suffering in American society. National standardized testing reveals increasingly poor performance in reading comprehension, mathematics, science and every other area of academics for grades K through 12. So what exactly is it about teachers today that has resulted in the dumbing down of American children

How could these collective individuals allow the educational system to get so far out of hand After all, teachers have a union. Surely that means they must wield substantial power over the local, state and federal bureaucratic management of our childrens education, right All we ever hear about is how teachers are paid less and less every year and forced to do more with a dwindling budget. What about poor parents who are expected to show an active interest in their childrens future Isnt it enough that they sired the children and drop them off at the mall or provide a television set for entertainment I mean, reallygiven the choice between expecting and demanding more of our kids academically and encouraging them to participate in athletics, who wouldnt choose football and cheerleading

Thankfully, not everyone is complacent with the current state of affairs. A quick look at educationally related news from around the country shows several stories featuring parents suing schools because their children misbehave, are reprimanded for wearing inappropriate clothing that goes against school policy or refuse to follow rules designed to keep kids collectively focused on the task at hand. It sure is comforting to know that parents like these are teaching their kids whats really important in life. After all, wouldnt it go against the rugged individualism this country strives toward if kids were told they dont always need to be the center of attention Besides, if it werent for managing the increasingly combative, disruptive and apathetic behavior weve worked so hard to teach our children by example, what we be paying teachers for in the first place

And just because budget cutbacks decried by the same taxpayers who refuse to pay more for their own childrens education result in overwhelming class sizes, thats still no excuse for our education systems poor performance. If anything, learning environments where kids get less individual attention serve to prepare them for the modern state of parenthood, right

Yes, its obviousthe blame lies squarely on the shoulders of teachers. Why blame our societys overwhelming attitude of pride toward being uninterested in math and science Why blame unruly children who arent getting any attention, guidance or discipline at home Why blame salaries that are barely enough to live on and education budgets that pale in comparison to the amount of money spent on waging pointless, fruitless wars that devastate the lives of countless innocent civilians abroad Everyone knows that people living outside of American shores dont matter anyway, right

Yes, we could examine the aforementioned, but that might force us to examine ourselves, how we live, how we vote and why weve lost all sense of personal accountability and responsibility. Why do that when we can do things the American waylets just continue to blame teachers.