Is it really this bad?

I read a post from a college-level writing teacher that stunned me. The entry was part of a piece entitled "'Before and after' – stories of life-changing events that shaped peoples' lives." He (or she) wrote as follows:

"[I]t might well be this semester's papers turned in by students. I teach writing at the university level, and the papers were SO awful and so many students SO apathetic that I just can't even imagine doing this job anymore.

"I can point to one single paper that broke me. I actually had a real breakdown and spent last week in a crisis stabilization unit. It is TERRIFYING to watch education ebb like this, and to see students not participating in their own lives. I do not expect people to love writing, but at least be *present* in your own head! The entire system is dumbing down, which means that the American people are dumbing down too."

Okay, having to enter a crisis stabilization unit over poor writing seems a bit extreme; but still, I have to ask: Is it really this bad? Obviously we're aware the quality of public education has been declining for years – it's why we homeschooled our girls, after all – but is it to the point where college students are essentially illiterate? What are educators doing through decades of education to produce such "terrifying" results? I'm not in the trenches, so I don't see it.

Is the English language so reviled that no one teaches its usage anymore? Those with teaching experience, please chime in. Is it really this bad? And if so, why?

More ammunition for homeschoolers

This came off the Dr. Laura website.
_________________________

All my life I have wanted to be a high school teacher. Now, going on 60, after having given my working life to another industry that ended up tanking, I am finally taking my teacher certification. But with all that I see going on these days, I am having second thoughts. Kids these days are slutty, violent, use filthy language, disrespectful, and spoiled rotten. They get computers in kindergarten, cell phones in second grade, iPods in 3rd grade, new cars at 15, trips to Aruba for high school graduation. They get allowances bigger than many of my paychecks. They get drunk and sleep around in junior high school. How can someone possibly communicate with them? It just can't be done. And when a teacher tries to discipline a student, she finds herself called in for disciplinary action by HER superiors or gets slapped with a lawsuit by t he miffed student's parents, or gets trashed on Facebook or somewhere else. There is no backup from the administration, as well classes are getting bigger and bigger, 30-40-45 students in a class, and social promotion without work completion is the norm rather than the exception. My daughter, now in her 30's, tells me I would not fit in a high school (or elementary school) these days. I am redirecting to adult education, GED or ESL. But in order to get there I have to do one year mentoring and practice teaching on the high school level. I'm going to do it - even if it takes going into a closet to cry at the end of the day. I have a lifetime of experience to give, but no one, not administration, broken-down fellow teachers, or kids cares any more. I will do my year, and then get out. It's very sad. There is no solution. I just don't get it. How did we fall so fast? What solution is there?

C.

Teacher in the trenches

Sometimes people want to blame all the ills and evils of public education on teachers. Sometimes teachers are part and parcel of the problem, but many (possibly most?) times they're not. Here's a letter I received from one such person:

I was very interested in some of your comments on homeschooling. For several years, I home-schooled my four children until going through a (very unwanted) divorce. Since I was going to have to work, I thought it would be better to put the two still at home into public school. The difference between the older two who were completely homeschooled, and the two who had to go into public school is very apparent, especially in respect for education and in respect for others.

I know there were a lot more factors at play than the difference in education. They moved from a stable family to a broken home, older sister went to college, older brother moved out to get away from Dad – all in the space of about a year. And it is also true that they are the children of two people, so I am not the only influence on them. But I spend part of every day sick to my stomach at the decisions I have made, or that have been made for me. Have I ruined their lives by the decisions I have made?

After having trouble finding any kind of financially rewarding work in the area where I live, having no retirement savings, etc. I decided to go back to school. Since I had always loved school, had taught a couple of years in small religious schools, and had homeschool experience, I majored in Elementary Education, thinking that was something I would love, and that I would be able to save most of my pay toward retirement. I now question the wisdom of this decision. The school settings I go into are appalling. How can I conscientiously do the things I am required to do as a public school teacher? To say nothing of put up with what teachers have to put up with?

The wild and untamable students rule the schools and form district policy. In the local school district, rather than do whatever it takes to control students, the teachers and principals are being forced to allow more and more behavior to go unpunished. ‘Referrals’ numbers are supposed to come down, and statistics are more important than the students, so... It takes the kids about two days to realize that they can get by with today what they could not get by with in the past. Bullying, disrespect, and violence run the schools. I have seen veteran teachers so frustrated they hop up and down in anger, or just quit trying and sit in a chair.

The students who are in school to learn are left completely unprotected and untaught. Under the guise of a free and equal education for everyone, no one is getting a challenging and rewarding education, and no one is physically or emotionally safe, ever. The focus of daily activity, conversation, faculty/staff meetings, principal meetings, school board meetings is the students who are out of control. The blame ends up in the laps of the classroom teachers.

In the typical local public school classroom I do not use anything I learned at the College of Education. The training I need is for how to do crowd control at a state prison without the support of the warden. The teachers have been left hanging in the wind and the kids are in control. In many cases these kids have the full support of their parents! It is not uncommon for a teacher to be cursed for trying to ‘tell a child what to do.’

I have direct experience in several of the local schools. It is the exception rather than the rule to find a teacher who, with the support of her principal, is making her classroom a safe haven where no bad behavior is tolerated, and learning takes place in a loving, peaceful environment. I know of only one in the entire school district. I am sure she has no idea she is basically homeschooling 30 students!

Now I am graduated (with plenty of gray hair), wondering how to find a job in the middle of years of massive education cuts under our governor who touts herself as an “education governor.” I’m fearful I have taken the wrong path, and am in debt for nothing. I still love education, and genuinely like working with children of all ages, but am feeling hopeless about American education as an institution.

If you made it all the way through my venting session, I really appreciate it! Thanks for being a spot of sanity in the midst of craziness!