As May 2nd kicks off the start of “Teacher Appreciation Week”, I ask myself, “Why?” What do teachers do that employs them an entire week of appreciation? Listed below are 7 Reasons why teachers don’t actually deserve a week of appreciation.
- TEACHERS DON’T ACTUALLY WANT TO TEACH
It’s plain and simple. Teachers don’t want to teach. Teachers don’t go into teaching because they want to have a positive impact on the lives of children, or because they believe that every one of their students has the potential to succeed. Teachers are only in it for the incredible pay check, the short hours, and the cute kids who ALWAYS behave. Teaching is a job that anybody can do. It’s not like it’s a job that engulfs your life, your energy, and your patience. You don’t even have to love children to teach, you just have to be able to tolerate them. It doesn’t matter if you’re qualified either. If you’ve sat in a classroom of students before, than you can absolutely teach one. It’s EASY!!!!!
2. TEACHERS HAVE IT EASY, BECAUSE CHILDREN ARE ALWAYS PERFECT
As teachers , we spend 8 hours a day with other people’s children. It’s always smooth sailing, every day. Every lesson plan goes perfectly, without disruption. Days when we are being talk-backed to, yelled at, sassed to, and ignored, don’t exist. Teaching is always filled with “ah-ha” moments and smiles. Teachers rarely have to deal with tattle tales, bullies, teenage angst, or stressful chaos. Our students just sit politely while we teach. They never ask us to repeat ourselves, they follow directions perfectly, and they save all their social chit chat for recess. And even if they did misbehave, it’s not like their teachers would still love them. If a student misbehaves, they automatically lose their teacher’s affection. How could a teacher possibly love a child that defies them, or rolls their eyes at them?
3. TEACHERS HAVE NO PATIENCE
Teachers don’t have to be patient at all. It is totally acceptable to yell at a child who is having trouble understanding a concept, no matter how simple or difficult. The best way to motivate children is to snap at them, and say, “how do you seriously not understand this?” It doesn’t matter if teachers spend the day chasing toddlers around a preschool, or listening to the never ending stories of an elementary school child, or arguing endlessly with a middle schooler, or desperately trying to engage a 17 year old high schooler in a subject they couldn’t care less about; the best way to handle that stress? Lose your patience! Throw a tantrum! TURN OVER A DESK AND LIGHT SOMETHING ON FIRE! And if you think I’m only talking about having a lack of patience for the students, HA. The parents with their never ending emails, and “teaching advice” are the perfect targets to release your stress on. Nothing bad will happen if you yell at another adult or offer “parenting advice”. NOTHING.
4. TEACHERS DON’T GIVE A SHIT
Again, teachers spend multiple hours a day with their students. It’s not like teacher’s pick up on their behaviors, or observe their likes and dislikes. We don’t care to celebrate the successes of our students, nor do we care to provide support on the days that are extra tough for them. Kids have stress? We don’t care. They’re kids, what do they have to be stressed about? Once our kids are out the door, they’re not our problem anymore! If a student has graduated, or moved on in life, don’t bother updating your old teacher. Trust me, they don’t care. They had to deal with you for a year, JUST LEAVE THEM ALONE. We don’t like bragging about our students either, or talking about our kids to anybody that will listen. Anybody out there who is a friend of a teacher has never heard the sentence, “Funny story, so today in class, my one student…” Mostly because teachers don’t care very much about their kids. It’s not like each day is a new day, or each year is a new year, or that each group of kids is a new set of faces, personalities, learning styles, and attitudes. I’ll tell you one thing that always stays the same…teachers, and their apathy towards their students.
5. TEACHERS NEVER GO THE EXTRA MILE
Teachers are scheduled to work 8 hours a day. How awesome is that?! Most teachers are out the door by mid-afternoon, hitting up the local happy hour. When kids go home (or before they arrive to school), teachers stop working completely. They aren’t grading, lesson planning, completing training/certifications, attending faculty meetings, cleaning their rooms, etc. After school activities? No way, teachers don’t offer extra help in tutoring, or running student clubs, or coaching school sports teams. But what about if a student invites a teacher to their band concert, or their basketball game, or their Shakespeare play??? Do teachers attend these events that are past their hours of pay, and are not mandatory? NO WAY. Teachers don’t want to see their students doing what they love, and they certainly don’t want to support them in their interests, in and outside the classroom.
6. TEACHERS GIVE UP WHEN IT GETS TOO HARD
So what if it’s is our job as teachers to engage students, and to help them find their strengths, and to help them love learning? Teachers don’t ever bother researching new methods, or trying to find creative ways to inspire students. Teachers love seeing their students bored, or disinterested. Teachers live for the days when their students are glossy eyed, and distracted. Teachers don’t want their students absorbed in the lesson, or to leave the classroom with questions and ideas. Teachers hope and pray that at least one student will fall asleep during their lesson. When students give up, teachers often have the propensity to do so as well.
7. TEACHERS TEACH ONLY THE TEST MATERIAL
Teachers are given materials and subjects to teach, and that’s it. A teacher’s teaching doesn’t extend far beyond the classroom. Teachers have no desire to give their students the tools and know-how to critically think, to question what they don’t know, to explore and learn from life situations, or to grow into good and decent human beings. Teachers are less than willing to take a journey with their students, to help them to prepare and adjust for the next phase in their lives. Teacher’s stick to the book, and if a kid has questions about anything outside of the lesson plan, teachers simply ignore it. They say that from the minute a child walks into a teacher’s classroom, to the minute they leave for the summer, an unexplainable transformation happens…that what a student learns from their teacher over the course of a year is the kind of knowledge that cant be regulated by state testing. Hmm…Sounds like a bunch of bulls**t to me.
If there is anything you can take away from this post, it should be that teachers do very little to garner any appreciation, let alone an entire NATIONAL WEEK dedicated to it. There’s no need to take the time this week to thank a teacher, or visit an old teacher, or to reflect on the things you’ve learned from a teacher. But if you do decide to do any of those things…you might just make your teacher’s day 
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week to all the hard-working, over worked, under-paid, under-appreciated, kick ass educators out there! #ProudToBeATeacher
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PR’d my 5k this weekend! First race as a 25 year old! I am feeling quite accomplished!
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