I challenge any honest teacher to tell me I am incorrect.
We teachers have all sat in those student parent conferences about the student who, obviously, did not fall far from the ranting, unreasonable, and unhearing tree sitting beside them in the office, the parent.
It could be an irate parent exercising some sort of patriotism peppered with a my-friend-told-me-the-law-is defenses of, or objections to something with which they may or may not agree, or a screed with Bible verses worthy of a sidewalk street corner because the parent objects to their understanding of what is being taught with no knowledge of what actually is.
I have had to deal with angry Southern Baptist ministers and their congregations demanding that the high school stop teaching the class promoting the “Homosexual Lifestyle” and fire the person teaching the class, that would be me, neither of which fit the facts.
Regardless of the semi-participatory circus you had had to sit through during which, along with all the other nonsense, there was always the attack on you as a professional as defined by them, and the personal one that questioned why you are a teacher in the first place, when the parent storms out having been, in their minds, the irrelevant victor, the principal, although not completely agreeing with the totally incorrect parent, gives some support by placing some nebulous blame on the teacher for creating an atmosphere where the student could have been triggered and, therefore, bore less guilt than the teacher who should know better.
Whether it is a sidewalk, street corner screed of Bible verses because the parent objects to their understanding of what is being taught with no knowledge of what actually is
(I have had to deal with angry Southern Baptist ministers and their congregations demanding that the high school stop teaching the class promoting the “Homosexual Lifestyle” and fire the person teaching the class, that would be me, neither of which fit their “facts”)
Often it is a sidewalk, street corner screed of Bible verses because the parent objects to their understanding of what is being taught with no knowledge of what actually is
I have had to deal with angry Southern Baptist ministers and their congregations demanding that the high school stop teaching the class promoting the “Homosexual Lifestyle” and fire the person teaching the class, that would be me, neither of which fit the facts.
After a meeting where it was established that a student had not understood a joke I cracked in class and had taken offense only to find the joke funny in the meeting as she was paying attention unlike in class, regardless that all in attendance agreed it was clearly a matter of the student half-hearing something and assuming the rest and that should have been that, I received a written reprimand explaining that sometimes jokes are not understood by everyone, and those who do not understand a joke might feel diminished and less than the others in the room, and, therefore, their self-esteem could be wounded, and my not understanding that meant I was inefficient. I was forbidden to say anything funny in class or I would face a charge of willful dereliction of duty and insubordination, both of which could lead to a dismissal.
Over an academic year, teachers have to continually sit in meetings a description of which is easily dismissed with the teacher being accused of embellishing the story for effect or painting a parent in a crazy light to deflect any amount of their guilt.
Well, I’m here to let the public know that all those crazy people we have been seeing on the news who go to school board meetings and rant about CRT, mask mandates, testing of teachers, or any acceptance of the reality of Covid, are like flash mobs. They show up once, put on their twisted performances, sometimes complete with props, and then they go away. It is sudden, immediate, and, like the trump Caravans heading for the Southern Border, show up on schedule.
During the school year, these are they who show up randomly and unannounced and put on individual performances like what is seen in those school board videos as they quote “street law”, their interpretation of law and school policy, what your obligations are as a “public servant” whose salary they pay, and why their child, an angel at home, would certainly not act the way they do at school, so the school is lying.
And, thus is revealed another unknown behind the scenes part of teaching.
School boards are facing those parents openly now, parents they may have been denying exist when teachers mention them and, if even for one loud moment the public gets to see what exists, but goes unseen.
The public sees more into what teachers deal with
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