Blaming the Teachers, II
Cindee Rigsbee encounters a loud-mouth teacher-basher in an airport, and seeks vengeance, if only through her own sense of purpose:
So I make a vow to myself to work harder at changing the public's perception of teachers. And although I can make presentations to educator groups, stand in front of thousands, shout from the mountaintops (or at least across the blog-o-sphere), I think the place I can make the most difference is in my very own classroom. I need to make sure that none of my students' parents ever refer to me in a conversation that echoes across an airport.
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Comments
How do I say this delicately and without offense? Let me just suggest that teachers as a group are not above bashing. I have heard teachers bashing parents, journalists and their own administrators with sufficient frequency to suspect that this is a trend.
The way to begin to ensure the kind of relationship with parents that tends toward them not have bad thingsd to say at the airport might just involve sticking up for parents in the conversations in the teacher's lounge (and yes, I have been there on occasion) or on blogs. Rodney King said it powerfully, "can't we all just get along?" Well, that is easier said then done, but it can be done, with some emphasis on seeing each other as people, not as members of some group that stands in our way.
Posted by: Margo/Mom | October 19, 2009 12:29 PM
We handled this type of thing. A very arrogant private pilot, who was telling us about being in Vietnam for a week with his boss golfing, started bashing teachers, especially "over paid" and "underworked" teachers. I told him I had a problem with my local bank, he asked what, and I told him they wouldn't take my pay check. Why not, he asked, and I hooked him with
"they said it was too big for a teacher's pay."
Posted by: Richard Staron | October 22, 2009 12:20 PM