I will never forget Ms. Lane, my 2nd grade teacher (in 1978). I was bullied at school a LOT. I hated recess, I hated lunch time, all of it. She noticed (I never told anyone) and she would let me eat lunch with her in the classroom and hang out during recess with her. I would help her make copies, clean up, pass out materials, all of it. She really helped me so, so much. She inspired me to want to be the teacher I am today. Thank You Ms. Lane!
I remember how one teacher would walk down the hall with a lit cigarette. My math teacher would smoke in her classroom during breaks. In high school, we even had a smoking section for students.
I went to public school from 97-2010, and most of my classmates, and myself would NEVER disrespect a teacher to their face like they do now. There were a handful of class clowns, and stuff like that, and some students that would disrespect them, but for the most part we were to afraid to do it.
Tell me about, I still had a healthy amount of fear if I ever disrespected my teachers and I was in school from '99 to 2014. We still had those teachers who did not give a crap that we had a bad day and if we ever tried to pull rank, they call up our parents right in front of us and then point to the door to tell us to get out. I tried to be smart-alecky once with one of my teachers, that was not a good day for me. The kids these days are so lucky to be alive now. I feel sorry for their teachers and parents though.🤨
@BekahPlays Facts! Went to school from 1995-2008 and same here. We’d never dream of doing half the things kids get away with today. We had mischief moments but we had a healthy fear of getting caught. Like our hearts would be racing Everytime a teacher walked by our desk and we had to quickly hide whatever sneaky rule-breaking thing we did……like eating in class, passing notes, copying homework. Now a days, kids will shamelessly break rules and not even be sneaky about it.
When I was student teaching last year, there was a student that repeatedly was written up for biting, hitting, stealing from teachers and students, etc. This was FIFTH grade! The assistant principal would "have a talk" with him, and then send him back to class. There was no punishment EVER, and it was absolutely ridiculous. There is NO way that would have worked when I was in school.
Great topic. What I would give for a generation ago- the luxury of parents who actually parent their own kids, and admin who actually administrate instead of worrying about the next higher up position they are trying to land #Teachers
So you know how Bri was like I couldn’t handle it if she was told to get over herself?? Well, I’m in 7th grade and my ex-best friend told me to get over myself and f myself and she said I’m bi(I’m not) but wtv.
I will be a senior in high school this coming year. And I think a lot of kids don’t care about disappointing people anymore is because nowadays it feels like disappointing people at least for me and my friends was just a regular thing. We could never do anything right. We never met expectations. Because everything is about getting the best score possible on tests and all schools care about now are tests. Even though we did try we never really could meet those expectations and we’re now numb to disappointment. And I assume with other people along with myself. Covid has ruined us. I barely left the house, never saw my friends, never got to live a high schoolers life for two and a half to three years. Not only have all students been effected socially but also mentally. No one really learned a whole lot by looking at a screen in your bedroom after waking up five minutes before when you’re still half asleep. Half the classes, people didn’t show up to. Other times people were at work and had the zoom call on their phone while they took orders. (This actually happened in my class) So most students are behind, socially, mentally, and since we sat around for years doing nothing we’re behind physically as well. Now I get it, to older people I may sound like I’m just complaining about absolutely everything and crying about it. And saying we want better and trying to put blame on something else. But to be fair we are just teenagers and kids. Our minds are still developing. But the pressures to do everything perfect, and solitude we’ve been getting is really hindering that development. Now these are all wonderful teachers and I wish I had teachers as good as these people. But my teachers, even if you get an 86 on a test, they can drop it more based on behavior, participation, etc. So even in I scored an 86, I might get a 70 or even a 60. And my parents don’t even like 80’s so that pressure is a lot to deal with. Also the freshman this year we’re in 5th grade when covid started and for some schools this is their first year in person. They will still be acting and thinking like 5th graders even though they are in high school. And it’s really sad to see how the kids are effected by it. Because I know we were weird as freshmen. But now it’s just bad. It’s really bad and sad to see. Also we hate the sight of square pizza now. Thanks School
Thank you for posting ur perspective as a student. You are not complaining or crying about things. You are advocating for yourself and your peers. I think the pressure parents and schools put on children is unfair. And it seems to be getting worse. We have many issues in society that are causing systematic problems for teachers, students and parents. I think a lot of it stems from social media and the pressure parents feel to be perfect. They feel like they need to "keep up with the Jones's" so they put that onto their children and their childrens teachers and it causes more and more disruption to schooling.
Great episode! I want to say, as someone who graduated high school 3 years ago, and is friends with people who graduated even last year during the thick of the pandemic, that you're right. School has changed a lot over the generations, and a lot of my experiences in school match what you've seen lately. I also just want to bring to light the tragedy of the changes that have happened over the decades and what made students like me feel the way we do about school. The kids of this generation were not born with the desire to receive participation trophies or with a sense of apathy towards school; we learned that school was a necessary evil we had to slog through. I distinctly remember around elementary school that I was starting to feel that way. I would skip assignments and do poorly on tests, not because I didn't know the answers but because I didn't care. However, I felt that way because I felt like I was never given a reason to care. My parents would just send me to school and not care what happened in the day. My teachers, as much as they tried, just didn't have the tools or means to get us kids to be excited for more than recess and lunch. The only reason I started succeeding in middle school was because my parents put the fear of God into me surrounding my grades, which only caused more problems later down the road. Many of my peers share similar views, aside from the many I saw struggle in high school because their parents didn't even care enough to scare them, so they just couldn't be motivated. I think the biggest change between the last generation and this one is in the culture surrounding what school is supposed to be. For me, and many of my peers, it was just something you had to do that wasn't fun or useful, but you had to do it because archaic rules said so. In the previous generation, I'm sure things were more bearable on that end, since the internet wasn't so massive and the teachers had relatively more freedom to try to make things fun for the students. In this generation, kids are learning way faster the truth about school and the way education has been falling behind in this country compared to others. Not to mention teachers are more constricted than ever when it comes to their freedom to teach. My parents thought school was fine and necessary, and only got disillusioned afterwards. I got disillusioned in middle school. I was a burnt-out overachiever who gained a disdain for education while I was going through it. I love all the stuff you do, and I wish my school district had more teachers like you. I also desperately want schools to be reformed and for teachers to be paid fairly and enough to make school actually do what it was meant for: prepare students for the real world, and do so in a way that is engaging and allows them to retain their lessons for decades to come, like the naked barbie doll. Thank you for coming to my TED talk, and have a wonderful day!
I agree, I have been out of school for 5 years now. And throughout the majority of high school, I simply didn’t care about my grades or even attending school because I knew there were more important things that I needed to be prepared for. I didn’t care about learning calculus when I knew I was never going to apply it to my day to day life outside of school
For reference I graduated in 2001. Something I’ve learned both in college & beyond is there actually are real world uses for & reasons to know *some* of the things many jr high/high school students likely think are pointless. History is actually *massively* important if you care to ever understand the “how” & “why” of so many things in our country & the world. But even more importantly history…when taught *CORRECTLY*…shows clear cause & effect of social, political & even climate events. Of course history is *NOT* given emphasis in most jr highs or high schools, so students briefly memorize a list of facts for a test & then quickly forget them.🙄Which isn’t the students’ fault. I truly believe that *ALL* high schoolers should be required to take *both* American History I & II plus World History I & II…along with a class on Government & one covering Economics. That was students graduate with(hopefully)a firm grasp of: - how/why things have/can happen, - how federal, state & local gov work - how finances work from managing your own money to how it works in the US & globally. Of course the reason(IMO)that those subjects aren’t emphasized is bc it’s far easier for those in power(politicians & the rich) to manipulate, lie to & corrupt a public of which the majority is ignorant of those subjects. Which applies both in government & in all levels of finance. Also…I *firmly* believe that age appropriate health/wellness, anatomy, physiology & the basics of how disease & medicine work should be a dedicated separate subject K-12! Seriously…every human on this planet is guaranteed *ONE THING* their entire existence & that is their body. So WTH do we not *prioritize* educating students on its parts, functions, how to care for it, when to go to the doctor & the basics of why common treatments are given & how they work?!! Can you imagine how much healthier the next student generations could be? How much money our country could save on public healthcare?! Oh wait… *THATS* why it isn’t emphasized…bc all the rich politicians & other rich people are heavily invested in the healthcare industry & thus *WANT* people to be ignorant!😒And trust me…as someone who is a paramedic(ground & air)& ER nurse the vast majority of people of all ages are *incredibly* ignorant of their body’s parts & functions!! Much less having *ANY* knowledge of how the practice of medicine works! Seriously…in most cases modern medicine might as well be magic, witchcraft or a miracle to the majority of the public!🙄So many of the things patients have asked/said to me are so ignorant it hurts. Complex math beyond Algebra I & geometry should be left for college for professions which will actually require that knowledge. Biology 1 & 2 as well as at least Chemistry 1 should be required since those all contain information important to grasping the basics of how the world works around us. I do believe they should bring back a modern version of Home Economic/Family & Consumer Science and make it a required class. Because if done properly it teaches a lot of real life skills that sadly many parents fail to educate their kids on or don’t know themselves. Of course with all of these subjects it would require that their taught *properly* to be effective. This idea of prepping students to only memorizes key points for multiple choice tests does absolutely NOTHING towards students retaining anything long term. I’ve had so many teachers from elementary all the way through college that only requires students to read very small portions out of their textbooks or didn’t use the textbook at all! Rather they either wrote brief facts on the board for students to copy or handed out note packs with blanks students had to pay attention to fill in. That kind of teaching *does not* actually teach students anything worthwhile. Such subjects have to be taught in a comprehensive way & students must be shown how they currently apply to the real world! Unfortunately most teachers aren’t taught how to teach that way & in many cases are restricted from doing so even if they do know how! Why? Bc the school board & state government wants students to solely focus on memorizing those key points which will be on the state testing! They don’t care if it will help students become educated, productive adults…only that the students score high enough to keep current funding & hopefully secure more!🤯😒🤬Which it’s been proven that having students “learn” brief facts without context doesn’t work bc they have extremely poor long term recall rate! Which is WHY we learn many of the same facts over & over 1st-8th grade! Now that I’m disabled to the point I can no longer work as a paramedic or nurse I had seriously thought about being a high school teacher or college professor since I have 3 BAs & could complete my Masters in Psychology. But it would *HAVE* to be at a private high school that actually allows teachers to properly teach. But I fear that by the time most students get to high school they have no real desire to learn.😕 Plus the lack of respect for not only adults but for literally anyone is horrible. The same goes for being a school counselor even though I’m technically qualified by most of my area’s public school requirements. At this point the future of our country truly & deeply terrifies me.😕😔
Also letting students actually choose what they learn, have a required science, social studies-history, English, and math (preferably conjoined with science) that they get to choose, so you could choose biology over chemistry, and creative writing over factual writing, and then electives.
I’m 20 and I work in a school, and even though it hasn’t been that long since I was a student I can see that things have changed drastically. These kids have talked back to me, and it seems like they see me as their friend. It’s probably because I’m younger, but some of these kids do not see me as an authority figure. I’ve been working at this school for a few months, and I’m beginning to gain more respect but it’s hard. I also don’t want to be one of those ppl who complains about the younger gen bc it’s not their fault. All the changes in these past 10 yrs plus the pandemic has made it difficult for these kids. On the plus side, the kids that I work with are way smarter and way more knowledgeable than I was at their age, and also so accepting of everyone. I am inspired by them everyday.
tip, make sure you always dress as a professional when younger. consistently wearing business clothes like a suit make a big difference in my opinion. I don't like the saying a new teacher shouldn't smile till christmas but it does help to put a little distance. you can be kind and fair without being too friendly.
I love when the group talks about "back then"... and I'm sitting here, years older than them, giggling at the stuff we (older folks) remember of our teachers and the funny mess we went through.
My high school us history teacher was a civil war buff and always dressed up in civil war garband even recruited other teachers to dress in garb as well. After my time (late 90s), I don’t know how he got approval, but he got approval to shoot blanks out of a cannon in the middle of track field. It was a whole thing. Involved the police, fire dept, and neighborhood notification. He’s retired now but man I loved his class and teaching style! (this was a private catholic school) doubt this would fly in public schools!
Our S.T.E.M school that my children attend and older have attended is a public school. In 5th grade they learn about the Civil War and have a Civil War week. They cook every thing outside for lunch that week. Students do it with supervision. We also fire a cannon with blanks. They have been doing this exercise for over 20 years. I have volunteered 3 times when my older where in 5th grade. The whole school participants in different ways for Civil War days. They love it and look forward to 5th grade.
We did this in the 90's LOL I went to public school. We had muskets, long rifles, canons and all kinds of stuff because my town was know for a re-enactment.
I’m an education major in college and I feel like this podcast is preparing me for what to expect when I finally step into the profession😂 it also makes me excited tho😊
Be prepared to cry OFTEN for the first year, at LEAST. Especially if you end up at a school in the ghetto. Those kids are the absolute worst. Waaaayyyyy different set of problems when dealing with unhinged inner city kids than preppy sheltered suburban kids. Both have their problems, but props to you if you can make it as a teacher in the hood. Especially since you appear to be white. They’ll eat you alive if you don’t set boundaries/rules and DEMAND respect straight from the jump. Best of luck to you though lol. We need more good teachers who are actually qualified and not just hired because they know somebody.
💯 prepare to cry and be frustrated your first year You will have your own scary stories But I’m excited to go back in September There is no other profession for me
Hearing the whole discussion about teachers not being allowed to fail students and allowing them chances to bring their grade up/resit tests is fascinating to me! Here in Ireland it’s a COMPLETELY different story, for secondary school (ages 13-17/18) the only source of getting graded was class tests except for essays in English and higher level Irish (every class has higher and ordinary level), and if you get a bad grade on a test then that is it you can’t do anything to change it And even then, usually your class average was only an indicator to you, the actual result that went home at Christmas and at summer was 100% Christmas and summer exams Now all of that is in-house school exams, in 3rd year and in 6th year you took the country wide tests called the junior cert and the leaving cert, all of your in school tests were meaningless and these were the only ones that mattered, and even then it was only the leaving cert that mattered and that was the set of exams that dictated your points for college courses So hearing the perception (at least from parents) that teachers have almost complete control over their students grades is crazy to me because the only control that the teachers had for us was writing the class tests Really great podcast and I’m enjoying learning a lot about how education systems differ in the states compared to Ireland!!
I loved this podcast. Totally can relate as a Millennial teacher. More on this subject please!!! More classroom management techniques from then and now
I graduated HS 9 years ago and have taught freshmen through seniors the past 4 years. So for me it's very similar. The main difference prior to COVID was lack of rigor. Now added to that include really bad behavior management and lack of consequences for students. Social media was a huge issue when I was in school as well, still is now
My high school teachers had a running card game in the teacher's lounge. When it was a prep hour for one, they could switch out hands with the other teacher going back to class. Can you imagine having the time for a class period of card playing?!? Let alone having the audacity to shut down all to-dos in your mind to play cards. Good topic today, everyone #teacherprobs 🤨
this is such a great point. tbh sometimes it's like the twilight zone with how schools are now. The kids in my building can't even walk down the hall in a line respectfully. Remember when Pizza Hut partnered with schools where students earned a personal pizza after reading so many books? loved that.
Seeing these podcast, it makes me appreciate my teachers more than I already do. It’s such a shame that I didnt have this sooner and now I’m going to be a senior in high school.
I'm honestly sad about how little my classmates care about school. I try so hard and care so much about my education that it disappoints me that not everyone else does the same :(
All you can do is keep working hard and you can feel disappointed that your classmates don’t do the same, but at the end of the day you can only control what you do. Sooner or later your peers will figure out the consequences to their choices.
@joyhodsdon6972 Now a days, there’s no reason to care, b/c they know they’ll graduate and skate by even with bad grades and not learning anything. It’s a sad reality
I am the oldest of 5 kids, I just graduated college, my brother has been out of highschool for 2 years now, my twin brother and sister are going into their senior year, and my youngest sister is going into 8th grade. The differences between all of us, even though we all went to the same schools, is astounding. The teachers give them busy work that have no value to anything they are supposed to learn. And exams are completely different than the easiest homework problems given and quizzes and what is learned in class. I don't know why it's changed. I was an AB student, and all my siblings are incredibly smarter than me. But they all get C grades even when they really try. It's sad to see and I think the pandemic hasn't helped a single bit
At 16 i had an accident in my chemistry class where the stool was pulled out from beneath me and i hit the floor banging my head on a cupboard behind me. My teacher got a spinal injury from a similar way so told me to stay on the floor and sent someone to the office to call an ambulance. Now i found this all utterly ridiculous and got the giggles so loud that i was disturbing the teacher. I couldnt be moved so the rest of the class had to go into the classroom next door. So the one time i was responsible for a disruption in class I wasn't kicked out, the rest of the class was. 😊 I tell my kids that story all the time. They are all grown up now.
One day when i was sitting in Biology class the girl sitting front of me fainted and fell on the floor and her head landed on my shoe. The teacher instructed me not to move my foot so i just sat there awkwardly with my smelly dirty shoe under her head for like 20 minutes until the first aid person came.
Honestly, I would love to have the voices of teenagers (the ones who see the value in education and school and respect and understand teachers and adults) be heard with these teachers. I mean just think about how important it would be to see the point of view of the kids that do respect the teachers and see how the teachers affect their lives now. I’m interested to see the contrast of how the kids are affected by the teachers now versus when our teachers were. For a lot of middle and high schoolers, all we want is to be heard, so that would be fascinating. (To be honest I don’t know if you could do that, but just the thought is something to keep in mind)
As a teenager, I say that teachers DONT get ANY respect. At. All. It’s sad. I’d like to say that this podcast real lot changed my perspective on teachers. It’s easier to respect teachers (for me) if I look at them as a person, not just a teacher. People have feelings and they deserve respect. ( not that teachers don’t…) but yeah
The problem is fear does not breed respect, admiration does. The kids these days are disillusioned. They see how much the world sucks already. They see how the things that make them genuinely happy and hopeful are constantly disrespected by the adults in power. There's no room to fear a teacher/admin when many of them are fearful for their actual physical lives both in and out of the classroom.
I defiantly agree that a pressing fear is not good for any person, child or adult, but with that being said like what they mentioned having a healthy fear is knowing there are consequences for your actions. I dont think they were really saying they want the kids to be fearful of them but rather think before they act since many kids and teens are more outspoken and do not have respect towards authority figures. But like you said as well, adults need to respect the children and not make kids feel belittled for their hopes. I think to make things more effective the adult does need to have more authority without making the child feel powerless. Really appreciated your comment, it is very insightful
half of the time the kids make teachers feel powerless when they are not following directions. i always tell my kids i give you respect the same way you give me respect. so in reality it’s up to the kids and how they want to be treated.
I have just left high school and my year was that badly behaved that the teachers threatened to take so much away from us ,our prom ,our end of year trip,our ability to use the sports fields and yards at break etc but they just didn't care and nothing changed them
Just even 10 years ago things were much different. Back in 2011-13 when I was in 7-8th grade we used to have teachers that would bully us. I'll never forget my 7th grade P.E. teacher who used to make us do a warm up lap every day around the field and EVERY DAY he would get on his megaphone and would threaten the rest of the class that if I finished my lap before any of my classmates they would have to do the lap again. I was a 230lb 12 year old, what did he expect?😭😂
I just graduated so I think I still have some authority to speak on it. Students in school honestly don’t care. They have no chill and don’t care. Even the ones who care about their grades and stress about the work don’t care. It’s the existential feeling of having your existence be defined by the transcript that you get when you graduate. It’s demeaning and reductive and the ones who genuinely don’t care usually just feel that “oh, well I’m probably going to fail out of school anyway because I’m not smart enough, why should I try?” And then they become prickly and disrespectful because they feel justified in failing. I always surrounded myself around people who cared about their grades and even then, it was awful. My friends would have panic attacks because “I was up until 2 doing Math and English and I completely forgot about my Biology assignment and now my grade is gonna drop in there”, I had friends who would come to school 20 minutes early, scribbling like the Flash on these assignments doing everything they can do so they don’t get a zero, crying out of frustration because they’ve let their grades define them and having their grades drop was detrimental to their mental health. That kind of stressing can only go on for so long before that little alarm in your head just shuts off and doesn’t start again. That happened to me, I was a really good student my freshman and sophomore year, I was in the top 20% of my class, 180 out of like 550, A’s and B’s, failing was few and far between. Once the pandemic hit, the effect it had on my mental health was crippling (I’m an extrovert so being away from the hustle and bustle of school destroyed me. It made me extremely depressed). I couldn’t get out of bed, I didn’t care about school and I slept through my online classes. I had to take summer school cuz I failed Algebra 2. That depression faded out mostly but even through Senior year, I had Senioritis (that feeling of “I’m a senior, it’s my last year, I don’t have to take it seriously) and kinda just skirted by with B’s and C’s. School is hard and granted, the kids who had to be virtual and never really acclimated to the classroom are bad just to be bad. But those of us who were acclimated to the classroom and knew how to behave, we had our reasons for being good students or bad students
Such good points! I student taught last semester and I worked with these portals like google classroom, powerschool etc where students can access assignments, notes etc. They also are told when they have tests and when assignments are due. If I missed school when I was a student I had to have a friend in each class to catch me up on everything. These students don't even bother checking the portals for stuff and it drove me crazy. I was a 21 year old student teacher already saying "back in my day".
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and remember that you did not act entitled as a student. You followed directions and if you decided to talk back to a teacher, you received some major consequences.
And even back then, their were mischievous sneaky kids. The difference is, kids were very careful and scared about breaking rules. If for instance you were doodling pictures or passing notes to your friend, your heart would pound and race when a teacher walked past your desk. Now a days kids have no shame or guilt. They’re out in the open about it.
Just to comment on what Josh Monroe said around 12:00, that he said he didnt remember academically what his 4th grade teacher taught. The reason why I believe that is, is because as students, we were never taught retention. Teachers taught us what needed to be taught for those few weeks or month, test on it, and that information is never brought up again. The educational mind of an American is just one big Etch A Sketch.
my English teacher used to deliberately mark us so harshly that no one used to get good grades in our internal exams, but in our external exams, we all got amazing grades because we strived to be better because she used to give us lower grades. in our results days, she told us that she used to mark harshly because if we got a nice examiner we could get higher grades but our grades wouldn't suffer in case we get a harsh examiner. most of us got way better grades than we expected. but it improved our writing because she constantly pushed us.
Problem is that only works If those harsher grades don't bring your overall grade down. My maths teacher had that same mentality he wanted us to do the best on the Maths final exam so he graded harshely and expected way more in less time than we would have to do the final. Problem there is that in my country the 2 years before the final count way more on your actual grade than that one exam (maybe like 80% isch it's calculted differently) so he ruined you chances at a halfway good grade for the 80% just so he could boast with your good score on the 20% (and even then only the kids that actually got maths got good grades for everyone else instead of an E- they now got a D-). In my country (Germany) your GPA makes or brakes your entire career because every point you dont get (each grade is worth points that get added at the end) makes a dent in your GPA and that's the only thing that counts for University admission so if you want to be a doctor a single A- or even B+ is to much. If you're already struggeling to get those points a teacher ruining it like that is hell and ruins a lot.
I agree with this whole video. Especially when it came to grades. You get the grade you get because that's the amount of work you put in. I completely understand the fact some kids try their hardest and still fail. I think that means that they either weren't ready for the material and or that specific material could be taught in a different way for the same effect. I know for me personally when I failed a grade in elementary school it pushed me to do better. I don't think I was really a gimmie gimmie student. I got what I got and earned what I earned. I was also the kid and still am a person who thinks what could I do better when someone or other people are doing better than me. Things have changed a whole lot.
I think we need to change it to having a grade for mastery in each subject and then a separate grade for effort applied. I think it would tell a more complete story and would solve alot of problems.
2022 was my first full year back since Covid (no hybrid, just full in-person instruction) and I was a senior. The underclass men at my school (so Freshman and Sophmores) were SO BELLIGERENT that we had huge fist fights nearly every day. They were punching each other and us and admins and teachers. We also got a new principal that year, so the discipline plan was basically "Give them a talking to and a peice of paper saying they will change" (this was a school or almost 1.8K students!!!) It got so bad that almost 3 months before the end of the year, two sophomore girls tried to fight during lunch and created an "AGGRIVATED MOB" (according to the newspaper) that RAN AROUND THE SCHOOL (its a big school, 8 floors between 3 separate buildings) chasing this one girl and saying they were gonna kill her. The bad news rep was enough for our principal to finally start cracking down, but they swang too far in the opposite direction- they hired people to patrol the hallways during class and turn people into the office (not like security people either, but like mid-40's slightly frail normal people). They expelled like 20 kids in the first week- it was crazy But all of us seniors, who had survived Covid and online school and everything else since then only had 3 MONTHS left of school, so we were all so indifferent and didn't care at all, and all the teachers would talk to seniors about the impractical rules they were trying to enforce suddenly. It was crazy!! So happy I'm out of there
A topic that wasn't really discussed but was THE BIGGEST memory I have from Elementary School was lock down drills. I remember being in second grade and all of us huddled together where we hang our backpacks. I remember that I squished myself between things to hide farther back. THAT is the most memorable thing that happened in second grade. Even though we all knew it was a drill there was still a certain amount for fear in the air. Children shouldn't have to practice hiding because someone may want to kill them.
When I was in school the teachers and principal could whoop your backside for acting up. Also, hand to God when I was in high school we had a bomb threat, fire in the kitchen AND a squirrel hit the power line and all the electricity in the school went out. All this in one day and we still had to finish out the school day. Definitely could not do that now!
When I was student teaching there were students who were just disrespectful to any and all authority figures. It wasn’t even that I was younger or new to teaching, they just wanted to test each adult to see what they could get away with.
I am a grade school student, and I can relate to what you are saying. We have admins who are friendly even if you get in trouble, and then mean ones. So, kids don't fear being disrespectful anymore, because they are so friendly.
I got a 14% in a science class in high school. I was so proud of it. My mom was so proud of me because I was a straight A student and it was my first fail, and it taught me that it's okay to fail sometimes - it doesn't mean that I'm a failure and will never amount to anything. It just means I didn't do enough at that time and I can fix it next time. It was so important to me and I'll never forget it. And my mom was so supportive and told the teacher "this is the grade she earned, don't change it. She needs this fail." And the teacher supported me in making up the work over the summer. I honestly think that experience made me a better person.
In Australia the marking criteria is F-did nothing D-tried C-basic B-did what was asked A-did more than asked. If you do what was ask of you you'll pass and will get 80% and a D is still technically a pass because it's basic knowledge. There's a reason why most of us freak out when we get a B or lower.
A as an American Straight A student I got my first B on a math test (88) the last week of this 21-22 school year and I bawled my eyes out the entire period(I had math 10th period) on the bus home, and when I got home. Not a fun day.
@@GalaxyVaporeon I fully understand, I get mostly A's or I'm like 1-2 marks off of an A, even through we're on school holidays I haven't gotten my report, I get it next semester and I'm scared because I've been getting C's in maths and science, my parents expect me to get straight A,s and now so do I. I'm trying my hardest but it feels like my hardest isn't enough
@@slushie560 i totally get that. Uh, I really struggle in math. I actually failed my math final last year, and I cannot tell you how disappointing it was to try my.flipping hardest to understand this high school math and not have anything to show for it on a final. I got a 40 percent and I wanted to cry.
In Wales when I was in school secondary school 2007-2012 A*,A,B,C are good enough for university,D,E,F are good enough for college but G & U were a fail but apparently now G is considered a pass these days. I’m same age as Rebecca rogers & Lauren woolly as they both in mid 20s. I failed my GCSE Maths but I passed the “Equivalent of it, which is called application of number to foundation level. If you are struggling with mathematics don’t give up, if you find it difficult just keep trying would be my advice.
With all those stories about the great teachers you guys had as kids, you remind me of my current seminary (it's an LDS class you can take in high school) and she is amazing. If you want to base her credentials on how well she was liked and how much people got out of that class, she could teach at any school she ever wanted. Every single person who took her class loved her and got so much out of it. For example, before every class, if you got there early enough, she would have conversations with you. She asked me how my day was going, how I was doing, and we talked about every subject under the sun. We talked about music, classes, mice, weather, sports, sleeping schedules, all sorts of things. And if I was having a bad day and kept my earbuds in, or read a book or did homework, she wouldn't say anything. My brother once fell asleep in her class (he took it second period, I took it first. It was only offered those 2 hours) and she didn't bother him, and then we had a conversation about it, because everybody knows my brother. I can guarantee you, that teacher of mine will stick with me for the rest of my life. I will always be able to remember that seminary teacher that made religion so much more than religion. I respected her and I loved her. She was an amazing teacher, and I get the opportunity to take her again the rest of high school
I graduated 6 years ago from high school in California. Nothing close to the stories you've told of how they act now would've been ok then even. Even the "crazy" or "bad" stories I can think of from when I went to school compare really. Maybe I just got extremely lucky in qll the schools I went to (I moved a ton as a kid, I can't even remember how many I've been to).
I had soo many good teachers ...god bless them as somebody with a learning disability i know they didn't know how to teach me this was before i had been tested for it..
Years ago i had teachers compliment me over the fact that my oldest always said please and thank you and would apologize for any disruptions she caused etc saying that “other children won’t use their manners unless in trouble and trying to slip out of it if they used them at all so her doing it as second nature was refreshing”. (My youngest tries but due to her hearing impairment and speech problems hers is a wee bit different even though I constantly remind her how to speak and ask properly towards others while my in laws tend to let her do things opposite of my ways and make excuses for her so I’m having to double down on her and also reminding them that it will not be allowed with my children. And then when something was to happen and they called with apprehension in their voices as if I was going to blame or attack them was heart breaking. I’ve had to explain that if my child is doing wrong and they call me that it isn’t their fault and then as the teachers shouldn’t be talked down to, attacked, nor disrespected and my child is to be held accountable because I will not have either of my kids being raised with the mindset that they can do whatever and speak however because the parents want to make excuses instead of having them acting right. I’ve seen kids cussing teachers and other adults or children like dogs along with their parents and the parents make excuses for them. But yet they are surprised when the same kids are with their “auntie/momma Liz(me)” they aren’t acting such ways because I hold them accountable and make sure they know it is unacceptable and they will be reprimanded properly instead of how they have been allowed. Teachers are the most amazing angels ever in my opinion and I can’t stand the things they have to deal with in this new day and age. I talked back to a teacher and I’m pretty sure my parents killed me over the phone call from school and then revived me to punish me again once I got home.
I am happy to see that I am not the only one experiencing the same problems of people pleasing admin, disrespectful parents and students, and failed rewards
To Lauren's point my music teacher did something called music bucks that was supposed to reward good behavior it became the kids that misbehaved got the rewards because. They were being noticed behaving good for the rewards but the kids that behaved well on average got nothing. Then the following year new music teacher she did the same program but rewarded musical experiences i.e going to orchestras or concerts and things like that which excluded the lower income kids. So keep in mind some kids don't really like pbis (if I got the acronym right) for reasons like that
When I was in kindergarten my teacher Mrs. Miller had a bathtub in her room and it had this like long almost couch cushion like pillow in the bottom and I loved sitting in it and reading but one time I fell asleep in there lol she let me sleep though because her rule was if you can’t even keep your eyes open what’s the point of waking you up
I am not even an adult still in school, from the student side, i can verify most kids genuinely dont care about the consequences. In the first week or so of school it is known how teachers handle you being whatever, it is shocking of the change that has happened. Anyways thanks for shining light on a different perspective
I was fortunate enough to go to a small private school for elementary through middle school, and while we did take standardized tests, they always stressed to us that there was no pressure, these tests were simply to see where we were and what the school and teacher should be focusing on and trying to improve, and they had no bearing on our academic standing. just do your best, and I think that's the best way to do standardized testing
@@xxxenricop well my school was so small that they couldn't really support AP classes even at the high school level but I honestly don't agree with AP courses anyways bc all they are is a ton more homework and there's no real difference in course material anyway
@@annaliese6230 no real difference in course material? I’m sorry you’re dead wrong. I can 100% for a fact tell you my ap chem class in high school was harder than my first TWO chemistry classes in college. I learned stuff in my high school chem class that I didn’t learn til my second semester of chem in college. AP classes are way more scope than normal high school classes , to put it into perspective for you, my AP chem classes in high school required you take regular or honors chemistry first, and that the whole year of high school chemistry was essentially the first month or two of ap chemistry. Also AP biology is pretty hard, I’m being 100% honest here when I saw the work biology 1 in college is, it looks easier than the shit I was doing in AP bio in high school. I can 100% guarantee you that AP classes are way different than regular high school classes and if you’re willing to take them and pass the tests, you can get real college credit for that. I came into college with a whole year of credits on my belt bc of AP classes, so I’m thankful for them. Saves money and really got me ready for college. The classes other people struggled to keep a C In, I was passing with minimal effort put in because of the type of work I was doing throughout high school. I can ensure you they are worth the extra effort if you want to go to college. It helps you with your writing, analyzing, research, etc, very beneficial in the long run. That is if the teacher is good and actually teaching the class correctly. I feel for all the people who have bad AP teachers, it can make the class a complete drag.
@@kianna270 ok I'm sorry I generalized ig? like I'm glad your AP classes were beneficial to you, but like you said that's only if you get really good teachers. and I mean if you do get good teachers in a district where the admin and everyone that puts the curriculum together are making the effort to make the curriculum more advanced than a normal high school class, all the more power to you. but if you don't, you're just killing yourself to do 2 or 3 times the amount of homework, which is nothing like college, and I know a lot of people who had that experience. I mean if all AP classes were like yours then that's great but the sad fact is that they're not
When I went to elementary school, there was a good amount of students that lived at or near the poverty line, and I specifically remember my very small school having a small closet. This closet was filled with clothes, jackets, shoes, underwear, and even had things like toothbrushes and deodorant for the kids that needed it. I always remember going to school with my mom, and bringing my old clothes and items that were in good condition, and getting to put them in the closet. When we moved into middle school, the best those kids got was the lost and found.
I am in high school and idk if its just me but I'm one of the few kids that are, like Lauren said (sorry if I spelled your name wrong), healthily scared of disrespecting the staff even if I dislike them
At one of the schools I worked at we did the “Bear Bucks” thing too. One day while I was doing lunchtime yard duty I watched one child pick up a single peice of trash and go around to every yard duty out on the yard and get a “Bronco Buck” from them. When the child came up to me I had them throw the trash away and pick up 7 more peices to make up for all the other yard duties that had been hustled.
My mom told me early on that teachers are safe people but not friends. She said I need to giving them my respect and hard work. I had some amazing relationships with my teachers but I would never think to disrespect them. I love this podcast and I'm so glad you are spreading awareness for this topic 💜
The gold star story reminded me of the student of the month my middle school did. They had a star for each "team." Grade 6 English was Blue, 7 English was Green, 8 English was Orange, 6-7 French was Purple, 8 French was Red, and then the Yellow team was decided by the teachers for gym, music, shop, and home ec and could be any student. I was so happy getting it for the yellow team one month. It reminded me of one of my more negative memories though. In grade 8 we would have awards given out near the end of the year for things like perfect attendance, getting honours, stuff like that. I knew there were very few I even qualified for so when my music teacher told me I was nominated for the music award while we were setting up the ceremony I got excited. I had been in band, the only music extra circular we had, all three years of middle school and not many others had. I thought I had a high chance of getting it as I spent most lunches in the music room so knew how few others could be nominated. When it was announced that the music teacher's daughter had won it I was disappointed and hurt. She hadn't been in band but played cello outside of school. She arguably did more music stuff than me and deserved it in her own right but I was still really hurt. I felt it was unfair that non-school events contributed to her winning the award. Especially since she didn't do much in school, she wasn't part of band. I didn't even know she played an instrument besides in music class before that day. (and she was the teacher's daughter) My parent's weren't well off so school stuff was all I was able to do. I think I was more hurt that I was told I was nominated when she must have already known who the winner was. I hadn't expected the chance at any award before that and my hopes were raised that I would get something. I'll admit I was bitter about it. She probably meant it as a way to show that I did enough to be considered for a award but it instead came across as "you never had a chance" because non-school activities were taken into consideration. I played the flute for another year but it didn't feel the same. My new school's band was way more advanced and I had trouble with it. Ended up quitting right before the end of the year. Then circumstances kept me from being able to do any after school activities for the rest of high school so wasn't able to rejoin. I tried picking it up again in senior year when they decided to try specialized music classes; vocal, concert, and I think rock band were the options. They had us all put our preferences in order on a sheet. Mine were concert, vocal, rock. They put me in vocal.
I'm just a couple years younger than Mrs. Rogers, generally in school we had that healthy fear of our principal and VP as well as our teachers. Like in elementary school if someone got called to the principals office the other kids would be like "ooooo you're in trouble". Childish as it is, that's how it should be
I always hear stories like this from my mom about how kids just end up getting away with stuff and admin force teachers to listen to the parents and the kids just tell off teachers, and all I can think is, "These poor kids aren't going to learn a damn thing until they get out of school and then they going to learn some harsh harsh truths that NO ONE in this world is going to bend over backwards to give them what they want." These poor kids are growing up in a world where a teacher can try to enforce the rules, they can go cry to mama, and mama can make admin make the teacher do what they want. It's such a disservice to those kids because that is NOT how the world works. And every time I saw a kid talk to a teacher a certain way, I was mortified because I would _never_ . I always followed the rules. I was the quiet, tall, awkward nerd who follows the rules, does my work mostly because I manifested anxiety in seventh grade and then lost my mind if I missed something or something became late (until senior year - senior year was back to school after the pandemic and i was just constantly angry and tired so..I ended up taking quite a few days off and half a**ing some assignments). I could hang out with teachers because there were a few teachers that I absolutely adored and tbh made life worth living at times but...some kids... I would see them mouth off or just skip stuff and some of them were my friends too and I'd watch them or hear stories and I'd just be like 😳 could NOT be me. Also fun fact, my mom's school does not allow her to fail anyone whatsoever just so they can have a good score and parents will want to put their kids in that school.
This podcast has been so informative, helpful, and entertaining. I didn't even know about how bad some admin could be until I started listening to this podcast, I thought that the disrespect came from the students. Its sad that it also comes from admin.
I’m in college doing my student teaching and literally nothing has changed. My students are only 2-3 years younger than me lol. I graduated from high school in 2020 and now I work with mostly juniors and seniors. I am excited to watch how things change over time.
I’m still in HS and all I got to say is that the only times I have spoken to a teacher in a bad way is when they have tried talking to me like that over NOTHING this one time I was paying attention and I think this teacher legit hated me bc it would never be me talking and she wouldn’t always blame me for talking and it got to the point where I broke and raised my voice at her bc every time I would tell her that it wasn’t me but this one time I told asked what she had against me and why she was always picking on me and she literally just stood there quiet bc she realized what she had been doing was stupid af
Student here- In my 7th grade class there was this one kid who would never do anything in our Life Science class and on his google classroom he had around 50-55 missing assignments by the end of the year. Ended up with an 80 in the class and I can only assume that was because he was Special Ed.
I’m a 12 year old in school still and I have to say, this is true most of the kids in my grade (not all) are pretty annoying and disrespectful to teachers AND kids it drives me insane cause sometimes someone does something next to me and I get blamed like bro, bro was just on their phone messing around 😂
I'm currently 28 and was in 5th grade in 2004. I laughed during the beginning segment when you were all talking about things your teachers did that would never fly now. One of my core memories from 5th grade was that my teacher (who was amazing btw) spent at least a month spread out during our US history lessons covering the Donner Party. If you're reading this and don't know what that is, the Donner Party was a group of American pioneers that traveled across the USA to the west coast, and during their travels got stuck in the winter wilderness in the mountains and ended up resorting to cannibalism of their party members to survive. My 5th grade class had an entire class project where we were split into our own teams of "caravans", and throughout the month we all basically played a decision based game to figure out which caravans would survive based on our teamwork and decisions. It was the first time I learned in general what cannibalism was, and I remember watching a documentary in class about the Donner Party during that month and had nightmares about it lol. Despite the nightmares though it was a really interesting project that my classmates actually enjoyed, and it was a great lesson in teamwork and negotiations. But how it passed admin back then is a mystery to me lol.
i’m currently a student but i think it’s so crazy that teachers have to pass us. i feel like it’s not fair to he people who actually try if everyone gets to pass. you should have to work for your rewards. that kind of goes along with the entitlement thing too. no one deserves anything unless they have put in the work for it. it’s crazy to me that some people expect rewards for doing nothing or just because someone else got something.
One big change I noticed over the years is how kids talk to adults. My brother finished fourth grade this year and the just the way kids his age talk to not only the teachers but also parents would have never slide when I was in fourth grade. Just like you guys talked about kids are disrespectful to teachers so much worse now. My parents have always told us to have a lot of respect with teachers and we've stood by that but other parents just dont care about what their kids say to teachers and it makes me feel so bad for teachers who have to deal with that. I also see this in my highschool class and it's so unfair that this kids don't face any consequences. Thank you all so much for talking about this.
I'm 24 and will be in my third year teaching this year. Kids definitely don't have a healthy fear or respect for adults in general. Its almost like you have to prove to them why you deserve respect, no matter how old or experienced you are. When I was in school, you could never talk, less know to a teacher, the way these kids talk to each other and other adults and get away with it. I have found that the Apple-Tree analogy is alive and well with these kids and their parents. Either the parents condone and support the behavior, or they have "exhausted all their ideas. Bless their hearts.
I mean I’m still in school about to graduate next year, but I t’s so devastating to see the change from when I started school to now. It’s all about making recklessly personal choices in a professional place made in times to help you. A place where you are supposed to hone in on the process of learning and growing. In a place that will allow you to fail and figure things out before facing the world. Recently it’s mainly just been about getting by doing nothing because you can or just doing what you want because you can. When I first entered school it was a place to help you now it seems to be a place where you can help yourself. Whatever it maybe students seem to care more about what they can do because they can do it in both negative and positive ways. Which is good and bad to both extremes for obvious reasons.
I have mad respect for our teachers here in Kansas. My kids do go to a smaller agricultural school, but when they are at school what the teacher says goes , period. Now there are some, not many, but some who are bad apples here and there but my kids know if their teacher calls me there will be big trouble when they get home, especially if it's behavioral issues. Yal are doing such an amazing job by the way 👏 🙌
It truly is sad how much pressure is put on students and these standardized tests. I’m in my last year of college so I was raised in like a mixed system where my really early years of school were very much like the memories in the podcast where it was fun and I remember how I felt in those moments with those teachers rather than what was taught, but then my later years of school, especially in high school, were just memories of feeling stressed and overwhelmed at all the damn tests. I don’t even remember most of my teachers after like 6th grade cause all most ever did was tell us to prepare for the big test at the end of the year. And people wonder why kids don’t like school 🙄🙄🙄
On the note of kids not caring about getting a poor grade I’ll admit that I was one of those kids in certain situations. I typically got good grades and never caused problems, but by my senior year, I was going through mad burnout and stopped trying/turning stuff in. However, I was smart about it and would be like, “okay, I’ve gotten 80’s and 90’s on the past few tests, I’ve turned in like 70% of the assignments, my grade really isn’t gonna be effected if I don’t do this one assignment or I’ve done poorly on this one test.” I honestly still do it in college where some classes and assignments and my own mental health take higher priority than getting a 60 on that one test. Not saying this is a good thing, but once you’ve reached a certain point, you do just stop caring and since these impossible standards are being pushed earlier and earlier, that point is coming sooner and sooner for students. Since going to college, I’ve looked back on the work load I had in middle and high school and I genuinely don’t know how I got through those years without completely breaking down.
i am currently working a summer camp and will become a teacher in the fall of 2023. the amount of disrespect that i get at summer camp scares me for the day i actually have a classroom. none of the kids want to listen or follow any sort of direction for the next activities or anything and i have no idea why. i spend probably 75% of my day repeating myself because kids are not listening because they don’t care and just want to do whatever they want whenever we have a schedule that we follow everyday.
I would never didrespect my teachers not only because they deserve the respect I give them but also because of the effort they are putting into trying to help me the best they can. They don't deserve that, they deserve the up most respect for trying to help us the best they can in any of our situations. I know about some bad teachers out there but most of them have our best interest as the student at the front of their heart. I loved all my teachers because they were the best to me, and I had a lot going on at home so school was my safe place. And they did their best to help me even with that going on. 🙂 teachers are amazing!
Hey guys, I love your podcast! You all truly make me feel like part of a community. Question: could you do an episode about building relationships? I know it’s super important, but I could use some practical advice on how to form relationships. This past 21-22 school year was my first year teaching and as I’m reflecting, I want to start this coming school year with being more intentional about building relationships. I teach 7th grade science.
Even though I'm in my mid twenties I remember the first time I saw the disrespect was in the 8th grade. Those 6th graders were some of the worst kind of kids I'd ever seen. Those kids would climb up the walls and hang of the ceiling (I'm not joking) and fight every five seconds. None of them could sit down and stay in class. Hell I remember one girl wanted to fight me because I looked at her. And they were just as bad if not worse when they got to highschool. If you ask me it's parents that aren't parenting causing these issues. And I mean not getting their kids counseling or having them tested went they have learning problems all the way to not teaching them right from wrong. I'll never forget the kids that I tutored who literally just needed individual instruction. It broke my heart to see them struggle so hard and act up all because they needed help and no one was paying attention or no one could get the parents attention to get them help. (Full disclosure: I was in honors and gift courses my whole life. For those that don't know, honors and gifted students are segregated from regular kids. The only time you are around them is 1. On the bus 2. At specials/electives or 3. Lunch.)
i’m early! (well sorta) i love this podcast and i find it hilarious but also interesting getting to see teachers side of the classroom. this podcast has taught me so much and to appreciate educators so insanely much because they have to go through so much in the classroom.
Something that is really different I noticed is that, at least in our district, is that students who play sports can be failing and still play with no consequences.
I had a teacher with the clawfoot tub filled with pillows, but I think it was 3rd grade and in Minnesota. It was once a week (I think) and she'd go down the list of students alphabetically to choose whose turn it was, and that person got to pick a friend. Those 2 kids got to sit in the tub the WHOLE DAY. It was amazing.
From a student perspective, most of the difference that I’ve heard from adults are the amount of work we receive on top of increased practice required for extracurricular activities, which both eventually lead to MUCH higher levels of stress. Most other students that don’t care about their grades started off caring, but got so overwhelmed they gave up.
I loveeee you’re podcast! Thank you for always being honest and talking about this stuff! You are helping so many people to see what’s going on in the school system and I think it’s important for people to know!
Better to be respected (fear of disappointment of someone you look up too/respect) than feared (fear of being hurt, belittled, embarrassed, violated, isolated, etc) I’ve had much better luck helping my traumatized students enjoy school by coming at them from an age appropriate level of maturity and expectations, not all kids are mentally the age they’re at. You must adapt, but, most kids (if not all, at least in my experience) respond to being respected and given responsibility to become more valuable in the social environment, than punished and isolated or left to feeling different than the others. Once a kid feels like they don’t belong, they act out. Find a way to include them and they want to make the classroom a better place. I don’t believe in idolizing one child over another to incentivize other children to “work better” I believe in giving each kid their own equal social spot in the class environment that appreciates them for their individuality. Then you dissect the similarities and differences of societies to classroom structure. They might have to grow up in an unfair world but it doesn’t everything has to be that way. The smaller the group the easier it is to focus on what we all value, than the differences. 20-30 kids is manageable if you go into it with these ideas and respect right off the bat. Talk to your kids like they’re growing human beings (the way youd talk to other adults but with age appropriate conversation) like every child could teach you something NOT purposefully dumb/manipulative/useless beings and you’ll see how much better kids respond to you.
I just graduated. The school system and social media just don’t collide the way they should. I think that’s the biggest problem with trying to be in school and getting an education in the modern age, like I was always more worried about what I was wearing and how I looked way more than I was focused on school because now that social media is a thing, everything at school follows you home because anything can happen on a phone
I'm 42, so I remember the paddle being hung up on the wall of my 1st grade classroom! I've never experienced the sting of one, but I've definitely seen it in action several times and it was horrible! I can remember the sound it made hitting their behinds.😣😣😣 It's almost traumatizing to think about...BUT...it definitely kept me and many, many others in line!!! The disrespect wasn't tolerated. I went to school in the deep south. So not only would you get beat in class, then you'd get another at home because you had to get beat at school!!!🤦🏿♀️🤦🏿♀️🤦🏿♀️
I’m in my last year of high school, I could never imagine getting anything below a B and being happy about it or OK with it. And I understand that some kids aren’t as lucky with education, I am blessed to be able to handle IB and AP classes. But not being as lucky is different from completely not trying. I would be DEAD from my parents if I just didn’t put in the effort.
When I was in school the teachers could swat kids with a paddle with holes in it. My teacher said since it was my birthday I would get 1 swat for each year. He did it because I was never in trouble in his class. I cried. He told me if I told anyone he would tell them that I was being bad in class.
I graduated in 2010 and one change that really stood out to me is that I had several stories about my phone getting confiscated or nearly getting it taken up and my best friend and little brother, who are 6 and 7 years younger than me respectively, couldn't relate because they were allowed to have their phones out and even listen to music through headphones while doing work. Phones were so against the rules when I was in school that one of my teachers who gave us quirky tasks for extra credit had one task that was like singing along to a song or something, and the kid who had the song on his phone had to plug in the headphones while the teacher knowingly turned around so he wouldn't see it
I heard this podcast the other day and I had to say I’m 12 going on 13 and I’m going into 8th grade, now I know I’m on the younger side but I’m expected to take 2 Highschool classes in 8th grade, maybe I can be called smart for my age but it’s hard to know what to do because we go so fast on every single topic it’s insane, more than half of the kids can’t keep up and a lot are failing because of it and we had to take a test on those subjects every week and this seems unfair to most, I don’t know it’s normal for me because it’s an everyday life but hearing this podcast I feel maybe we are getting too much for most
My kinder teacher got away with legit screaming at 5 year olds for trying to figure out how to cooperate and share on their own because she had been ignoring their prior fighting (made her look bad). My brother's grade 1 teacher got away with picking him up and tossing him on top of an upside down chair in front of the whole class while yelling at him. They were the wives of the city's head politicians, so they could do anything they wanted. Worst teachers of my family's whole education. Thankfully, almost all my subsequent teachers were wonderful. My grade 1 teacher used to reward us with mini treasure troll dolls.
When I was in high school in the early 2000's cell phones were still pretty new, and weren't allowed in school. Teachers were to confiscate students phones if they took them to class. And yet ironically after a certain point they decided that needed what were essentially "school shooting drills", where we turned off the lights and kept quiet. Despite cell phones not being allowed in the school, the instructions they handed out for those drills said that students should let their teachers know if they have a cell phone on them so they can make emergency calls if necessary during a real shooting. And yet, in the SAME documentation it also said that teachers were still to confiscate student's cell phones at the end of the drill because cell phones aren't allowed in school! It was the stupidest thing ever.
By the end of my high school career, our teachers weren’t allowed to give us less than a 65. By the end of my senior year, my AP Calc 2 BC teacher was reading out names of kids who had missing homework and/or projects and telling them what final grade they would get if they didn’t turn it in. My teacher would ask each student if they had their work and every student just started responding by yelling “65!!” This goes to show you that it’s not always about a lack of effort on the students’ part. They completely OVERLOAD us with work in EVERY class. I would have about 6 hours of work EVERY NIGHT just in my calc classes, and then another 4 hours of work for physics, and then another 2 hours of reading for English, 3 hours of writing stupid outlines for history, on top of the 20-35 hours a week of rehearsal time required for band and drum line (cuz we all know you need to participate in extracurriculars if you want to get scholarships), AND the 5-25 hours per week of work at my job! I have NO idea how other students did all of that AND MORE! It’s absolutely disgusting that so much is expected of students, especially students who are still CHILDREN. It leaves them between a rock and a hard place because they end up having to choose between getting 0-4 hours of sleep a night and getting straight As, OR getting sleep and getting awful grades because they literally don’t have the time to do all the homework they’re assigned while still helping to provide for their family because they live in a single parent household with 5 other siblings. I mean it’s just insane how much the work load has increased for HIGH SCHOOL students. No wonder so many kids are committing suicide nowadays. All y’all who went to school in the early 2000s and before wouldn’t do NEARLY as well as you did if you had all the work and requirements and hardships that students today face. So stop comparing what you did 40 freaking years ago to what your child(ren) are or aren’t doing now. You have NO idea what it’s like to walk in their shoes.
The workload might be high for many students like it was for you. From what you've written it's almost extremely high. I have never seen that much for high school level. Would you mind sharing what kind of school you went to? With regard to your final comment that millennials do not know what it's like to struggle like you did... that is a very very privileged position to take. Struggles that children go through have evolved and didn't start with your generation. There are still kids who at age 14/15 need to work after hours and hours of school, homework and electives. There are situations in the home that also still greatly impact a child's productivity. So, yes, students have to do a crap tonne of work but that does not give you the agency to belittle the experiences of older generations. Especially not those generations who didn't even have access to mental health resources or proper guidance. There are generations where children who had learning disabilities would be ignored by teachers rather than helped.. I'm not saying it doesn't happen anymore nowadays, I am just that not too long ago, there wasn't even a proper procedure for many issues. This current generation has access to resources former generations can only dream of. If you cannot afford tutoring lessons there is a plethora of free valuable information online, entire websites are dedicated to summarising books, legal documents and all sorts of things you needed to buy years ago! I also speak as someone who immigrated to a country where I had to learn a language so different from mine before middle school. The internet helped me make sense of the foreign curriculum, develop an understanding for my new environment and most importantly, the language, all of which I might have never done on my own. In sum, I fully understand that your school life and work was very exhausting and I'm certain it was for you. And if you pulled through I am proud of you for doing so. Despite your negative experiences, the experiences of older generations are just as valid. It's important to keep that in mind as you go forward.
I have a school social worker that will come check on me in class because she knows that there is problems in my house, and let me stay after school with her until the troublemaker (abuser) at the house is gone. I love this school social worker because your not supposed to have kids with you after school but she cares so much about my well being. Does anyone have some in school do this or am I lucky to have this?
Went to school from 2000-2013. There were some big changes in that decade of schooling but one thing always held true, we respected teachers and adults in general. You always had bad eggs, but that’s what they were seen as, and usually consequences came swiftly and that was enough to set everyone else straight and show, good behavior will always be rewarded. Now it seems like kids have flipped it. They see good behavior now gets no real benefits while bad behavior gets no punishment. Also when it comes to caring about grades, 100% has to do with lack of punitive grading where kids are allowed to fail if they do nothing, admin/parents devaluing grades in order to just move kids along and not look bad, and lastly the open communication between kids has ruined a lot. Back when I was in grade school getting bad grades was exactly that, bad and it was shameful. There wasn’t talking amongst students of which assignments do or don’t matter, or which test doesn’t really impact your grade so don’t even try on it. We just DID things because that’s what school was about. You accept the challenge just like those before you and you sit there and “learn”. Now kids don’t care, aren’t forced to care and lack the foresight to see what not caring will do to them down the line.
So I have a system at my school where if you are behaving your self lining up and walking back into the building you get a ticket. And the more tickets you have throughout the week the more chances you have to win 1 dollar for candy sale that is on Friday..
I will never forget Ms. Lane, my 2nd grade teacher (in 1978). I was bullied at school a LOT. I hated recess, I hated lunch time, all of it. She noticed (I never told anyone) and she would let me eat lunch with her in the classroom and hang out during recess with her. I would help her make copies, clean up, pass out materials, all of it. She really helped me so, so much. She inspired me to want to be the teacher I am today. Thank You Ms. Lane!
I’m probably going to give my age away lol. Teachers smoked in the classroom when I was in school
I remember how one teacher would walk down the hall with a lit cigarette. My math teacher would smoke in her classroom during breaks. In high school, we even had a smoking section for students.
@@johnlopez3996 smoking section for students!!!????? This shows my age lol
@@CeceliaKeck Yep. That was taken away in 1986.
Your name did lol
I’ll REALLY show my age with two words: Mimeograph Machine.
Ah . . . those beautiful days where text was purple. 😁
I went to public school from 97-2010, and most of my classmates, and myself would NEVER disrespect a teacher to their face like they do now. There were a handful of class clowns, and stuff like that, and some students that would disrespect them, but for the most part we were to afraid to do it.
Tell me about, I still had a healthy amount of fear if I ever disrespected my teachers and I was in school from '99 to 2014. We still had those teachers who did not give a crap that we had a bad day and if we ever tried to pull rank, they call up our parents right in front of us and then point to the door to tell us to get out.
I tried to be smart-alecky once with one of my teachers, that was not a good day for me. The kids these days are so lucky to be alive now. I feel sorry for their teachers and parents though.🤨
@BekahPlays
Facts! Went to school from 1995-2008 and same here. We’d never dream of doing half the things kids get away with today. We had mischief moments but we had a healthy fear of getting caught. Like our hearts would be racing Everytime a teacher walked by our desk and we had to quickly hide whatever sneaky rule-breaking thing we did……like eating in class, passing notes, copying homework.
Now a days, kids will shamelessly break rules and not even be sneaky about it.
When I was student teaching last year, there was a student that repeatedly was written up for biting, hitting, stealing from teachers and students, etc. This was FIFTH grade! The assistant principal would "have a talk" with him, and then send him back to class. There was no punishment EVER, and it was absolutely ridiculous. There is NO way that would have worked when I was in school.
Great topic. What I would give for a generation ago- the luxury of parents who actually parent their own kids, and admin who actually administrate instead of worrying about the next higher up position they are trying to land #Teachers
So you know how Bri was like I couldn’t handle it if she was told to get over herself?? Well, I’m in 7th grade and my ex-best friend told me to get over myself and f myself and she said I’m bi(I’m not) but wtv.
Yes!
I will be a senior in high school this coming year. And I think a lot of kids don’t care about disappointing people anymore is because nowadays it feels like disappointing people at least for me and my friends was just a regular thing. We could never do anything right. We never met expectations. Because everything is about getting the best score possible on tests and all schools care about now are tests. Even though we did try we never really could meet those expectations and we’re now numb to disappointment. And I assume with other people along with myself. Covid has ruined us. I barely left the house, never saw my friends, never got to live a high schoolers life for two and a half to three years. Not only have all students been effected socially but also mentally. No one really learned a whole lot by looking at a screen in your bedroom after waking up five minutes before when you’re still half asleep. Half the classes, people didn’t show up to. Other times people were at work and had the zoom call on their phone while they took orders. (This actually happened in my class) So most students are behind, socially, mentally, and since we sat around for years doing nothing we’re behind physically as well. Now I get it, to older people I may sound like I’m just complaining about absolutely everything and crying about it. And saying we want better and trying to put blame on something else. But to be fair we are just teenagers and kids. Our minds are still developing. But the pressures to do everything perfect, and solitude we’ve been getting is really hindering that development. Now these are all wonderful teachers and I wish I had teachers as good as these people. But my teachers, even if you get an 86 on a test, they can drop it more based on behavior, participation, etc. So even in I scored an 86, I might get a 70 or even a 60. And my parents don’t even like 80’s so that pressure is a lot to deal with. Also the freshman this year we’re in 5th grade when covid started and for some schools this is their first year in person. They will still be acting and thinking like 5th graders even though they are in high school. And it’s really sad to see how the kids are effected by it. Because I know we were weird as freshmen. But now it’s just bad. It’s really bad and sad to see. Also we hate the sight of square pizza now. Thanks School
Thank you for posting ur perspective as a student. You are not complaining or crying about things. You are advocating for yourself and your peers. I think the pressure parents and schools put on children is unfair. And it seems to be getting worse. We have many issues in society that are causing systematic problems for teachers, students and parents. I think a lot of it stems from social media and the pressure parents feel to be perfect. They feel like they need to "keep up with the Jones's" so they put that onto their children and their childrens teachers and it causes more and more disruption to schooling.
Great episode! I want to say, as someone who graduated high school 3 years ago, and is friends with people who graduated even last year during the thick of the pandemic, that you're right. School has changed a lot over the generations, and a lot of my experiences in school match what you've seen lately. I also just want to bring to light the tragedy of the changes that have happened over the decades and what made students like me feel the way we do about school. The kids of this generation were not born with the desire to receive participation trophies or with a sense of apathy towards school; we learned that school was a necessary evil we had to slog through. I distinctly remember around elementary school that I was starting to feel that way. I would skip assignments and do poorly on tests, not because I didn't know the answers but because I didn't care. However, I felt that way because I felt like I was never given a reason to care. My parents would just send me to school and not care what happened in the day. My teachers, as much as they tried, just didn't have the tools or means to get us kids to be excited for more than recess and lunch. The only reason I started succeeding in middle school was because my parents put the fear of God into me surrounding my grades, which only caused more problems later down the road. Many of my peers share similar views, aside from the many I saw struggle in high school because their parents didn't even care enough to scare them, so they just couldn't be motivated.
I think the biggest change between the last generation and this one is in the culture surrounding what school is supposed to be. For me, and many of my peers, it was just something you had to do that wasn't fun or useful, but you had to do it because archaic rules said so. In the previous generation, I'm sure things were more bearable on that end, since the internet wasn't so massive and the teachers had relatively more freedom to try to make things fun for the students. In this generation, kids are learning way faster the truth about school and the way education has been falling behind in this country compared to others. Not to mention teachers are more constricted than ever when it comes to their freedom to teach.
My parents thought school was fine and necessary, and only got disillusioned afterwards. I got disillusioned in middle school. I was a burnt-out overachiever who gained a disdain for education while I was going through it. I love all the stuff you do, and I wish my school district had more teachers like you. I also desperately want schools to be reformed and for teachers to be paid fairly and enough to make school actually do what it was meant for: prepare students for the real world, and do so in a way that is engaging and allows them to retain their lessons for decades to come, like the naked barbie doll.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk, and have a wonderful day!
Damn to stop caring before you are even a teen explains a lot. I bet I would've been the same had I been younger.
I agree, I have been out of school for 5 years now. And throughout the majority of high school, I simply didn’t care about my grades or even attending school because I knew there were more important things that I needed to be prepared for. I didn’t care about learning calculus when I knew I was never going to apply it to my day to day life outside of school
I was the class of 2017 so I always wondered if there was any difference between my class and let’s say classes that are there now
For reference I graduated in 2001. Something I’ve learned both in college & beyond is there actually are real world uses for & reasons to know *some* of the things many jr high/high school students likely think are pointless. History is actually *massively* important if you care to ever understand the “how” & “why” of so many things in our country & the world. But even more importantly history…when taught *CORRECTLY*…shows clear cause & effect of social, political & even climate events. Of course history is *NOT* given emphasis in most jr highs or high schools, so students briefly memorize a list of facts for a test & then quickly forget them.🙄Which isn’t the students’ fault. I truly believe that *ALL* high schoolers should be required to take *both* American History I & II plus World History I & II…along with a class on Government & one covering Economics. That was students graduate with(hopefully)a firm grasp of:
- how/why things have/can happen,
- how federal, state & local gov work
- how finances work from managing your own money to how it works in the US & globally.
Of course the reason(IMO)that those subjects aren’t emphasized is bc it’s far easier for those in power(politicians & the rich) to manipulate, lie to & corrupt a public of which the majority is ignorant of those subjects. Which applies both in government & in all levels of finance.
Also…I *firmly* believe that age appropriate health/wellness, anatomy, physiology & the basics of how disease & medicine work should be a dedicated separate subject K-12! Seriously…every human on this planet is guaranteed *ONE THING* their entire existence & that is their body. So WTH do we not *prioritize* educating students on its parts, functions, how to care for it, when to go to the doctor & the basics of why common treatments are given & how they work?!! Can you imagine how much healthier the next student generations could be? How much money our country could save on public healthcare?! Oh wait… *THATS* why it isn’t emphasized…bc all the rich politicians & other rich people are heavily invested in the healthcare industry & thus *WANT* people to be ignorant!😒And trust me…as someone who is a paramedic(ground & air)& ER nurse the vast majority of people of all ages are *incredibly* ignorant of their body’s parts & functions!! Much less having *ANY* knowledge of how the practice of medicine works! Seriously…in most cases modern medicine might as well be magic, witchcraft or a miracle to the majority of the public!🙄So many of the things patients have asked/said to me are so ignorant it hurts.
Complex math beyond Algebra I & geometry should be left for college for professions which will actually require that knowledge. Biology 1 & 2 as well as at least Chemistry 1 should be required since those all contain information important to grasping the basics of how the world works around us. I do believe they should bring back a modern version of Home Economic/Family & Consumer Science and make it a required class. Because if done properly it teaches a lot of real life skills that sadly many parents fail to educate their kids on or don’t know themselves.
Of course with all of these subjects it would require that their taught *properly* to be effective. This idea of prepping students to only memorizes key points for multiple choice tests does absolutely NOTHING towards students retaining anything long term. I’ve had so many teachers from elementary all the way through college that only requires students to read very small portions out of their textbooks or didn’t use the textbook at all! Rather they either wrote brief facts on the board for students to copy or handed out note packs with blanks students had to pay attention to fill in. That kind of teaching *does not* actually teach students anything worthwhile. Such subjects have to be taught in a comprehensive way & students must be shown how they currently apply to the real world! Unfortunately most teachers aren’t taught how to teach that way & in many cases are restricted from doing so even if they do know how! Why? Bc the school board & state government wants students to solely focus on memorizing those key points which will be on the state testing! They don’t care if it will help students become educated, productive adults…only that the students score high enough to keep current funding & hopefully secure more!🤯😒🤬Which it’s been proven that having students “learn” brief facts without context doesn’t work bc they have extremely poor long term recall rate! Which is WHY we learn many of the same facts over & over 1st-8th grade!
Now that I’m disabled to the point I can no longer work as a paramedic or nurse I had seriously thought about being a high school teacher or college professor since I have 3 BAs & could complete my Masters in Psychology. But it would *HAVE* to be at a private high school that actually allows teachers to properly teach. But I fear that by the time most students get to high school they have no real desire to learn.😕 Plus the lack of respect for not only adults but for literally anyone is horrible. The same goes for being a school counselor even though I’m technically qualified by most of my area’s public school requirements. At this point the future of our country truly & deeply terrifies me.😕😔
Also letting students actually choose what they learn, have a required science, social studies-history, English, and math (preferably conjoined with science) that they get to choose, so you could choose biology over chemistry, and creative writing over factual writing, and then electives.
I’m 20 and I work in a school, and even though it hasn’t been that long since I was a student I can see that things have changed drastically. These kids have talked back to me, and it seems like they see me as their friend. It’s probably because I’m younger, but some of these kids do not see me as an authority figure. I’ve been working at this school for a few months, and I’m beginning to gain more respect but it’s hard. I also don’t want to be one of those ppl who complains about the younger gen bc it’s not their fault. All the changes in these past 10 yrs plus the pandemic has made it difficult for these kids. On the plus side, the kids that I work with are way smarter and way more knowledgeable than I was at their age, and also so accepting of everyone. I am inspired by them everyday.
tip, make sure you always dress as a professional when younger. consistently wearing business clothes like a suit make a big difference in my opinion. I don't like the saying a new teacher shouldn't smile till christmas but it does help to put a little distance. you can be kind and fair without being too friendly.
I love when the group talks about "back then"... and I'm sitting here, years older than them, giggling at the stuff we (older folks) remember of our teachers and the funny mess we went through.
My high school us history teacher was a civil war buff and always dressed up in civil war garband even recruited other teachers to dress in garb as well. After my time (late 90s), I don’t know how he got approval, but he got approval to shoot blanks out of a cannon in the middle of track field. It was a whole thing. Involved the police, fire dept, and neighborhood notification. He’s retired now but man I loved his class and teaching style! (this was a private catholic school) doubt this would fly in public schools!
Our S.T.E.M school that my children attend and older have attended is a public school. In 5th grade they learn about the Civil War and have a Civil War week. They cook every thing outside for lunch that week. Students do it with supervision. We also fire a cannon with blanks. They have been doing this exercise for over 20 years. I have volunteered 3 times when my older where in 5th grade. The whole school participants in different ways for Civil War days. They love it and look forward to 5th grade.
We did this in the 90's LOL I went to public school. We had muskets, long rifles, canons and all kinds of stuff because my town was know for a re-enactment.
I feel I’m definitely seeing the effects of this in my university. I’m a Spanish tutor and the lack of drive students have is actually impressive.
I’m an education major in college and I feel like this podcast is preparing me for what to expect when I finally step into the profession😂 it also makes me excited tho😊
If there stories make you excited to work in the field seek psychological help.
Be prepared to cry OFTEN for the first year, at LEAST. Especially if you end up at a school in the ghetto. Those kids are the absolute worst. Waaaayyyyy different set of problems when dealing with unhinged inner city kids than preppy sheltered suburban kids. Both have their problems, but props to you if you can make it as a teacher in the hood. Especially since you appear to be white. They’ll eat you alive if you don’t set boundaries/rules and DEMAND respect straight from the jump. Best of luck to you though lol. We need more good teachers who are actually qualified and not just hired because they know somebody.
💯 prepare to cry and be frustrated your first year
You will have your own scary stories
But
I’m excited to go back in September
There is no other profession for me
Hearing the whole discussion about teachers not being allowed to fail students and allowing them chances to bring their grade up/resit tests is fascinating to me!
Here in Ireland it’s a COMPLETELY different story, for secondary school (ages 13-17/18) the only source of getting graded was class tests except for essays in English and higher level Irish (every class has higher and ordinary level), and if you get a bad grade on a test then that is it you can’t do anything to change it
And even then, usually your class average was only an indicator to you, the actual result that went home at Christmas and at summer was 100% Christmas and summer exams
Now all of that is in-house school exams, in 3rd year and in 6th year you took the country wide tests called the junior cert and the leaving cert, all of your in school tests were meaningless and these were the only ones that mattered, and even then it was only the leaving cert that mattered and that was the set of exams that dictated your points for college courses
So hearing the perception (at least from parents) that teachers have almost complete control over their students grades is crazy to me because the only control that the teachers had for us was writing the class tests
Really great podcast and I’m enjoying learning a lot about how education systems differ in the states compared to Ireland!!
I loved this podcast. Totally can relate as a Millennial teacher. More on this subject please!!! More classroom management techniques from then and now
I graduated HS 9 years ago and have taught freshmen through seniors the past 4 years. So for me it's very similar.
The main difference prior to COVID was lack of rigor. Now added to that include really bad behavior management and lack of consequences for students.
Social media was a huge issue when I was in school as well, still is now
My high school teachers had a running card game in the teacher's lounge. When it was a prep hour for one, they could switch out hands with the other teacher going back to class. Can you imagine having the time for a class period of card playing?!? Let alone having the audacity to shut down all to-dos in your mind to play cards. Good topic today, everyone #teacherprobs 🤨
At one school I was at we had a ping pong table. Great for working off stress. It was constantly in use.
this is such a great point. tbh sometimes it's like the twilight zone with how schools are now. The kids in my building can't even walk down the hall in a line respectfully.
Remember when Pizza Hut partnered with schools where students earned a personal pizza after reading so many books? loved that.
Seeing these podcast, it makes me appreciate my teachers more than I already do. It’s such a shame that I didnt have this sooner and now I’m going to be a senior in high school.
I'm honestly sad about how little my classmates care about school. I try so hard and care so much about my education that it disappoints me that not everyone else does the same :(
All you can do is keep working hard and you can feel disappointed that your classmates don’t do the same, but at the end of the day you can only control what you do. Sooner or later your peers will figure out the consequences to their choices.
@joyhodsdon6972
Now a days, there’s no reason to care, b/c they know they’ll graduate and skate by even with bad grades and not learning anything. It’s a sad reality
I am the oldest of 5 kids, I just graduated college, my brother has been out of highschool for 2 years now, my twin brother and sister are going into their senior year, and my youngest sister is going into 8th grade. The differences between all of us, even though we all went to the same schools, is astounding. The teachers give them busy work that have no value to anything they are supposed to learn. And exams are completely different than the easiest homework problems given and quizzes and what is learned in class. I don't know why it's changed. I was an AB student, and all my siblings are incredibly smarter than me. But they all get C grades even when they really try. It's sad to see and I think the pandemic hasn't helped a single bit
At 16 i had an accident in my chemistry class where the stool was pulled out from beneath me and i hit the floor banging my head on a cupboard behind me. My teacher got a spinal injury from a similar way so told me to stay on the floor and sent someone to the office to call an ambulance. Now i found this all utterly ridiculous and got the giggles so loud that i was disturbing the teacher. I couldnt be moved so the rest of the class had to go into the classroom next door. So the one time i was responsible for a disruption in class I wasn't kicked out, the rest of the class was. 😊 I tell my kids that story all the time. They are all grown up now.
One day when i was sitting in Biology class the girl sitting front of me fainted and fell on the floor and her head landed on my shoe. The teacher instructed me not to move my foot so i just sat there awkwardly with my smelly dirty shoe under her head for like 20 minutes until the first aid person came.
Honestly, I would love to have the voices of teenagers (the ones who see the value in education and school and respect and understand teachers and adults) be heard with these teachers. I mean just think about how important it would be to see the point of view of the kids that do respect the teachers and see how the teachers affect their lives now. I’m interested to see the contrast of how the kids are affected by the teachers now versus when our teachers were. For a lot of middle and high schoolers, all we want is to be heard, so that would be fascinating. (To be honest I don’t know if you could do that, but just the thought is something to keep in mind)
I’ve been thinking about this for such a long time, I’d love to see it on their show too
As a teenager, I say that teachers DONT get ANY respect. At. All. It’s sad.
I’d like to say that this podcast real lot changed my perspective on teachers. It’s easier to respect teachers (for me) if I look at them as a person, not just a teacher. People have feelings and they deserve respect. ( not that teachers don’t…) but yeah
The problem is fear does not breed respect, admiration does. The kids these days are disillusioned. They see how much the world sucks already. They see how the things that make them genuinely happy and hopeful are constantly disrespected by the adults in power. There's no room to fear a teacher/admin when many of them are fearful for their actual physical lives both in and out of the classroom.
I defiantly agree that a pressing fear is not good for any person, child or adult, but with that being said like what they mentioned having a healthy fear is knowing there are consequences for your actions. I dont think they were really saying they want the kids to be fearful of them but rather think before they act since many kids and teens are more outspoken and do not have respect towards authority figures. But like you said as well, adults need to respect the children and not make kids feel belittled for their hopes. I think to make things more effective the adult does need to have more authority without making the child feel powerless.
Really appreciated your comment, it is very insightful
half of the time the kids make teachers feel powerless when they are not following directions. i always tell my kids i give you respect the same way you give me respect. so in reality it’s up to the kids and how they want to be treated.
I have just left high school and my year was that badly behaved that the teachers threatened to take so much away from us ,our prom ,our end of year trip,our ability to use the sports fields and yards at break etc but they just didn't care and nothing changed them
Just even 10 years ago things were much different. Back in 2011-13 when I was in 7-8th grade we used to have teachers that would bully us. I'll never forget my 7th grade P.E. teacher who used to make us do a warm up lap every day around the field and EVERY DAY he would get on his megaphone and would threaten the rest of the class that if I finished my lap before any of my classmates they would have to do the lap again. I was a 230lb 12 year old, what did he expect?😭😂
My P.E teacher is always on his phone 😃
Some of the older teachers still do at my school. We're pretty chill about it though
5 years ago, when i was a senior in high school, my favorite teacher tipped me out of my desk/chair after i fell asleep in his class 💗😂
I just graduated so I think I still have some authority to speak on it. Students in school honestly don’t care. They have no chill and don’t care. Even the ones who care about their grades and stress about the work don’t care. It’s the existential feeling of having your existence be defined by the transcript that you get when you graduate. It’s demeaning and reductive and the ones who genuinely don’t care usually just feel that “oh, well I’m probably going to fail out of school anyway because I’m not smart enough, why should I try?” And then they become prickly and disrespectful because they feel justified in failing. I always surrounded myself around people who cared about their grades and even then, it was awful. My friends would have panic attacks because “I was up until 2 doing Math and English and I completely forgot about my Biology assignment and now my grade is gonna drop in there”, I had friends who would come to school 20 minutes early, scribbling like the Flash on these assignments doing everything they can do so they don’t get a zero, crying out of frustration because they’ve let their grades define them and having their grades drop was detrimental to their mental health.
That kind of stressing can only go on for so long before that little alarm in your head just shuts off and doesn’t start again. That happened to me, I was a really good student my freshman and sophomore year, I was in the top 20% of my class, 180 out of like 550, A’s and B’s, failing was few and far between. Once the pandemic hit, the effect it had on my mental health was crippling (I’m an extrovert so being away from the hustle and bustle of school destroyed me. It made me extremely depressed). I couldn’t get out of bed, I didn’t care about school and I slept through my online classes. I had to take summer school cuz I failed Algebra 2. That depression faded out mostly but even through Senior year, I had Senioritis (that feeling of “I’m a senior, it’s my last year, I don’t have to take it seriously) and kinda just skirted by with B’s and C’s. School is hard and granted, the kids who had to be virtual and never really acclimated to the classroom are bad just to be bad. But those of us who were acclimated to the classroom and knew how to behave, we had our reasons for being good students or bad students
Such good points! I student taught last semester and I worked with these portals like google classroom, powerschool etc where students can access assignments, notes etc. They also are told when they have tests and when assignments are due. If I missed school when I was a student I had to have a friend in each class to catch me up on everything. These students don't even bother checking the portals for stuff and it drove me crazy. I was a 21 year old student teacher already saying "back in my day".
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s and remember that you did not act entitled as a student. You followed directions and if you decided to talk back to a teacher, you received some major consequences.
And even back then, their were mischievous sneaky kids. The difference is, kids were very careful and scared about breaking rules. If for instance you were doodling pictures or passing notes to your friend, your heart would pound and race when a teacher walked past your desk.
Now a days kids have no shame or guilt. They’re out in the open about it.
Just to comment on what Josh Monroe said around 12:00, that he said he didnt remember academically what his 4th grade teacher taught. The reason why I believe that is, is because as students, we were never taught retention. Teachers taught us what needed to be taught for those few weeks or month, test on it, and that information is never brought up again. The educational mind of an American is just one big Etch A Sketch.
my English teacher used to deliberately mark us so harshly that no one used to get good grades in our internal exams, but in our external exams, we all got amazing grades because we strived to be better because she used to give us lower grades. in our results days, she told us that she used to mark harshly because if we got a nice examiner we could get higher grades but our grades wouldn't suffer in case we get a harsh examiner. most of us got way better grades than we expected. but it improved our writing because she constantly pushed us.
Problem is that only works If those harsher grades don't bring your overall grade down. My maths teacher had that same mentality he wanted us to do the best on the Maths final exam so he graded harshely and expected way more in less time than we would have to do the final. Problem there is that in my country the 2 years before the final count way more on your actual grade than that one exam (maybe like 80% isch it's calculted differently) so he ruined you chances at a halfway good grade for the 80% just so he could boast with your good score on the 20% (and even then only the kids that actually got maths got good grades for everyone else instead of an E- they now got a D-). In my country (Germany) your GPA makes or brakes your entire career because every point you dont get (each grade is worth points that get added at the end) makes a dent in your GPA and that's the only thing that counts for University admission so if you want to be a doctor a single A- or even B+ is to much. If you're already struggeling to get those points a teacher ruining it like that is hell and ruins a lot.
Yeah that makes sense.
I agree with this whole video. Especially when it came to grades. You get the grade you get because that's the amount of work you put in. I completely understand the fact some kids try their hardest and still fail. I think that means that they either weren't ready for the material and or that specific material could be taught in a different way for the same effect. I know for me personally when I failed a grade in elementary school it pushed me to do better. I don't think I was really a gimmie gimmie student. I got what I got and earned what I earned. I was also the kid and still am a person who thinks what could I do better when someone or other people are doing better than me. Things have changed a whole lot.
I think we need to change it to having a grade for mastery in each subject and then a separate grade for effort applied. I think it would tell a more complete story and would solve alot of problems.
2022 was my first full year back since Covid (no hybrid, just full in-person instruction) and I was a senior. The underclass men at my school (so Freshman and Sophmores) were SO BELLIGERENT that we had huge fist fights nearly every day. They were punching each other and us and admins and teachers. We also got a new principal that year, so the discipline plan was basically "Give them a talking to and a peice of paper saying they will change" (this was a school or almost 1.8K students!!!) It got so bad that almost 3 months before the end of the year, two sophomore girls tried to fight during lunch and created an "AGGRIVATED MOB" (according to the newspaper) that RAN AROUND THE SCHOOL (its a big school, 8 floors between 3 separate buildings) chasing this one girl and saying they were gonna kill her.
The bad news rep was enough for our principal to finally start cracking down, but they swang too far in the opposite direction- they hired people to patrol the hallways during class and turn people into the office (not like security people either, but like mid-40's slightly frail normal people). They expelled like 20 kids in the first week- it was crazy
But all of us seniors, who had survived Covid and online school and everything else since then only had 3 MONTHS left of school, so we were all so indifferent and didn't care at all, and all the teachers would talk to seniors about the impractical rules they were trying to enforce suddenly. It was crazy!! So happy I'm out of there
A topic that wasn't really discussed but was THE BIGGEST memory I have from Elementary School was lock down drills.
I remember being in second grade and all of us huddled together where we hang our backpacks. I remember that I squished myself between things to hide farther back.
THAT is the most memorable thing that happened in second grade. Even though we all knew it was a drill there was still a certain amount for fear in the air.
Children shouldn't have to practice hiding because someone may want to kill them.
When I was in school the teachers and principal could whoop your backside for acting up. Also, hand to God when I was in high school we had a bomb threat, fire in the kitchen AND a squirrel hit the power line and all the electricity in the school went out. All this in one day and we still had to finish out the school day. Definitely could not do that now!
When I was student teaching there were students who were just disrespectful to any and all authority figures. It wasn’t even that I was younger or new to teaching, they just wanted to test each adult to see what they could get away with.
I am a grade school student, and I can relate to what you are saying. We have admins who are friendly even if you get in trouble, and then mean ones. So, kids don't fear being disrespectful anymore, because they are so friendly.
I got a 14% in a science class in high school. I was so proud of it. My mom was so proud of me because I was a straight A student and it was my first fail, and it taught me that it's okay to fail sometimes - it doesn't mean that I'm a failure and will never amount to anything. It just means I didn't do enough at that time and I can fix it next time. It was so important to me and I'll never forget it. And my mom was so supportive and told the teacher "this is the grade she earned, don't change it. She needs this fail." And the teacher supported me in making up the work over the summer. I honestly think that experience made me a better person.
I'm so happy I found this channel before the school year begins. It's good to hear similar stories and to know I'm not alone.
In Australia the marking criteria is F-did nothing D-tried C-basic B-did what was asked A-did more than asked. If you do what was ask of you you'll pass and will get 80% and a D is still technically a pass because it's basic knowledge. There's a reason why most of us freak out when we get a B or lower.
A as an American Straight A student I got my first B on a math test (88) the last week of this 21-22 school year and I bawled my eyes out the entire period(I had math 10th period) on the bus home, and when I got home. Not a fun day.
@@GalaxyVaporeon I fully understand, I get mostly A's or I'm like 1-2 marks off of an A, even through we're on school holidays I haven't gotten my report, I get it next semester and I'm scared because I've been getting C's in maths and science, my parents expect me to get straight A,s and now so do I. I'm trying my hardest but it feels like my hardest isn't enough
@@slushie560 i totally get that. Uh, I really struggle in math. I actually failed my math final last year, and I cannot tell you how disappointing it was to try my.flipping hardest to understand this high school math and not have anything to show for it on a final. I got a 40 percent and I wanted to cry.
In Wales when I was in school secondary school 2007-2012 A*,A,B,C are good enough for university,D,E,F are good enough for college but G & U were a fail but apparently now G is considered a pass these days. I’m same age as Rebecca rogers & Lauren woolly as they both in mid 20s. I failed my GCSE Maths but I passed the “Equivalent of it, which is called application of number to foundation level. If you are struggling with mathematics don’t give up, if you find it difficult just keep trying would be my advice.
With all those stories about the great teachers you guys had as kids, you remind me of my current seminary (it's an LDS class you can take in high school) and she is amazing. If you want to base her credentials on how well she was liked and how much people got out of that class, she could teach at any school she ever wanted. Every single person who took her class loved her and got so much out of it. For example, before every class, if you got there early enough, she would have conversations with you. She asked me how my day was going, how I was doing, and we talked about every subject under the sun. We talked about music, classes, mice, weather, sports, sleeping schedules, all sorts of things. And if I was having a bad day and kept my earbuds in, or read a book or did homework, she wouldn't say anything. My brother once fell asleep in her class (he took it second period, I took it first. It was only offered those 2 hours) and she didn't bother him, and then we had a conversation about it, because everybody knows my brother.
I can guarantee you, that teacher of mine will stick with me for the rest of my life. I will always be able to remember that seminary teacher that made religion so much more than religion. I respected her and I loved her. She was an amazing teacher, and I get the opportunity to take her again the rest of high school
I graduated 6 years ago from high school in California. Nothing close to the stories you've told of how they act now would've been ok then even. Even the "crazy" or "bad" stories I can think of from when I went to school compare really. Maybe I just got extremely lucky in qll the schools I went to (I moved a ton as a kid, I can't even remember how many I've been to).
I had soo many good teachers ...god bless them as somebody with a learning disability i know they didn't know how to teach me this was before i had been tested for it..
Years ago i had teachers compliment me over the fact that my oldest always said please and thank you and would apologize for any disruptions she caused etc saying that “other children won’t use their manners unless in trouble and trying to slip out of it if they used them at all so her doing it as second nature was refreshing”. (My youngest tries but due to her hearing impairment and speech problems hers is a wee bit different even though I constantly remind her how to speak and ask properly towards others while my in laws tend to let her do things opposite of my ways and make excuses for her so I’m having to double down on her and also reminding them that it will not be allowed with my children. And then when something was to happen and they called with apprehension in their voices as if I was going to blame or attack them was heart breaking. I’ve had to explain that if my child is doing wrong and they call me that it isn’t their fault and then as the teachers shouldn’t be talked down to, attacked, nor disrespected and my child is to be held accountable because I will not have either of my kids being raised with the mindset that they can do whatever and speak however because the parents want to make excuses instead of having them acting right. I’ve seen kids cussing teachers and other adults or children like dogs along with their parents and the parents make excuses for them. But yet they are surprised when the same kids are with their “auntie/momma Liz(me)” they aren’t acting such ways because I hold them accountable and make sure they know it is unacceptable and they will be reprimanded properly instead of how they have been allowed. Teachers are the most amazing angels ever in my opinion and I can’t stand the things they have to deal with in this new day and age. I talked back to a teacher and I’m pretty sure my parents killed me over the phone call from school and then revived me to punish me again once I got home.
No joke, I busted out laughing when Monroe said “That pizza, it be, it be Bussin bussin” 🤣🤣
I am happy to see that I am not the only one experiencing the same problems of people pleasing admin, disrespectful parents and students, and failed rewards
To Lauren's point my music teacher did something called music bucks that was supposed to reward good behavior it became the kids that misbehaved got the rewards because. They were being noticed behaving good for the rewards but the kids that behaved well on average got nothing. Then the following year new music teacher she did the same program but rewarded musical experiences i.e going to orchestras or concerts and things like that which excluded the lower income kids. So keep in mind some kids don't really like pbis (if I got the acronym right) for reasons like that
When I was in kindergarten my teacher Mrs. Miller had a bathtub in her room and it had this like long almost couch cushion like pillow in the bottom and I loved sitting in it and reading but one time I fell asleep in there lol she let me sleep though because her rule was if you can’t even keep your eyes open what’s the point of waking you up
I will never forget my fifth grade teacher she was so kind and amazing and she supported everyone throughout the year that we were there for 👏
I am not even an adult still in school, from the student side, i can verify most kids genuinely dont care about the consequences. In the first week or so of school it is known how teachers handle you being whatever, it is shocking of the change that has happened. Anyways thanks for shining light on a different perspective
I was fortunate enough to go to a small private school for elementary through middle school, and while we did take standardized tests, they always stressed to us that there was no pressure, these tests were simply to see where we were and what the school and teacher should be focusing on and trying to improve, and they had no bearing on our academic standing. just do your best, and I think that's the best way to do standardized testing
totally... problem is then kids get put in to ability level classes based on those tests and often there is no system to move up...
@@xxxenricop well my school was so small that they couldn't really support AP classes even at the high school level but I honestly don't agree with AP courses anyways bc all they are is a ton more homework and there's no real difference in course material anyway
@@annaliese6230 no real difference in course material? I’m sorry you’re dead wrong. I can 100% for a fact tell you my ap chem class in high school was harder than my first TWO chemistry classes in college. I learned stuff in my high school chem class that I didn’t learn til my second semester of chem in college. AP classes are way more scope than normal high school classes , to put it into perspective for you, my AP chem classes in high school required you take regular or honors chemistry first, and that the whole year of high school chemistry was essentially the first month or two of ap chemistry.
Also AP biology is pretty hard, I’m being 100% honest here when I saw the work biology 1 in college is, it looks easier than the shit I was doing in AP bio in high school. I can 100% guarantee you that AP classes are way different than regular high school classes and if you’re willing to take them and pass the tests, you can get real college credit for that. I came into college with a whole year of credits on my belt bc of AP classes, so I’m thankful for them. Saves money and really got me ready for college. The classes other people struggled to keep a C In, I was passing with minimal effort put in because of the type of work I was doing throughout high school.
I can ensure you they are worth the extra effort if you want to go to college. It helps you with your writing, analyzing, research, etc, very beneficial in the long run. That is if the teacher is good and actually teaching the class correctly. I feel for all the people who have bad AP teachers, it can make the class a complete drag.
@@kianna270 ok I'm sorry I generalized ig? like I'm glad your AP classes were beneficial to you, but like you said that's only if you get really good teachers. and I mean if you do get good teachers in a district where the admin and everyone that puts the curriculum together are making the effort to make the curriculum more advanced than a normal high school class, all the more power to you. but if you don't, you're just killing yourself to do 2 or 3 times the amount of homework, which is nothing like college, and I know a lot of people who had that experience. I mean if all AP classes were like yours then that's great but the sad fact is that they're not
When I went to elementary school, there was a good amount of students that lived at or near the poverty line, and I specifically remember my very small school having a small closet. This closet was filled with clothes, jackets, shoes, underwear, and even had things like toothbrushes and deodorant for the kids that needed it. I always remember going to school with my mom, and bringing my old clothes and items that were in good condition, and getting to put them in the closet. When we moved into middle school, the best those kids got was the lost and found.
I am in high school and idk if its just me but I'm one of the few kids that are, like Lauren said (sorry if I spelled your name wrong), healthily scared of disrespecting the staff even if I dislike them
At one of the schools I worked at we did the “Bear Bucks” thing too. One day while I was doing lunchtime yard duty I watched one child pick up a single peice of trash and go around to every yard duty out on the yard and get a “Bronco Buck” from them. When the child came up to me I had them throw the trash away and pick up 7 more peices to make up for all the other yard duties that had been hustled.
My mom told me early on that teachers are safe people but not friends. She said I need to giving them my respect and hard work. I had some amazing relationships with my teachers but I would never think to disrespect them. I love this podcast and I'm so glad you are spreading awareness for this topic 💜
The gold star story reminded me of the student of the month my middle school did. They had a star for each "team." Grade 6 English was Blue, 7 English was Green, 8 English was Orange, 6-7 French was Purple, 8 French was Red, and then the Yellow team was decided by the teachers for gym, music, shop, and home ec and could be any student. I was so happy getting it for the yellow team one month.
It reminded me of one of my more negative memories though. In grade 8 we would have awards given out near the end of the year for things like perfect attendance, getting honours, stuff like that. I knew there were very few I even qualified for so when my music teacher told me I was nominated for the music award while we were setting up the ceremony I got excited.
I had been in band, the only music extra circular we had, all three years of middle school and not many others had. I thought I had a high chance of getting it as I spent most lunches in the music room so knew how few others could be nominated. When it was announced that the music teacher's daughter had won it I was disappointed and hurt. She hadn't been in band but played cello outside of school. She arguably did more music stuff than me and deserved it in her own right but I was still really hurt. I felt it was unfair that non-school events contributed to her winning the award. Especially since she didn't do much in school, she wasn't part of band. I didn't even know she played an instrument besides in music class before that day. (and she was the teacher's daughter) My parent's weren't well off so school stuff was all I was able to do.
I think I was more hurt that I was told I was nominated when she must have already known who the winner was. I hadn't expected the chance at any award before that and my hopes were raised that I would get something. I'll admit I was bitter about it. She probably meant it as a way to show that I did enough to be considered for a award but it instead came across as "you never had a chance" because non-school activities were taken into consideration.
I played the flute for another year but it didn't feel the same. My new school's band was way more advanced and I had trouble with it. Ended up quitting right before the end of the year. Then circumstances kept me from being able to do any after school activities for the rest of high school so wasn't able to rejoin. I tried picking it up again in senior year when they decided to try specialized music classes; vocal, concert, and I think rock band were the options. They had us all put our preferences in order on a sheet. Mine were concert, vocal, rock. They put me in vocal.
I'm just a couple years younger than Mrs. Rogers, generally in school we had that healthy fear of our principal and VP as well as our teachers. Like in elementary school if someone got called to the principals office the other kids would be like "ooooo you're in trouble". Childish as it is, that's how it should be
i remember that being a thing in like elementary but it quickly vanished once we got to middle school. all hell broke loose lmao.
I always hear stories like this from my mom about how kids just end up getting away with stuff and admin force teachers to listen to the parents and the kids just tell off teachers, and all I can think is, "These poor kids aren't going to learn a damn thing until they get out of school and then they going to learn some harsh harsh truths that NO ONE in this world is going to bend over backwards to give them what they want." These poor kids are growing up in a world where a teacher can try to enforce the rules, they can go cry to mama, and mama can make admin make the teacher do what they want. It's such a disservice to those kids because that is NOT how the world works.
And every time I saw a kid talk to a teacher a certain way, I was mortified because I would _never_ . I always followed the rules. I was the quiet, tall, awkward nerd who follows the rules, does my work mostly because I manifested anxiety in seventh grade and then lost my mind if I missed something or something became late (until senior year - senior year was back to school after the pandemic and i was just constantly angry and tired so..I ended up taking quite a few days off and half a**ing some assignments). I could hang out with teachers because there were a few teachers that I absolutely adored and tbh made life worth living at times but...some kids... I would see them mouth off or just skip stuff and some of them were my friends too and I'd watch them or hear stories and I'd just be like 😳
could NOT be me.
Also fun fact, my mom's school does not allow her to fail anyone whatsoever just so they can have a good score and parents will want to put their kids in that school.
Just discovered this channel and Bri's channel and just wow! I had no idea what teachers are suffering through. Thank you for spreading awareness.
This podcast has been so informative, helpful, and entertaining. I didn't even know about how bad some admin could be until I started listening to this podcast, I thought that the disrespect came from the students. Its sad that it also comes from admin.
I’m in college doing my student teaching and literally nothing has changed. My students are only 2-3 years younger than me lol. I graduated from high school in 2020 and now I work with mostly juniors and seniors. I am excited to watch how things change over time.
My mom is in her early 60’s she has taught me to respect my elders
I’m still in HS and all I got to say is that the only times I have spoken to a teacher in a bad way is when they have tried talking to me like that over NOTHING this one time I was paying attention and I think this teacher legit hated me bc it would never be me talking and she wouldn’t always blame me for talking and it got to the point where I broke and raised my voice at her bc every time I would tell her that it wasn’t me but this one time I told asked what she had against me and why she was always picking on me and she literally just stood there quiet bc she realized what she had been doing was stupid af
Student here-
In my 7th grade class there was this one kid who would never do anything in our Life Science class and on his google classroom he had around 50-55 missing assignments by the end of the year. Ended up with an 80 in the class and I can only assume that was because he was Special Ed.
I hope that student never goes into college or else he will get a rude awaking.
The stress we face today was not the stress my teachers felt. They were relaxed and the admin actually listened to them.
I’m a 12 year old in school still and I have to say, this is true most of the kids in my grade (not all) are pretty annoying and disrespectful to teachers AND kids it drives me insane cause sometimes someone does something next to me and I get blamed like bro, bro was just on their phone messing around 😂
I'm currently 28 and was in 5th grade in 2004. I laughed during the beginning segment when you were all talking about things your teachers did that would never fly now.
One of my core memories from 5th grade was that my teacher (who was amazing btw) spent at least a month spread out during our US history lessons covering the Donner Party. If you're reading this and don't know what that is, the Donner Party was a group of American pioneers that traveled across the USA to the west coast, and during their travels got stuck in the winter wilderness in the mountains and ended up resorting to cannibalism of their party members to survive.
My 5th grade class had an entire class project where we were split into our own teams of "caravans", and throughout the month we all basically played a decision based game to figure out which caravans would survive based on our teamwork and decisions. It was the first time I learned in general what cannibalism was, and I remember watching a documentary in class about the Donner Party during that month and had nightmares about it lol. Despite the nightmares though it was a really interesting project that my classmates actually enjoyed, and it was a great lesson in teamwork and negotiations. But how it passed admin back then is a mystery to me lol.
i’m currently a student but i think it’s so crazy that teachers have to pass us. i feel like it’s not fair to he people who actually try if everyone gets to pass. you should have to work for your rewards. that kind of goes along with the entitlement thing too. no one deserves anything unless they have put in the work for it. it’s crazy to me that some people expect rewards for doing nothing or just because someone else got something.
One big change I noticed over the years is how kids talk to adults. My brother finished fourth grade this year and the just the way kids his age talk to not only the teachers but also parents would have never slide when I was in fourth grade. Just like you guys talked about kids are disrespectful to teachers so much worse now. My parents have always told us to have a lot of respect with teachers and we've stood by that but other parents just dont care about what their kids say to teachers and it makes me feel so bad for teachers who have to deal with that. I also see this in my highschool class and it's so unfair that this kids don't face any consequences. Thank you all so much for talking about this.
I'm 24 and will be in my third year teaching this year. Kids definitely don't have a healthy fear or respect for adults in general. Its almost like you have to prove to them why you deserve respect, no matter how old or experienced you are. When I was in school, you could never talk, less know to a teacher, the way these kids talk to each other and other adults and get away with it. I have found that the Apple-Tree analogy is alive and well with these kids and their parents. Either the parents condone and support the behavior, or they have "exhausted all their ideas. Bless their hearts.
You are all SPOT ON with everything! Times sure have changed!!
I mean I’m still in school about to graduate next year, but I t’s so devastating to see the change from when I started school to now. It’s all about making recklessly personal choices in a professional place made in times to help you. A place where you are supposed to hone in on the process of learning and growing. In a place that will allow you to fail and figure things out before facing the world. Recently it’s mainly just been about getting by doing nothing because you can or just doing what you want because you can. When I first entered school it was a place to help you now it seems to be a place where you can help yourself. Whatever it maybe students seem to care more about what they can do because they can do it in both negative and positive ways. Which is good and bad to both extremes for obvious reasons.
I have mad respect for our teachers here in Kansas. My kids do go to a smaller agricultural school, but when they are at school what the teacher says goes , period. Now there are some, not many, but some who are bad apples here and there but my kids know if their teacher calls me there will be big trouble when they get home, especially if it's behavioral issues.
Yal are doing such an amazing job by the way 👏 🙌
It truly is sad how much pressure is put on students and these standardized tests. I’m in my last year of college so I was raised in like a mixed system where my really early years of school were very much like the memories in the podcast where it was fun and I remember how I felt in those moments with those teachers rather than what was taught, but then my later years of school, especially in high school, were just memories of feeling stressed and overwhelmed at all the damn tests. I don’t even remember most of my teachers after like 6th grade cause all most ever did was tell us to prepare for the big test at the end of the year. And people wonder why kids don’t like school 🙄🙄🙄
On the note of kids not caring about getting a poor grade I’ll admit that I was one of those kids in certain situations. I typically got good grades and never caused problems, but by my senior year, I was going through mad burnout and stopped trying/turning stuff in. However, I was smart about it and would be like, “okay, I’ve gotten 80’s and 90’s on the past few tests, I’ve turned in like 70% of the assignments, my grade really isn’t gonna be effected if I don’t do this one assignment or I’ve done poorly on this one test.” I honestly still do it in college where some classes and assignments and my own mental health take higher priority than getting a 60 on that one test. Not saying this is a good thing, but once you’ve reached a certain point, you do just stop caring and since these impossible standards are being pushed earlier and earlier, that point is coming sooner and sooner for students. Since going to college, I’ve looked back on the work load I had in middle and high school and I genuinely don’t know how I got through those years without completely breaking down.
i am currently working a summer camp and will become a teacher in the fall of 2023. the amount of disrespect that i get at summer camp scares me for the day i actually have a classroom. none of the kids want to listen or follow any sort of direction for the next activities or anything and i have no idea why. i spend probably 75% of my day repeating myself because kids are not listening because they don’t care and just want to do whatever they want whenever we have a schedule that we follow everyday.
You are my favourite podcast thanks so much for bringing joy to me.
I would never didrespect my teachers not only because they deserve the respect I give them but also because of the effort they are putting into trying to help me the best they can. They don't deserve that, they deserve the up most respect for trying to help us the best they can in any of our situations. I know about some bad teachers out there but most of them have our best interest as the student at the front of their heart. I loved all my teachers because they were the best to me, and I had a lot going on at home so school was my safe place. And they did their best to help me even with that going on. 🙂 teachers are amazing!
Hey guys, I love your podcast! You all truly make me feel like part of a community. Question: could you do an episode about building relationships? I know it’s super important, but I could use some practical advice on how to form relationships. This past 21-22 school year was my first year teaching and as I’m reflecting, I want to start this coming school year with being more intentional about building relationships. I teach 7th grade science.
Even though I'm in my mid twenties I remember the first time I saw the disrespect was in the 8th grade. Those 6th graders were some of the worst kind of kids I'd ever seen. Those kids would climb up the walls and hang of the ceiling (I'm not joking) and fight every five seconds. None of them could sit down and stay in class. Hell I remember one girl wanted to fight me because I looked at her. And they were just as bad if not worse when they got to highschool. If you ask me it's parents that aren't parenting causing these issues. And I mean not getting their kids counseling or having them tested went they have learning problems all the way to not teaching them right from wrong. I'll never forget the kids that I tutored who literally just needed individual instruction. It broke my heart to see them struggle so hard and act up all because they needed help and no one was paying attention or no one could get the parents attention to get them help.
(Full disclosure: I was in honors and gift courses my whole life. For those that don't know, honors and gifted students are segregated from regular kids. The only time you are around them is 1. On the bus 2. At specials/electives or 3. Lunch.)
My 4th grade teacher had a swinging bench in the corner of the classroom with pillows all over it and that was our reading nook
I think we had a bean bag chair. Being a 90s kid was a best.
i’m early! (well sorta) i love this podcast and i find it hilarious but also interesting getting to see teachers side of the classroom. this podcast has taught me so much and to appreciate educators so insanely much because they have to go through so much in the classroom.
Something that is really different I noticed is that, at least in our district, is that students who play sports can be failing and still play with no consequences.
I had a teacher with the clawfoot tub filled with pillows, but I think it was 3rd grade and in Minnesota. It was once a week (I think) and she'd go down the list of students alphabetically to choose whose turn it was, and that person got to pick a friend. Those 2 kids got to sit in the tub the WHOLE DAY. It was amazing.
"I'm a teacher but baby I'm a person first" should be up on shirts cups walls and everywhere else,
From a student perspective, most of the difference that I’ve heard from adults are the amount of work we receive on top of increased practice required for extracurricular activities, which both eventually lead to MUCH higher levels of stress. Most other students that don’t care about their grades started off caring, but got so overwhelmed they gave up.
I loveeee you’re podcast! Thank you for always being honest and talking about this stuff! You are helping so many people to see what’s going on in the school system and I think it’s important for people to know!
Better to be respected (fear of disappointment of someone you look up too/respect) than feared (fear of being hurt, belittled, embarrassed, violated, isolated, etc)
I’ve had much better luck helping my traumatized students enjoy school by coming at them from an age appropriate level of maturity and expectations, not all kids are mentally the age they’re at. You must adapt, but, most kids (if not all, at least in my experience) respond to being respected and given responsibility to become more valuable in the social environment, than punished and isolated or left to feeling different than the others. Once a kid feels like they don’t belong, they act out. Find a way to include them and they want to make the classroom a better place. I don’t believe in idolizing one child over another to incentivize other children to “work better” I believe in giving each kid their own equal social spot in the class environment that appreciates them for their individuality. Then you dissect the similarities and differences of societies to classroom structure. They might have to grow up in an unfair world but it doesn’t everything has to be that way. The smaller the group the easier it is to focus on what we all value, than the differences. 20-30 kids is manageable if you go into it with these ideas and respect right off the bat. Talk to your kids like they’re growing human beings (the way youd talk to other adults but with age appropriate conversation) like every child could teach you something NOT purposefully dumb/manipulative/useless beings and you’ll see how much better kids respond to you.
I just graduated. The school system and social media just don’t collide the way they should. I think that’s the biggest problem with trying to be in school and getting an education in the modern age, like I was always more worried about what I was wearing and how I looked way more than I was focused on school because now that social media is a thing, everything at school follows you home because anything can happen on a phone
I'm 42, so I remember the paddle being hung up on the wall of my 1st grade classroom! I've never experienced the sting of one, but I've definitely seen it in action several times and it was horrible! I can remember the sound it made hitting their behinds.😣😣😣 It's almost traumatizing to think about...BUT...it definitely kept me and many, many others in line!!! The disrespect wasn't tolerated. I went to school in the deep south. So not only would you get beat in class, then you'd get another at home because you had to get beat at school!!!🤦🏿♀️🤦🏿♀️🤦🏿♀️
I’m in my last year of high school, I could never imagine getting anything below a B and being happy about it or OK with it.
And I understand that some kids aren’t as lucky with education, I am blessed to be able to handle IB and AP classes. But not being as lucky is different from completely not trying. I would be DEAD from my parents if I just didn’t put in the effort.
When I was in school the teachers could swat kids with a paddle with holes in it.
My teacher said since it was my birthday I would get 1 swat for each year. He did it because I was never in trouble in his class.
I cried. He told me if I told anyone he would tell them that I was being bad in class.
I graduated in 2010 and one change that really stood out to me is that I had several stories about my phone getting confiscated or nearly getting it taken up and my best friend and little brother, who are 6 and 7 years younger than me respectively, couldn't relate because they were allowed to have their phones out and even listen to music through headphones while doing work.
Phones were so against the rules when I was in school that one of my teachers who gave us quirky tasks for extra credit had one task that was like singing along to a song or something, and the kid who had the song on his phone had to plug in the headphones while the teacher knowingly turned around so he wouldn't see it
I'm really happy to have a teacher from my town on the show!
I heard this podcast the other day and I had to say I’m 12 going on 13 and I’m going into 8th grade, now I know I’m on the younger side but I’m expected to take 2 Highschool classes in 8th grade, maybe I can be called smart for my age but it’s hard to know what to do because we go so fast on every single topic it’s insane, more than half of the kids can’t keep up and a lot are failing because of it and we had to take a test on those subjects every week and this seems unfair to most, I don’t know it’s normal for me because it’s an everyday life but hearing this podcast I feel maybe we are getting too much for most
My kinder teacher got away with legit screaming at 5 year olds for trying to figure out how to cooperate and share on their own because she had been ignoring their prior fighting (made her look bad). My brother's grade 1 teacher got away with picking him up and tossing him on top of an upside down chair in front of the whole class while yelling at him. They were the wives of the city's head politicians, so they could do anything they wanted.
Worst teachers of my family's whole education. Thankfully, almost all my subsequent teachers were wonderful.
My grade 1 teacher used to reward us with mini treasure troll dolls.
When I was in high school in the early 2000's cell phones were still pretty new, and weren't allowed in school. Teachers were to confiscate students phones if they took them to class. And yet ironically after a certain point they decided that needed what were essentially "school shooting drills", where we turned off the lights and kept quiet. Despite cell phones not being allowed in the school, the instructions they handed out for those drills said that students should let their teachers know if they have a cell phone on them so they can make emergency calls if necessary during a real shooting. And yet, in the SAME documentation it also said that teachers were still to confiscate student's cell phones at the end of the drill because cell phones aren't allowed in school! It was the stupidest thing ever.
By the end of my high school career, our teachers weren’t allowed to give us less than a 65. By the end of my senior year, my AP Calc 2 BC teacher was reading out names of kids who had missing homework and/or projects and telling them what final grade they would get if they didn’t turn it in. My teacher would ask each student if they had their work and every student just started responding by yelling “65!!” This goes to show you that it’s not always about a lack of effort on the students’ part.
They completely OVERLOAD us with work in EVERY class. I would have about 6 hours of work EVERY NIGHT just in my calc classes, and then another 4 hours of work for physics, and then another 2 hours of reading for English, 3 hours of writing stupid outlines for history, on top of the 20-35 hours a week of rehearsal time required for band and drum line (cuz we all know you need to participate in extracurriculars if you want to get scholarships), AND the 5-25 hours per week of work at my job! I have NO idea how other students did all of that AND MORE!
It’s absolutely disgusting that so much is expected of students, especially students who are still CHILDREN. It leaves them between a rock and a hard place because they end up having to choose between getting 0-4 hours of sleep a night and getting straight As, OR getting sleep and getting awful grades because they literally don’t have the time to do all the homework they’re assigned while still helping to provide for their family because they live in a single parent household with 5 other siblings. I mean it’s just insane how much the work load has increased for HIGH SCHOOL students. No wonder so many kids are committing suicide nowadays.
All y’all who went to school in the early 2000s and before wouldn’t do NEARLY as well as you did if you had all the work and requirements and hardships that students today face. So stop comparing what you did 40 freaking years ago to what your child(ren) are or aren’t doing now. You have NO idea what it’s like to walk in their shoes.
The workload might be high for many students like it was for you. From what you've written it's almost extremely high. I have never seen that much for high school level. Would you mind sharing what kind of school you went to?
With regard to your final comment that millennials do not know what it's like to struggle like you did... that is a very very privileged position to take. Struggles that children go through have evolved and didn't start with your generation. There are still kids who at age 14/15 need to work after hours and hours of school, homework and electives. There are situations in the home that also still greatly impact a child's productivity.
So, yes, students have to do a crap tonne of work but that does not give you the agency to belittle the experiences of older generations. Especially not those generations who didn't even have access to mental health resources or proper guidance.
There are generations where children who had learning disabilities would be ignored by teachers rather than helped..
I'm not saying it doesn't happen anymore nowadays, I am just that not too long ago, there wasn't even a proper procedure for many issues.
This current generation has access to resources former generations can only dream of. If you cannot afford tutoring lessons there is a plethora of free valuable information online, entire websites are dedicated to summarising books, legal documents and all sorts of things you needed to buy years ago!
I also speak as someone who immigrated to a country where I had to learn a language so different from mine before middle school. The internet helped me make sense of the foreign curriculum, develop an understanding for my new environment and most importantly, the language, all of which I might have never done on my own.
In sum, I fully understand that your school life and work was very exhausting and I'm certain it was for you. And if you pulled through I am proud of you for doing so. Despite your negative experiences, the experiences of older generations are just as valid. It's important to keep that in mind as you go forward.
I have a school social worker that will come check on me in class because she knows that there is problems in my house, and let me stay after school with her until the troublemaker (abuser) at the house is gone. I love this school social worker because your not supposed to have kids with you after school but she cares so much about my well being. Does anyone have some in school do this or am I lucky to have this?
Found you ladies on Facebook a few days ago. Not a teacher or current student. Enjoy your content. Keep it up❤️
Went to school from 2000-2013. There were some big changes in that decade of schooling but one thing always held true, we respected teachers and adults in general. You always had bad eggs, but that’s what they were seen as, and usually consequences came swiftly and that was enough to set everyone else straight and show, good behavior will always be rewarded.
Now it seems like kids have flipped it. They see good behavior now gets no real benefits while bad behavior gets no punishment. Also when it comes to caring about grades, 100% has to do with lack of punitive grading where kids are allowed to fail if they do nothing, admin/parents devaluing grades in order to just move kids along and not look bad, and lastly the open communication between kids has ruined a lot. Back when I was in grade school getting bad grades was exactly that, bad and it was shameful. There wasn’t talking amongst students of which assignments do or don’t matter, or which test doesn’t really impact your grade so don’t even try on it. We just DID things because that’s what school was about. You accept the challenge just like those before you and you sit there and “learn”. Now kids don’t care, aren’t forced to care and lack the foresight to see what not caring will do to them down the line.
So I have a system at my school where if you are behaving your self lining up and walking back into the building you get a ticket. And the more tickets you have throughout the week the more chances you have to win 1 dollar for candy sale that is on Friday..