Good Things Take Time
by No Longer Silenced Movement
Sorry for the wait, but I’m back to blogging again. I had a busy couple of weeks, and I realized it’s okay to take some time to get it together, and I wish more people saw it that way.
This past year, I worked at a Charter School, and if you’ve ever seen a faulty education system, this one would top that. Kids come from many different walks of life. Some with bad homes, a bad past, others simply find learning a real challenge. Working there, I witnessed every type of kid struggle, and the real culprit, were the adults that surrounded them.
Many kids yelled at me, swore under their breathe, aggressively hit desks…and they got away with it so nobody had to deal with them. They couldn’t figure out why 1/8 was smaller than 8/1, time and time again, but we moved on in class so nobody had to deal with them. A mother hated me, because I ensured her kid worked hard in order to get credit, and tried to get me fired, because it was easier to pass him so nobody had to take the time to educate them.
Children are the future, if we fail them now, they’ll give up on the beautiful experience that is learning.
If we continue to pass children, to get them by, they won’t learn, and they WILL give up on school, and they WILL give up on themselves. We have to start caring about these kids learning, no matter how difficult it may be.
Every child deserves a quality education and a future. If we teach them how to learn, then they’ll find a passion and make it happen for themselves. If we ignore the idea of encouraging their dreams…they’ll look for love in all the wrong places…drugs, teenage pregnancy, it’s not just an epidemic from nothing…it’s the kids nobody gave a chance to, nobody believed in, nobody encouraged….because if you’re that role model, that child will be resilient.
no longer silenced movement 
So with you on this. I’ve worked in many different school systems. These kids become lost amongst the ones that have stable families and support. They graduate with anger and self esteem issues, barley knowing how to read. Then we expect them to go out into the world and thrive. Sad epidemic indeed š¦
It’s so sad. I was just discussing this with a friend whose looking to go into education but considering changing her career path.
I changed my career path for this very reason. I do contract work now for at risk youth and children with autism. I’ve worked in many schools and the politics and lack of concern for the actual reason we have schools . . . KIDS . . . has left me drained and feeling helpless. I don’t want to stop what I’m doing, it just gets so disheartening.
But, as school teachers, we can ALL do so much, because the majority of time the kids are not sleeping, they’re at home, or hanging around their peers, and, they’re only in school for eight hours a day, and sometimes, even IF the instructors really showed the children that they cared, it’s still NOT quite enough, because the values they’re teaching in schools are NOT enforced at home, and, for older children, you’d still have to factor in the peer pressures and everything else too…
Hello,
I completely agree. My biggest issue the past year was the mother no reinforcing anything, and giving up on her child…but I still didn’t give up on the kid because of that. Even if the work I did meant nothing, I know I tried and I’m okay with that.
And so long as someone still cared about the child that the rest of the world gives up on, then, there’s still hope for her/him yet.
And that makes you an amazing teacher!
Reblogged this on Mirroring the World and commented:
Working Hard, to Make a Difference, Feeling a Sense of Helplessness, Not Being Able to Exert Enough Power to Create Change
Agreed!
I hear this all the time from my best friend who is a 3rd grade teacher . Sad . So sad .