Why public education should be scrapped

[savebigbird]

36. I am not accusing you of lying.

My intention is not to disrespect. I would never do that.

First of all, class sizes may be capped where you are, but that isn't necessarily true elsewhere. I know elementary teachers whose class sizes exceed thirty.

Also, young children do not necessarily come to primary school loving learning. Many teachers work with them to try to instill a love of learning. Planning for activities and exercises that accomplish this frequently requires a great deal of time and effort to plan, prepare, and assess. Therefore, many elementary teachers find themselves working beyond the hours they are contracted for. They aren't necessarily poor managers of time. They are implementing something complex, and that itself takes time. In your experiences with elementary students, those which exhibit a love of learning have a great teacher to thank. Whether this "teacher" is a supportive parent, a classroom teacher, or someone else, they have helped to instill a love of learning within the child.

Just because a teacher chooses to use a complex assessment tool doesn't mean that they aren't receiving immediate feedback. In fact, many of these so-called complex tools include means to generate immediate feedback.

Although you may strive to impart a valuation of hard work within your students and you find that content knowledge is not your first and only priority, elementary teachers must try to find balance between the two. Elementary level content knowledge is carried with individuals well into adult life and forms the basis for the information that secondary teachers teach.

Also, there is increasing research suggesting that certain forms of homogeneous grouping can benefit certain student populations. Heterogeneous grouping does offer social benefit and can also help certain populations of students academically, one must realize the power of being able to really focus on groups of students who are at similar performance levels. However, some degree of flexibility must be observed to ensure that students are being served at levels of understanding which are appropriate for them.

While elementary students may not typically exhibit the same types of problematic behavior that you have described in your posts, they may be the younger sibling of one of the students that do exhibit those behaviors. Many elementary kids see these things happening at home. Many are hungry, homeless, and/or extremely transient. These things detract from academics and these situations are intensely negative for the children. These are issues that are present in the elementary classroom, and I don't know of one elementary teacher who wouldn't do whatever necessary to make that child feel comfortable, at ease, and loved at school.

It's truly great that you have found great success and a sense of fulfillment in your job. Elementary teachers also find success and fulfillment in their jobs, but the challenges they face are different than what you described. Neither group is working harder or less than the other.