I take no joy in their pain at being with teachers they don't like. But in a world where kids have very little consequences anymore, maybe losing the people they learn to value (too late) will be a lesson to them to treat people better all the time in future.
CONSEQUENCES FREE GENERATION
Students today...They cannot fail. They cannot be allowed to fail.
They cannot take being bored.
They cannot be punished.
That's the problem with this generation, or should I say their environment. Negative consequences have all been nerfed. Can't be bored, don't have to work, constant stimulation, can wheedle their way out of any tough situation they have caused themselves.
This is not a grumpy old man talking, this is a progressive educator who has dealt with these kids daily since returning to Canada.
Because they have no negative consequences for their incidental actions, they naturally push the envelope further and further and only face consequences when their actions become harmful or illegal.
This is a total breach of the social contract. It sets students up to fail, and creates a society of people inching towards a BIG screw up.
THE ONE GOOD POINT
The one thing I find laudable is the lessened importance of grades. Grades demotivate those who can't, and inflate the ego of those who easily can. And they are a misleading metric, with only a tenuous connection to what is really important in life.
TEACHERS
Go back a decade before the government slashed the number of assistants. Teaching was fun and mutual support was the way. Now, everyone is tired, burnt out, ready to chuck in the towel.We just got a collective agreement where they pumped assistant numbers back up, nudged up our pay, and threw in half a million towards mental health because we're all driven. And they're happy to let us break down and fall into the EAP safety net rather than avoid damage altogether.
Teaching is the only profession that lets damage occur as a natural state of things.
There is a doctor in Confederation Building, but he isn't making the patients any better.
SUBBING
I've been out of fulltime teaching months. I substitute when I want, how long I want. The money is good - I work a week and bills are paid for the month. Like other work under Neoliberalism, we are moving to a workforce made up of temps and freelancers. Students like my carefree attitude, the respect I give them, and the interesting off-topic things I teach them to pad out the time.
Sometimes they tell me they wish I were their fulltime teacher.
At these moments, I pause for a second, look them straight in the eye, then reply.
"Never again."
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