An old online-journal entry

Okay, here's something that's been bugging me for a bit, recently. Well, I had a student today (I teach music lessons in an extra-curricular setting) who is having a lot of trouble at school.

 She is in high school and seems to have horrible luck with teachers. The thing is, that's not all that rare these days. How do the kids have any hope of doing well in life when their teachers don't care a bit about them getting through school?

No, a teacher shouldn't necessarily be expected to be completely consumed with each of his/her students each year. But yes, a teacher should care enough to get their students through the semester. It seems that teaching is just another job now. It is evident that the bad teacher's biggest concern is getting tenure so that they can do the minimum possible amount of work (if they even need to reach that landmark in their careers to be afforded that convenience) while "earning" a nice salary.

For example, this particular student has been having a really difficult time in math over the last few years. Not for lack of trying. She's gone to summer school to catch up on her first year course and over the last couple of years gone in after and before school for extra help. Was there staff support there to help her (even though they told her to come in)?

Nope: Her mother scheduled a meeting with the teacher she has this year which was canceled. Obviously an overwhelming concern on the teacher's part to make sure that this one student doesn't slip through the cracks. It makes me angry that, while, yes, there are still lots of great teachers, there seems to be a growing number of teachers who don't care, even a tiny bit, about the students, or anyone besides themselves.

I've also had a few horrible teachers in high school, but luckily for me, I did have quite a few awesome ones. It sickens me to see the complete apathy in today's society toward things that are important, and yet things like entertainment and personal amusement and appearance are at the forefront of people's priorities. I'll bet the reason those "wonderful" teachers couldn't be bothered to actually show up to help my student with her work is because they had to make sure they caught the latest episode of General Hospital. Sickening.

This is just one of the many aspects of today's society that make me angry. So I suppose I'll end my rant for tonight with  this special on 20/20 about the rotting school system in the USA. Canada isn't too far behind!