Good post. I noticed the same thing happening whenever I would see a news report on the state of American education. While I did appreciate the piece where they interviewed a panel of teachers in Texas, I've always found that most reports on education reflect my experience as a former high school English teacher; the people who "know the most" are the administrators, the parents, and the politicians -- not the teachers who actually have their boots on the carpet.
Personally, I left teaching secondary ed because of many of the complaints that teachers mention when they are interviewed. But also, working in a private high school, I was constantly being told what was going on in my classroom by people who were never in it. Seriously. I would come out of what I felt was a great day and then be told I need to be more this, that, and the other. It just got frustrating. After 5 years, I moved on to teaching college. It's not as gratifying, in that there are way more students and you can't work as closely with them. But I like that it's teaching distilled down to it's purest form. You plan, you teach, you grade.
Good post. I noticed the same thing happening whenever I would see a news report on the state of American education. While I did appreciate the piece where they interviewed a panel of teachers in Texas, I've always found that most reports on education reflect my experience as a former high school English teacher; the people who "know the most" are the administrators, the parents, and the politicians -- not the teachers who actually have their boots on the carpet.
Personally, I left teaching secondary ed because of many of the complaints that teachers mention when they are interviewed. But also, working in a private high school, I was constantly being told what was going on in my classroom by people who were never in it. Seriously. I would come out of what I felt was a great day and then be told I need to be more this, that, and the other. It just got frustrating. After 5 years, I moved on to teaching college. It's not as gratifying, in that there are way more students and you can't work as closely with them. But I like that it's teaching distilled down to it's purest form. You plan, you teach, you grade.
Yay for PBS :)