Bad Idea
Senator Bob Beers of Las Vegas wants to let school teachers carry guns. While school shootings are happening more and more, the occurances of law enforcement and correctional officers getting shot with their own weapons is even higher. If law enforecement can't even get it right - this is a bad idea.
Don't get me wrong...I'm pro-guns. I just don't want my daughter's teachers, half of whom don't know enough not to sleep with their own students, walking around the middle school with one. This is a really, really bad idea.
Don't get me wrong...I'm pro-guns. I just don't want my daughter's teachers, half of whom don't know enough not to sleep with their own students, walking around the middle school with one. This is a really, really bad idea.
posted by P.I. Mom @ Thursday, December 14, 2006
4 Comments:
At 9:44 AM, December 16, 2006,
Anonymous said…
I don't think it's a good idea, either, but broad-brush comments about teachers like the one you make here are pushing a lot of good people out of the profession altogether.
At 10:34 PM, December 16, 2006,
P.I. Mom said…
I'd love to hear you elaborate on how "comments" are pushing people out of the profession. In my opinion, there aren't enough teachers with integrity ENTERING the profession. Do tell....
At 6:34 AM, December 17, 2006,
Anonymous said…
Good people with integrity who want to work hard and have the ability to do so are just giving up the teaching profession. For good people, there is more money and less hassle elsewhere. Or it's worth taking early retirement to keep your sanity instead of spending each day doing stuff you have an ethical dilemma over (like social engineering crap that wasn't part of the profession when you got into it).
Comments like yours reflect the attitudes teacher encounter from students, parents, and the public. The fact is that the more negative the perception of educators is, the less people with "integrity" are even going to bother considering the field. When you work hard only to be treated with disrespect as a member of a profession and not judged on your individual merits, chances are you will look for something else you can do without getting undeservedly bashed everywhere you turn. When parents voice overarchingly negative comments about the people who work with their kids, how do you think the kids come to treat those people?
While we all know of terrible teachers who should never even hold a job at Taco Bell, the ones who are in it because they are good at it just get tired of the disrespect. If there's a glimmer of hope for a good job in another field, they're gone.
My husband is a prime example. He was an amazing teacher---several families in his district would remove their kids from private school for a year when they could strongarm the administration into guaranteeing their child a spot in his classroom. My husband dedicated his life (and much of mine, as slave labor) to making outstanding educational strides in the lives of kids of average ability. This, of course, involved a lot more than the six hours per day for only 180 days everyone assumes that teachers work.
But the constant disrespect from "the public" and increased expectations that teachers do more social crap and less teaching got very old. (This is definitely a job staunchly conservative Republicans like my husband and me can't tolerate well.) The school administration was also full of gameplaying weenies--actually, I think their bad reputation is pretty deserved.
The happy ending is that, after ten years in the classroom, my husband went into an excellent position in business. He makes about 4 times his previous pay, and our weekends are not taken up with correcting papers, planning lessons, and working in his classroom.
I guess my main point is please think before painting all teachers with the same broad brush. In your comments here, I am sure more than half of the teachers at your daughter's school would never consider an inappropriate relationship with a child, are probably doing all they can to avoid the appearance of such, and are just as dismayed as you are if their colleagues are behaving badly. Focus your ire on those who are in the wrong and give clear support to those who are the kind of teachers you want your kids to have.
At 10:24 AM, December 17, 2006,
P.I. Mom said…
It's interesting that you think I paint "all teachers with the same broad brush". I can't recall a single post ever placed on this blog in which I say all teachers are irresponsible or not doing a good job. I know teachers who are doing a great job. I have relatives who have been extraordinary teachers and have made an enormous impact on the lives of their students. My daughter is currently studying to be a teacher (although she has no intention of working in the public school system). And your point regarding how much is involved in being a teacher is well taken - but the fact remains that there are a lot of people getting into the profession who are lured in by the 180 day work year and find ways to make it work to their advantage. There is also an enormous difference between the work ethic of the generation leaving college right now and the generation that was leaving college when my teachers and your teachers were going into the profession. Do YOU remember hearing about so many teachers having relationships with their students when you were in school? I'm sure it happened from time to time, but I guarantee that the great influx of those getting caught is just the tip of the iceberg relative to the number who are doing it and getting away with it.
My point was - police officers, who are trained to protect and serve, still manage to get shot with their own guns. It's safe to assume that teachers, who are not trained to protect and serve, are not good candidates for guns in schools. Particularly given the caliber of MANY of the teachers entering that field of work these days.
Teaching starts at home - and the fact that it's not happening at home is what creates the need for the "social crap" and it's the liberals in this country who are pushing that agenda - AND - I don't think I have to remind you that our public school systems are full of liberals.
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