NC Teacher: “I Quit”

[proud2BlibKansan]

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Let me cut to the chase: I quit. I am resigning my position as a teacher in the state of North Carolina—permanently. I am quitting without notice (taking advantage of the “at will” employment policies of this state). I am quitting without remorse and without second thoughts. I quit. I quit. I quit!

Why?

Because…

I refuse to be led by a top-down hierarchy that is completely detached from the classrooms for which it is supposed to be responsible.

I will not spend another day under the expectations that I prepare every student for the increasing numbers of meaningless tests.

I refuse to be an unpaid administrator of field tests that take advantage of children for the sake of profit.

I will not spend another day wishing I had some time to plan my fantastic lessons because administration comes up with new and inventive ways to steal that time, under the guise of PLC meetings or whatever. I’ve seen successful PLC development. It doesn’t look like this.

I will not spend another day wondering what menial, administrative task I will hear that I forgot to do next. I’m far enough behind in my own work.

I will not spend another day wondering how I can have classes that are full inclusion, and where 50% of my students have IEPs, yet I’m given no support.

more ... http://dianeravitch.net/2012/10/27/nc-teacher-i-quit/

[Salviati]

1. Honestly, I don't know why more teachers don't

... Oh wait I do: They really love their kids.

But still, sometimes enough is enough. I hear things out of some states that make me wonder how they can possibly staff their schools, who'd want to work under those conditions?

[Purveyor]

2. I was just about to write this before I read your post. Teachers nationwide need to go on a 5 day

'sick out' and see how that plays with all the 'teacher bashers'.

[defacto7]

3. My sister,

a public school teacher of 30 years, quit last year for similar reasons. I hear you.

[spartan61]

4. I hear you and I applaud you.

I taught for 32 years and your reasons for quitting are all the same reasons I am so glad to be retired. Of course I miss the children but I sure don't miss all the suits who have never been in a classroom, except as a student, telling classroom teachers what to do and how to do it. Teaching to the test was such a No No, and now it takes the place of real learning. Good luck to you and whatever career path you choose to follow.

I retired after the year I was forced to take a multi-age class. 1st graders with no sight, sound recognition and 2nd graders who were already reading chapter books, with three special ed children who were mainstreamed. The clock was my enemy and I had no help. I couldn't even get an aide for a couple of hours each week. So I hear ya and I so understand your reasoning.

[longship]

6. Do you mean that you couldn't juggle six balls at a time?

I taught for a few years, both college and high school math. When NCLB went in, everything changed. The state of CA put in the high school exit exam. It was a fucking nightmare for the math curriculum. I would speak at every monthly BOE meeting about how NCLB, and the state exit exam, was insanity. It didn't do any good, because it was basically yet another Bush unfounded mandate, and a very poor one even if it had been funded.

One of these days, somebody in power will open their eyes to what's happening. So far, nobody's done it.

I am retired now; broke, living on measly social security, but I would never go back into the classroom in today's environment. And I'm a damned good math teacher.

[politicat]

13. If you can, please tutor.

Whether you do so on a voluntary basis (i.e. 2-3 hours a week with your local library's homework help) or privately (by posting ads) or professionally (through one of the tutoring services) please consider tutoring. Talented math teachers can truly turn tides.

I was a GATE kid, but I had serious difficulties with mathematics in 3rd through 5th grade. Some was performance anxiety (I could not handle timed speed tests -- I froze) and some was a difficulty with some concepts. (My grandmother taught me the decimal equivalents for most fractions when I was very young but not how to convert back, so I was doing all of my fractions math as decimals... which wasn't the point.) I almost blew a year of school because of this, but a talented, retired math teacher tutored me. I got caught again in high school -- geometry made absolutely no sense to me until another tutor figured out that applying algebra to geometry was my personal key. (I do much better with abstraction.) Thanks to those two women, I learned to love mathematics, so much so that I'm now a statistician. Without them, I probably would have blown out on most higher mathematics, and thus blown my chances for a career.

I am not unique -- a lot of girls don't get effective mathematical tutoring because we don't have the language skills at the time to articulate our difficulties. Further, our parents or guardians may not remember or understand what difficulties we're having.

I am not a fan of the various education privatization schemes (like tutoring companies and charter schools) but I also realize that fixing the mess in public education is going to take a federal, state and local response, and the children who are struggling now don't have time to wait for we adults. Your tuition of a struggling student will certainly help that student, and may alleviate some of the pressure on the teachers still in the classroom -- which gives them the time and energy to fight their administrations and be better advocates. Tutoring has advantages (No administration, involved and concerned parents, motivated students, plus a flexible schedule and a small class).

[evemac]

5. Amen

As a SpEd teacher in.Texas, I am reading this in amazement; every point you make has either been expressly said by myself and/or another teacher this year. Some company is making millions off those PLCs and the new assessments which are simply ridiculous. I believe we are going to have a mass exodus this year. And truly it will be those amazing teachers who really do love teaching but just can't take it anymore.

[Smarmie Doofus]

7. Good letter but the reality is that the politicians and ED "entrepreneurs" *want* her to quit.

The $$$ predators want cheap labor and the idiot politicians who work for the predators want lots of #s and meaningless paperwork to make it look like something more than privatization, union busting and warehousing of kids is going on.

Meanwhile the electorate snoozes on, coming-to periodically to gaze dazedly at football games and iphone commercials.

[HiPointDem]

18. +1.

[zazen]

8. my 12 year old has avg SIX tests a week: I wish we could quit

I really wish I could home school her. This "Common Core" stuff is total BS. I've been so angry the past two weeks I haven't dared call the school for fear of losing my temper.

NC public schooling has sucked whatever joy she had left in her main subjects. I don't know how the teachers stand it, and I don't want to pile on to their misery by going into a rage about profound idiocy of their system.

[LWolf]

14. If you want to change the system,

start at the top. With the feds. That's where the mandates start.

[Freedomofspeech]

9. Breaks my heart...

I am a retired educator. I was there at the best of times...sorry to hear your plight.

[SheilaT]

10. As someone who went to school,

and as the mother of a couple of kids who went to school, I say this: Fund our schools the way they should be funded. That's just for a start. When I moved my children from our very good public schools to an even better independent (read private) school, it was an eye-opening experience about what schools should be. Much smaller classroom sizes. Teachers who were well trained in their subject areas and felt they had the backing of parents and administration.

I am all too aware that one of the huge issues with the public schools is they must take all comers. All the more reason they should be funded much more than they are now.

There's only so much that can be done about indifferent or hostile parents, but if teachers and schools were given the respect (and at the risk of repeating myself) the funding they deserve, it would be much better.

[Initech]

11. As someone whose parent is an educator...

I will say - if you don't like the way the school system is run, shut the fuck up and do something about it, or stop complaining. Reagan completely dismantled our education system and did unrepairable damage to it. Teachers work overtime and have to buy supplies with their own money. It's truly disgusting what has been done. Fewer teachers would have to go through this crap if more people cared about it rather than replaced it with soulless corporatized bullshit.

[LWolf]

16. In case you didn't notice

The OP is not the teacher who is quitting. She is active in the effort to oppose the way the system is currently running. It will take more than individuals to make any headway; it will take masses, and parents and the rest of the general public will have to stand with us.

The rest I agree with.

[tblue37]

12. What is PLC development? nt

[LWolf]

15. Education is riddled with acronyms.

PLC = Professional Learning Community, a label designed to make the things teachers have to do in their PLCs seem more palatable.

It doesn't work.

After decades telling people that we need collaboration, we've got it, but not the way we hoped. We've also got mandates about what we collaborate about. Test scores. We get to look at pretty, colorful graphs and pie charts, lists of standards, and talk about what we're going to do to improve "achievement." We get "development" on how to teach to the test.

We also spend time on the new teacher evaluation rubrics, watching video demonstrations and listening to examples of "proficient" and "distinguished" teaching. And we get "development" on how to write "smart" goals for our evaluations.

[lindysalsagal]

17. Voters have to make this an election issue, or it won't change.

I'm a NY teacher. All of this crap comes from government: State and national. Everyone hates it. Our state aid is tied to our performance numbers.

So teachers and principals have no choice. It's not the schools that are at fault: It's government.