Blaming the Teachers

» biogardener - Some Thoughts

The only country in which I have taught is Canada, and I realize that the situation is much worse in the USA, but even in Canada I have seen the gradual loss of authority of and support for the teacher since I started teaching in 1955. Parents have taken that authority away from us and now they blame us for not having the authority to manage a classroom. Here in Winnipeg, the tide is turning. It is now the students who are demanding that the teachers be given more authority. In one high school in my own school division, the students have launched a petition that the strap be reintroduced into the school.

I am not saying that the strap is going to solve the problem. I am merely pointing out that the students who want to learn are demanding that the teachers need support to be effective.

Reading this article let me recall an incident which illustrates how I was supported when confronted with a potentially dangerous situation, but that was in 1963. Here is the article which I wrote about it.

-- posted by biogardener