Teacher bashing - why? Just curious.

[mag2305]

I'm fairly new to mumsnet and a few times I've mentioned that I'm a teacher. I've then regretted it because it's become apparent that some people dislike teachers for whatever reason and their judgements/comments have been led and overshadowed by their preconceived ideas. Historically, I know the teaching unions got a bad press but that would have been decades ago. Even my dad (self employed businessman), used to say 'those who can do, those who can't, teach". He wasn't being mean to me, just said that could be the perception of teachers out there.
So why do some people not like the teaching profession? Just curious.

OP, I think that you naturally tend to notice the posts that are negative about teachers, because you are one. And because this is a parenting website, there tend to be lots of posts about teachers, some percentage of which will be negative.

Try looking out for negative posts about, say, health visitors (loads of people on MN are vocal about how rubbish theirs is/was). Or people who work in a city job (overpaid, all on coke etc).

@Yaykyay No I am not a teacher, or not married to one. I am just a parent who got great help over the years from various MN teachers. Just fed up with general teacher bashing on MN.

I have been really impressed with the huge majority of teachers that my DC have and also working alongside them (outside provider)
However even as a big fan I find the moaning from teachers on mumsnet about stress and work hours too much sometimes but I think jt is a good venting place?

'you're boring me now'

'Think what you like, I couldn't give a shit about your opinion'

It's not the school holidays yet......maybe a 12 year old isolating?

My nerves are far from triggered, don't worry

@ThePlantsitter no child should be seen as a number once in school, that sounds horrible. However, the 'imagine doing that for 30 thing' I feel, should be OK for teachers to say. It's just the truth of it and it can be really tough. Helping 30 four year olds get ready for a P. E. lesson is a challenge, believe me
Or marking 90 books a day, 30 x maths, English, topic, because management do spot checks in preparation for always being 'ofsted ready'.
I wouldn't go on a big, moaning, rant about it on mumsnet because I enjoy teaching, but I might have a moan to people I know if I felt the need. Probably more so if I was just really tired but that's surely the same with any job.

Teachers are human some good some bad some total wankers unless you recognise yourself being talked about its nothing personal

mag That was the thread I linked to earlier. it is an ex teacher, obviously not at all suited to teaching!

I've had 2 DDs go through school.
We had one poor primary teacher and maybe 2 poor secondary teachers in all that time, most have been fab.

The only mugs are the ones daft enough to spend their money on such an ungrateful whiner. Still in fairness most teachers do appreciste presents. After all its the thought that counts and the knowledge you are appreciated.

I want to know what makes a teacher/teachers choose which child has the advantage of starting a new school and class with their best friend/friends and the one that starts a new class and school with an no real friends in fact joining a class where the two boys he knows are best mates. I know I'm probably unreasonable

@Fred56 in a school I worked at and thankfully moved on from, SLT made you mix two year group classes exactly in half, make sure SEN, children with behavioural issues, EAL (even if they spoke perfect English and it didn’t affect them academically) were perfectly evenly distributed. Parents were then also invited to chip in with who they didn’t want their child to be in a class with... it was an absolute logistical faff and nightmare. So I had a parent angry with me for the same reason and it was honestly out of my hands.

The problem is sometimes teachers (particularly primary ones) can make decisions with knock knock effects to your child and how happy/sad they are in school.

I think DDs primary was full of not so great teachers, however the head was totally useless and I suspect she was the root of it all sadly.

At my DCs nursery all the teachers were really lovely but the head looked like she hated children and had no rapport with them, or got down to talk to them, at their level.
i asked if I could bring a (newborn) baby to the open eve (years ago so no covid issues) and she looked a if I'd said I was bringing a bomb with me!!
Luckily she didnt seem to have much to do with the actual teaching/playing and the staff that engaged and looked after my kids were great.

OP I think your post at 10:07 might be part of the problem. I agree that people don't see all the stresses of your job but you don't see the stresses of other people's jobs. I'm not sure what point you were trying to make there, but I read it again as 'my job is harder than others'. I work in the NHS with sometimes very disturbed patients. We deal with body fluids, aggression, families under stress, safeguarding and CQC visits which can happen whenever. We work over our paid hours as otherwise the NHS would crumble. I'm not saying my job is harder than others as I think all jobs have their specific stressors. Were you meaning it to sound like you have to deal with things other people don't? If not, perhaps it's how these things are worded that grates.

It depends on your definition of teacher bashing. If it's setting out your own experience of crap teaching then I guess you see it quite a lot on here. But that to me isn't bashing.

I have to say the unions haven't done teachers any favours at all - I certainly respect them a lot less than I did last year - not that I'd say so in RL.

And there is a minority that moan and think their job is the hardest one in the world. It's not. Try being a cop or a paramedic - you get physically bashed as well as blamed on here. And while I freely admit I could never be a teacher - I've never met a teacher who I thought could do my job either.

There a couple of reasons I can think of. One is that (almost) everyone went to school, so that 'qualifies' everyone to have an opinion on teachers today, no matter how long ago that was. The second is that parental attitude towards their own children gradually changed towards the end of the 20th century. So that if a child got told off at school, no longer did parents tell their children off for their poor behaviour, but instead switched their ire towards teachers instead.

As an ex-primary school teacher, I remember a vast sea change occurring around that time. Parental fragility seemed to increase, and it's never gone back.

The end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty first was pivotal in children’s rights is why trojan

@Minezatea

OP I think your post at 10:07 might be part of the problem. I agree that people don't see all the stresses of your job but you don't see the stresses of other people's jobs. I'm not sure what point you were trying to make there, but I read it again as 'my job is harder than others'. I work in the NHS with sometimes very disturbed patients. We deal with body fluids, aggression, families under stress, safeguarding and CQC visits which can happen whenever. We work over our paid hours as otherwise the NHS would crumble. I'm not saying my job is harder than others as I think all jobs have their specific stressors. Were you meaning it to sound like you have to deal with things other people don't? If not, perhaps it's how these things are worded that grates.

@Minezatea I definitely did not mean to sound like I have to deal with things that others don't. It was really just to emphasise that at lot goes on behind the scenes that people don't realise, which must be very similar in your job too. I really don't think teaching is harder than any other job at all and I did make that point. In fact, it's probably one of the most rewarding and entertaining jobs I can think of because working with young children (for me) can be an absolute joy. No two days are the same and it can be totally unpredictable. I have countless stories, some being very funny. Yes, lots of bodily fluids, lol! But I really do love it! So I wasn't moaning or doing a poor me thing. Maybe just highlighting the craziness of teaching.

@cornflowersandpoppies

The end of the twentieth century and beginning of the twenty first was pivotal in children’s rights is why trojan

But not responsibilities to go with it, in some cases, sadly.

Sorry, just read back and realise that could be taken as ‘parent bashing’ and I don’t mean it to be. Vast majority of parents, pupils (and teachers) are good, decent people.

Some have said on this thread that they haven’t seen any teacher bashing threads. They are zapped pretty quickly by MNHQ in the main , including the ones started by trolls and they are not nice to read.

Equally, parents should be able to post on MN with issues for advice freely.