Illinois teacher commits suicide citing working conditions

[chervilant]

46. Wow...

I am just days away from a decision that will end my efforts to become a teacher...

In the five years I've struggled to obtain my accelerated teacher's certification, I've seen all manner of defiant, angry, argumentative, frustrated, disinterested, and sarcastic students. These types of students now predominate in public schools. Defiant behavior is virtually ubiquitous among teenagers, but I find it particularly distressing to witness a first or second grader using sarcasm and manipulation to derail a lesson or interrupt a teacher.

Most veteran teachers are fearful of losing their jobs, so there is very little peer support or camaraderie. The poor unfortunates in administrative positions are just as battle-weary and just as unlikely to support teamwork. The ‘bad’ teachers, whose power and control issues exacerbate students’ defiance, are present in every school, charter or public. ‘Good’ teachers are leaving the system every day.

Very little academic education is accomplished in today’s schools. Less than 10% of my classrooms showed any interest in learning the material, and few of them were able to read, follow instructions, or think critically about the material we covered.

Instead, our children are continuing to learn strategies for defying ‘adult authority figures’ and for accomplishing their social agendas throughout the day (don’t get me started about cell phones...). I see young girls wearing expensive push-up bras with cleavage-baring blouses and skin-tight jeans, locking lips in the hallways with young boys, whose pants are riding well below their waists, rendering clearly visible a vast expanse of colorful boxers or briefs. Some of my students would begin the day in ‘dress code’ and end the day wearing something skimpy or revealing, straight out of the pages of Vogue or Cosmo.

I keep reminding my friends and fellow activists that we now live in exponential times. This temporally challenging new paradigm means that we are deluged with visual and auditory stimuli from the time we wake up until we pass out each night from sheer exhaustion. Virtually ALL of our social constructs—but most particularly our parenting strategies and our system of public education—do not reflect this ginormous socio-cultural change. Add to that the fact that our global economy now exemplifies the worst of human traits, and I have to assert that our species is at an evolutionary crossroads.

I sure hope enough of us choose to be the change we hope to see in this world. I suspect that our present day “road less traveled” actually represents an evolutionary cul-de-sac abutting a bottomless abyss. If we are indeed too stupid a species to survive our own hubris, I certainly hope we haven’t inflicted any lasting damage on our amazing planet.