I lived within one block of my elementary school. I was an average to below average student, according to my old report cards, but it was a very strict school, with very high standards. When I went to High School, my grammar school preparation made it easy for me to stay on the A honor roll all but my Senior Year, when Physics kept me off with a B I felt lucky to get.
Why the sudden jump in grades, you ask? Was the high school just easy? No, I went to a college prep school and actually finished as a National Merit Semi-Finalist. So why were my grades so ordinary all through elementary school???
Since I ended up teaching elementary school for 25 of my 29 years, I think I know the answer.
I hated that school. I feared the principal, and I feared some of the teachers. Corporal punishment and humiliation in the classroom were common tools used to push students to behave in class. I rarely dared get into trouble, but I felt every blow and shrunk from every insult aimed at other students. When I did get a scathing stream of ridicule headed my way, I just about died. In a climate like that, is it any wonder my grades suffered?
I vowed that when I left that school, I would never step foot in it again. And I kept that vow.
No one was more surprised than I was when I ended up teaching elementary school! I think I secretly wanted to do my part to change some of the bad attitudes that my students had developed toward learning, that I understood all too well.
nostalgia, childhood memories, corporal punishment, humiliation, school climate
8 comments:
isn't it wonderful how God knows best. although your suffering as a student was unfortunate, it gave you the love, care, wisdom and knowledge to give the exact opposite to your students. they were blessed to have you and all along that is what God needed of you...if you still want to teach, this mom would love to take my kids out of school and home school them. i have no patience though...maybe an online thing,,,come on, there are only 5 in all grades, lol...your running aren't you? :)
I would love to have homeschooled our own 2 children, but they wouldn't have learned very much from me, I don't think. It was bad enough (from their point of view) that they had to have me as their teacher at school, not only in elementary school, but again in high school as their chemistry teacher.
Running, Chana, I'm ready for the Olympics! ROTFL!!
God Bless you.
I have and still do think the mess the schools get in are parents lacking the time patience or care to teach their children to behave. I put the blame on all parties involved.
My husband and I spent hours overseeing homework. Correcting behavior at home. At the time looking around at others few parents were there for their kids.
My husband and I both worked full time and still made time for the kids.
You've gone a long way, lilfeathers2000, toward helping your own children value education, by showing them how important it is to you. Thank you on behalf of all your children's teachers for teaching them at home to behave!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
I was no raging success in either elementary school or high school, but i did teach in the latter for thirty years.
I struggled with math in elementary school, and teaching math turned out to be my real talent. Maybe that's why average students make such good teachers, anvilcould .... we know what it's like and can identify with our students' learning difficulties.
Thanks for stopping by.
I didnt enjoy school all that much. I am very smart, but didnt "fit" with many of my teachers. I find that I am not able to cope with kids that are being raised these days, but I feel compelled to go back to school myself. I am thinking of going to school for English or Literature, and I know that the career that I will most likely end up in is Education...that is pretty scary to me.
I am thankful that my husband has allowed me to stay at home and raise my children. My children seem to be the exception to the rule, as far as behavior is concerned. I am very happy that I can be here with them. I watch the children in the complex, and wonder what their future will hold for them.
Dawn, I was able to stay home with our children, too, until they started to school, and I'm glad I could. As for going back to school yourself, that sounds great!
I wouldn't advise going into teaching unless you have a real love for it, though, as it's an extremely hard profession. Most beginning teachers drop out and find other kinds of jobs.
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