Teachers work tirelessly so that their students get the proper education they need, but they are often overlooked and criticized for even the simplest of things. They need recognition.
Many teachers find themselves buried with challenges such as being underpaid, overworked and dealing with crowded classrooms.
Some teachers’ work and efforts are often ignored by students. Other times, students appreciate the hard work teachers do.
“I believe that students are probably the one group of people that recognize and also ignore teachers’ efforts,” history teacher Kyle Acre said.
Some teachers face challenges every day while at work, which leaves them to be treated unfairly.
“Every teacher deserves to be treated equally by everyone, not just students,” junior Christian Jackson said.
Teachers often feel different levels of respect depending on the types of students. Many students demand that teachers respond to emails right away. They are also needy about receiving grades as soon as they send them to the teachers. In addition, students express that teachers need to accept all late or missing assignments no matter how much of an inconvenience it may be.
“How I am treated depends on the kids. Some students tend to do the work but also take advantage of my ‘laid-back’ personality. Students tend to rely on my personality to do whatever they want compared to other teachers,” mathematics teacher Stephanie Gentile said.
COVID-19 created a teacher shortage; yet instead of rebounding, restrictive government policies like book bans have only worsened the teaching market.
The Virginia Beach City Public School (VBCPS) administration recently updated the new late work. The new policy indicates late work can be accepted but at most points they can deduct up to 10% of the final grade. From now on, students may turn in work later. This causes additional stress for teachers to grade more work when it should’ve been turned in.
“With students turning in work later, it causes more stress on me to grade all of them in such a small time frame,” Photography teacher Alissa Mccullough said.
We cannot expect this teacher mayhem to calm down if people continue to make the jobs and lives of educators more difficult.
