Teachers......

Well, I know I start off most of my blogs lately telling you how tired I am, or how busy I am, which still holds true, but I am not going to write about that tonight. I am instead going to vent a bit......don't I always do that? LOL

My subject tonight is going to be about teachers.......

I truly am a teachers biggest fan, and I know that they have a very stressful and often unfulfilling and unappreciated job. I also know they have the certain joys that come along with teaching as well. Some of my dearest friends are teachers, and I hear their side of the story quite often, which to be honest with you is probably why I appreciate them so much. But tonight I am writing from the side of a very frustrated parent. I have dealt with my share of "tough" teachers throughout not only my childhood/young adulthood, but also through my children's lives. Some of these tough teachers have been actual blessings in our lives. And I know there are teachers that will work very well with you or your child and then there are just some that really don't need to be teachers at all. Well, Sarah's biology teacher falls into the latter. Sarah has been having quite a time in biology this year, which to be honest with you I was beginning to wonder if it is a genetic thing because I had the same issue. She is doing great on all of the classwork/projects, but when it comes time for the tests, she is quite honestly bombing them. She has studied so hard for all of them, and still is failing them despite the 3 hours a nite of studying. We have tried every which way there is to study. We have done all that the teacher tells us to do, but she is still choking on these tests. I have repeatedly emailed the teacher, and he will not respond to my emails, so today I took my little self right up to the school and walked in to his classroom first thing. After he hummed and hawed about why he hasn't responded to my emails, he attempted to talk to me about Sarah's grades. I use the term attempted because he made absolutely no sense what so ever. He didn't even know which class my child was in! He couldn't answer anything I asked him, and spoke so over my head with all his scientific terms, that I was even more frustrated than when I had walked in there. I thought to myself, he can't even speak to an adult without confusing them, how in the heck is my child understanding what he is trying to say. He told me she just needs to study more. I told him she is studying every nite, to the point I have to tell her to go to bed because she will stay up until she is exhausted. She can't study any more than she is. He said "oh, well I don't know what is wrong then". Okay, that helped out a lot....thanks, moron! He will not give the tests back to the kids so they can see what they got wrong, he won't give them any guidelines as to what to study, he won't review anything because he feels it is all up to the children. GRRRRRR! Why the heck are you a teacher then???????

After complete frustration, I left totally unsatisfied. I went to the guidance office to talk to someone. I was told it is too late for us to switch Sarah out of AP Biology, so I have requested that she be able to switch teachers for the next 9 weeks. The guidance counselor said she would have to get with the principal because they have had "a ton" of other parents request the same thing and they can't honor everyone's request. She informed me that Mr. Forkner seems to be the object of a lot of complaints lately. So.......why is the principal not doing something about this????? I am sorry, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that this "scientist" needs to go!!!! So in the meantime, my child will be taking another test in his class next week....her 9 week exam....and I am suppose to sit back and watch her fail this one too?????? If she doesn't pass this test and/or this class, she will have to take Biology again next year, and it will all go in her transcripts that colleges look at. Needless to say I am ready to put on my fighting gloves and whip up a little yankee on them. I don't know what it is gonna take, but something will be done.
Ya know, if a teacher is not going to teach, and put their children's best interest at heart, then he should just go ahead and quit. I will one hundred percent stand behind a teacher if they are right. I will even give them the benefit of the doubt if they are wrong, but I will not stand back and let them ruin something my child has worked so hard for. It would be one thing if Sarah was misbehaving and not doing what was expected of her. I also am a parent that doesn't expect her to always bring home A's. In fact, I want her to be challenged. But when I see she is putting forth every effort possible and it just isn't working out, I am gonna question matters. I feel it is my momma's right to protect my baby.
Okay, now that I have gotten that off my chest, please know that I am not bashing all teachers. Sarah just happened to get the one bad apple in the bunch, and I am ready to make applesauce out of him! LOL
Have a great evening and thanks for listening.