Corporate World of Education

 We saw this coming!  A world where education evolves into a conglomerate instead of simply "developing young minds"!  Post-COVID, everyone was made aware that we needed more teachers. 

Remembering the transition from online to blended learning, eventually a full return to the classroom, teachers were now faced with fully loaded SEL programs needed to get students to re-adapt to being back into the classroom.  Unfortunately (and for a lack of a better term), we received living zombies who felt that they did not have to do any work and still move on to the next grade level.

Complicating this lack of effort from students, are parents who see this as an opportunity rather than a problem.  We have a generation where success can be obtained without any learning.  

On most days in the classroom, most of us would not know the faces of students because we spend most of our time talking to the tops of their heads while they interact with live chats and videos on their phones.  There are times parents "sit -in" on class sessions via impromptu live chatrooms that they help create with their children's assistance.  Why, you may ask, could be a reason?

I have had more than a few students who did not do any work and ensured their desires to not be educated happen by spending most of the time on their phone in live chat sessions (often with a parent), watching videos or movies.  It is unbelievable that most times the parent will sit on a live chat session in class ensuring that their child is in class rather than encouraging them to complete their work!  I remember being pulled out of my class and yelled at in the middle of the hallway by an AP because the student's parent demanded to know the reason why her child was marked absent.  She also demanded that I should have called her immediately--even if I am in the middle of a class (which I was) to call her. The parent is on the school's board.  Children of board members tend to ignore most rules, and always threaten to "tell their mother" if their demands in class are not met.

Why teach?  Most teachers have given up.  The current trend in school is to turn off the lights to allow the students to sleep or to view their phones (much better in the dark, apparently).  Most teachers who include this type of scenario in class tend to be more popular with both students and parents.

What does this have to do with school being a corporation?  Most incoming staff members are from the corporate world.  They do not usually have a background in teaching; most are given administerial positions due to their business acumen; and then paid more than teachers who have been trained in education.  Most view students in two distinct categories:  failure or success.  There is no attempt to create a framework of success, especially if the numbers don't add up--meaning, if a student who has failed in the past has no chance of finding success; therefore, let him or her sleep, fight, get a part-time job at a fast-food joint because there are no other options--so why bother have a plan of action!

Am I being a pessimist?  I have been teaching for over thirty years--these scenarios that I have mentioned is the reality.  Again, why bother teach?  On social media for this past year, I viewed videos of teachers being beaten, threatened, and cursed at (a daily reality).  There's the constant fear of a school shooting despite having more campus security systems in place.  The intimidation is winning.  Do you blame teachers for incorporating nap time rather than endure the daily conflicts that arise in class, or within the learning community?

Are there solutions?  I remember sitting in a communication's class in college and a professor predicted that there will be a day when teachers "will no longer be needed".  

The day has come.