Nothing is ever perfect in life, and the educational systems in many countries are far from ideal.
One of the things that makes this more difficult is the fact that everyone has strongly different opinions on what the perfect school system actually is, and teachers tend to get the most criticism about it, often undeserved.
Teachers are an easy target to criticize, even though it’s not always their fault.
These men and women who teach our children are on the front lines of the educational system almost every day. Good education doesn’t only depend on the teachers, it depends on so much more: the internal school structure, but also a joint responsibility between the teachers and the students themselves or their parents.
When all this works out perfectly, you could argue that the system works as it should.
But it often doesn’t, and then the complaints start pouring in. One thing that is very prevalent, is that those complaints are almost always addressed to the teachers and educators as if they’re the ones to blame for all the educational problems.
One day, a retired teacher had enough of all this.
The former teacher wrote a heartfelt, brutally honest letter addressed to parents with complaints around the world.
When you read the title of the letter, “Parents are the Problem”, you can immediately tell that this won’t be a very lightweight letter and gets straight to the point.
“As a retired teacher, I am sick of people who know nothing about public schools or have not been in a classroom recently deciding how to fix our education system,” she starts her letter.
At first, the woman only published the letter in one of the local newspapers, but it didn’t take long before others started sharing it.
It also went viral on the internet across several social media platforms, and many teachers saw this letter as a sort of ‘rescue’ for all the criticism that they’ve had to endure, which has only risen lately.
Even though the situation isn’t the same everywhere, there’s no denying that the pandemic has drastically changed the way our children are educated.
Online teaching and learning is something we all have to get used to, and it’s also something that a whole lot of teachers were completely unfamiliar with.
Parents tend to blame the teachers fairly easily, but the retired teacher makes her point clear and turns the blame around.
“The teachers are not the problem! Parents are the problem! They are not teaching their children manners, respect or even general knowledge of how to get along with others. The children come to school in shoes that cost more than the teacher’s entire outfit, but have no pencil or paper. Who provides them? The teachers often provide them out of their own pockets.”
According to her, one of the major issues of a failing educational system is a lack of involvement from the parents.
“When you look at schools that are “failing,” look at the parents and students. Do parents come to parent nights? Do they talk with teachers regularly? Do they make sure their children are prepared by having the necessary supplies? Do they make sure their children do their homework?
“Do they have working telephone numbers? Do the students take notes in class? Do they do their homework? Do the students listen in class, or are they the sources of class disruptions?” she continues.
Sometimes, teachers feel overwhelmed by their responsibilities. In some cases, it doesn’t feel as if they’re just an educator, sometimes they have to be a parent to their children as well – which can be pretty demanding if you have to take care of dozens of kids.
In her final paragraph, she encourages parents to step up.
“When you look at these factors, you will see that it is not schools that are failing but the parents. Teachers cannot do their jobs and the parents’ job. Until parents step up and do their job, nothing is going to get better!”
Of course, this letter has been the source of quite some controversy on the internet, and the opinions are mixed.
For some parents, this letter has opened their eyes, and that’s what this woman hoped to accomplish by writing her painfully honest opinion.
Of course, there are also comments who believe that she’s overreacting and that we don’t know what’s going on in children’s or their parents’ lives.
In any case, it has fueled the discussion regarding education, and that can never be a bad thing.
What do you believe? Are parents the problem, is the criticism towards teachers justified, or is a little bit of both?
You can read Lisa’s original letter below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
