Sadly, Teachers Have it Tough These Days

If you’re a teacher, thank you. Your job is hard and largely thankless. 

I have several friends who are teachers, and they all have something in common.

They all love it. They live it. It’s a calling.

I don’t know why they love it, though, because they have to endure way too much abuse with very little recourse.

And I’m talking about abuse from the children.

I hear their stories — stories of the way some of the students talk to them. The things that come out of some of these children’s mouths are horrifying, and sad.

But mostly horrifying.

Then when the teacher has the audacity to give the child some sort of discipline like a suspension, a parent calls them and chews them out, sometimes cursing them.

That’s bad enough. But of course, things can always get worse, can’t they?

Have you heard about the latest trend on the TikTok social media video platform? It’s called the “slap a teacher challenge.”

It pretty much comes as advertised. Students post videos of themselves slapping a teacher in the face.

In school districts in Massachusetts and Louisiana, students have been arrested for taking part.

In fairness, TikTok has supposedly removed all videos and references to this ridiculous trend. But for some people, it’s too little too late.

Of course, I know the majority of school students out there are good kids. I have no doubt whatsoever of that.

That’s the same way it was when I was in school. The vast majority of us did what we were supposed to do, and we respected the faculty and staff.

The minority did the least amount they could just to get by, and if they didn’t respect the teachers, they certainly feared them.

I’m a pretty progressive guy for someone who looks like me and was raised where I was. And in no way am I suggesting we go back to paddling as the go-to way to discipline students.

But based on the disrespect today’s teachers get from unruly students on a daily basis, I don’t think I could vote against it.

I don’t want to turn this into a “back in my day” column, but back in my day, we didn’t have much of a discipline problem.

And it’s all because of the fear of getting paddled.

Misbehavior could always lead to a paddling in any situation between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The teachers who didn’t paddle would always turn the offender over to a coach, or worse, the principal.

I’m sure the principal was our pal, but some of my classmates would say he had a weird way of showing it. I remember standing outside his office sometimes and listening through the wall.

Ouch. I’m convinced some of those kids were never heard from again.

Getting paddled by a coach in study hall for talking was so common it was almost a rite of passage. Like I said, I was one of the good kids, but I got taken into the hall a couple of times.

I always wanted to say, “That’s stupid, coach. I wasn’t even talking.”

Of course, I didn’t say it. No one did. We never would’ve been heard from again. 

That’s my point.

Again, I’m not advocating corporal punishment.

But I can’t wait to see a more effective solution.