Gladly Would I Teach

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The assistant principal told police she pulled Cobb into another classroom, with the children present, to calm her down. But Cobb continued to curse in front of the students. That's when Smith ran into the room again and "attempted to attack" Cobb, the report states.

via www.ajc.com

It's hard to be a teacher today when other teachers behave outrageously.

As I drove home this afternoon, I heard a radio broadcast about two Georgia middle school teachers who argued loudly while spewing profanity and then became embroiled in a physical fight in front of students. The news made me angry and sad. How does a respectable adult who cares about students and who has spent years training to serve as a role model for impressionable children forget her responsibilities and resort to absurd behavior more indicative of an unruly child?

Although the overwhelming majority of teachers are ethical and moral role models for students, whenever one or two teachers behave in such a disgraceful manner, it makes all teachers look incompetent and uncaring. Over the years, I have seen my fair share of unethical teachers. From teachers who had inappropriate relationships with students, to unprofessional and lazy teachers who rarely taught their classes and allowed students to sit around with nothing to do, to teachers who conducted outside businesses while they should have been preparing tomorrow's leaders, the teaching profession has always had a few bad apples, as do all professions. I wonder, however, if citizens today view teacher misbehavior as a more egregious problem than in the past.

I'm told there was a time when teachers were placed on pedestals and revered as the most important members of their communities. What happened to those times? I am surrounded by caring, professional, and dedicated teachers every day, but too many citizens never see those teachers. Instead, they see and hear outrageous stories of teacher fights, teacher-student affairs, and teacher crimes, and those disgraceful faces of a few teachers soon become the faces of all teachers.

I don't know if we have more teacher misconduct today than in the past or if our 24-hour news services simply report more teacher misbehavior today. What I do know is that parents who should readily entrust their children to the care of today's teachers are apprehensive about the adults who teach their children.

What I do know is that as many spectacular potential teachers select more lucrative careers instead, we ease our standards for teachers and place adults who may not have our students' best interest at heart into classrooms where they will have close contact with students each day. We may only have a few immoral and unprofessional teachers, but they create a disproportionate number of problems for students, parents, and other teachers.

What I do know is that this week many middle school students in a Georgia school probably no longer view teachers with the same reverence and respect as they once did.

I find that distressing.