Yes, those of us who have been observing decline, incrementally, as (too many) parents were behaving as those once dubbed 'truants' -- we predicted, that is: merely extrapolated some sort of curve asymptotic to the present unravelling, perhaps so advanced now as to be, in present atmosphere of casual hate-speech and know-nothing Jeremiads, terminal.
Nothing whatsoever of satisfaction (or even satisfiction) in any such prescience, of course. :-/
Nobody can enjoy seeing enacted for-Real, a homo-sap race-to-seppuku (just because you can no longer Shop Til You Drop, eh?)

As noted below too, re the TeaPartyite-level of many responses {kill those overpaid teechurs, intellecshuls and govmint non-workers-wherever-found! cha cha} -- the pathetic grammar displayed, worse syntax and execrable excuse for 'reasoning' -- underscore the growing presence of, at least a couple generations of the people Sinclair Lewis limned / warned us were, even in 1935: a likely plurality of the Murican vox populi.

Vince said...
When I read the hate, vitriol and negativity towards teachers, I can understand why the U.S. is failing as a nation. They are getting fatter, sicker, stupider, and poorer. The decline of the once great U.S. is in full swing. Sad indeed. I also like how all the wage slaves attack each other.

Jun 03, 2011
Get Real Folks said...
After 18 year of teaching...I am no longer a public school teacher. After the the 5th year of pay cuts and budget cuts finally gave up on having to deal with parents who treat school as glorified daycare. So I made a career change. I am now a manager at a local fast food establishment and now have better hours, better benefits, salary and honestly get more respect than 90% of my peers got in the teaching profession. I was expected to spend my days and nights trying to get everyone children through school but knowing that with my salary I could never afford to send my own son.

I used to spend my free time on nights and weekends tutoring students to help them pass their high school exams when their parents didn't' even care if their kids ever got to school on time. The unfortunate thing is that I am now teaching these very same kids on nights and weekends. The difference is that instead of teaching them about global economic policies, I am teaching them to make change and ask whether "you want fries with that." We live in a society where people are willing to pay for the best tv, the best car, the best seats at a baseball game.....but no one is willing to pay for the best teachers. I am not saying I was the "best" but I enjoyed my job and hoped that I was at least above average. Of course teacher salaries are going to be a large cost of education. Books don't teach, buildings don't teach.....teachers teach.

Blaming teachers for the fact that students don't show up for school, don't study, or don't do their homework just goes to prove how out of touch most parents are with their children. In the day and age where teachers threatening to flunk a student for not doing homework results in teacher getting disciplined. (because its damaging to the students self esteem) Its no wonder why we are where we are today. In 18 years I watched it go from the point where EVERY parent showed up for their parent teacher conference, to the point where less than 10 parents out of 125 of my students even bothered to show up or contact me in any way at all. I see many parents behaving much like my old students. They fail to take responsibility for their own actions and instead choose to blame everything and everyone for their own decisions.

Yes , even the saner, legible commentators don't know where a ['] would be handy, etc. Sloth is contagious?

And so it goes went.

-- a particularly ungood credibility sign when a teacher is writing (in that much haste.)