26. A Conversation With a Bad Teacher

In an article, written by Hana Maruyama, portrays an interview about a teacher, John Owens, who decided to quit his job in magazine publishing to become a teacher. Owens faced many challenges right off the bat. One of the greatest was being the school administration’s relentless focus on data. Hana states how the administration demanded teachers to maintain an 80 percent student-pass rate for their courses. At one point, Owens declined to participate in a workshop for writing teachers in New Jersey because he did not want to take time away from the students. Later, when he had problems with a parent, his principal not only refused to defend him but did not ask for his side of the story.

Owens states, suddenly it became clear to me that Ms. P and Co. weren’t so much interested in making me a good teacher as proving I was a bad teacher.  

In my opinion all administration should protect their faculty and integrity of the school. Administration should at least hear out the story from the teacher before deciding to go against their judgment. Teachers are the ones working with these students every day. I feel they should know the best outcome.

Owens’s career in teaching ended less than a year after the incident. He published an article and later published a book, Confessions of a Bad Teacher: The Shocking Truth From the Front Lines of American Public Education. 

Owens was asked questions pertain to his book my favorite being, You argue in the book that teachers have become scapegoats for our failing education system, in your opinion, why do we scapegoat teachers? Owens replies, I think we keep hearing from people like Bill Gates that the teachers are the most important aspect of learning. All these experts kind of slide over the fact that poverty has a lot to do with kids not learning.

I will have to agree with his statement, and also add the fact that the home life plays a major deal as well. Not all students are taught the same morals and values in their homes. I have always heard every time I tell someone I am becoming a teacher is the shake of theirs heads no. They add, the children are so bad these days and you are not allowed to discipline them. I feel some students need a little guidance in their life. It hurts to say but the manners of most children these days are declining.