policy right . Public education is essential to expand freedom of opportunity and economic security .
Policymakers and stakeholders , along with the public , are searching for a balance of idealism and pragmatism . It has long been acknowledged that a strong educational system is essential not only to the successful functioning of a democracy , but also to its future . Some schools and districts do this better than others . And let ’ s be clear , whatever measure or metric you use to determine quality of schools , Franklin Special School District and Williamson County Schools are among the finest in our state and nation . And my guess is they would also tell you it is community support that has helped elevate them . Unfortunately , not all schools in our state have that community support . But it is clear in communities across the state we must have serious discussions about public education as we move forward . In the end , we will only be as effective as those who teach our children and need our community support .
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child does not meet the standard of the school either academically or behaviorally , the child can be shown the door . Not in public schools . I would dare say too , that parents are quite a bit more involved with their child ’ s education in private schools since they are paying good money for them to get their education there . In public schools , the percentage of parents who take an active role in their child ’ s education is low . During open houses , who generally shows ? The parents of the good students do . Where are the other students ’ parents ? Either they do not care enough or do not want to show up to be told their child is not successful which could be inferred to being dumb .
And finally , I will be intrigued to see what will happen in the future with the large teacher shortage that is about to happen . I see a lot of old timers saying it ’ s time to get out and get the cultural monkey off their back . We all use to be proud to say we are teachers , but are now more reluctant to say so to the public . I see young teachers reevaluating if this is what they want to do for the rest of their professional career . From what I am hearing teacher education applicants in colleges are down . Who wants to be in a job that you can lose any year and you are constantly blamed for seemly all that goes wrong . It used to be the child ’ s fault if they misbehaved , but now it ’ s the teacher ’ s fault for not maintaining discipline in the class room even though many of the discipline techniques have been taken away for you don ’ t dare embarrass a child . It used to be a poor student that did not make the grade , but now he / she must have poor teachers . I have gotten to a point where I would not discourage anyone who wanted to be a teacher from becoming one , but would not encourage someone to be a teacher who was trying to decide what to do with their lives . Today I am not sure that I would not discourage someone who wants to become a teacher .
We will see what the future holds . I am towards the end of my teaching career with enough years to retire . I can ’ t retire with only my pension , but I would head to the private sector in a minute should the right opportunity present itself and if the program I work with now is shut down . I have loved my profession and feel I have been good at it , but I do not see myself jumping through all the hoops I now see to do my job . I will go out with the pride of a job well done and in many cases I know I have made a difference in this world . I am in hopes that there will be those who will follow my generation ’ s footsteps who can make the changes necessary to educate to the fullest every child to their potential or at least be able to adapt to the system they are being trained in and reach the same result .
One thing holds true today as it has forever . The first ingredient of a good teacher is that you must love kids and love to teach . If you do not , you are not going to make it and won ’ t be able to jump the hurdles you have ahead . My hopes are that one day teachers gain and hold the same respect as they did in the past . No one gets into teaching for the money and those that get into it for what they think is the time off , soon learn in the overall picture they put in more hours than most jobs do . I once said I could not see myself doing anything but teach , and to be honest that still holds true , but teachers today are being restricted from doing what for some of us feels like a calling to do , what we set out to do . With the extra paperwork , test giving and all the extras given to teachers , the actual teaching time as been cut drastically in order for us to do the political housekeeping . We have got to stop waiting for Superman , for just like DATA , he does not exist . We teachers , as our kids are , are imperfect beings with all kind of flaws . We all strive for excellence and are at times our own worst enemies . But for most of us , we do the best we can with a difficult job and we do it well . Yet in final analysis , it does not matter how many ladders we climb as we race to the top , there will always be children left behind in the direction we are going .