Froehlich CH.2 Ricky V.
November 3, 2009
CP III
Dr. Schmidt
Why do teachers often suffer from ‘chronic critique’ from parents, but that is usually not the case with physicians? Are there sociological patterns at play? What might be the roles of SES and Gender issues here?
Many people in this world think that being a music teacher is simple. “Music, oh it can’t be that hard” is what I’ve heard when I employ that I’m a music education major. Little do they know it’s the total opposite. Teachers are ridiculed and critiqued immensely as opposed to physicians or business men. People tend to believe that doctors and lawyers and smarter than the average school teacher due to the fact that they underwent the grueling process of med school or law school. They don’t get judged the way teachers due when something goes wrong. Teachers on the other hand, get slapped on the wrist for every minor detail. We are constantly watching the populations’ children change and grow from day to day. Maybe that’s why we are critiqued so much …because we are there on a daily basis. Parents want what is best for their kids and have a specific perspective on how their learning should take place. When teachers do not meet those standards, they get critiqued and even get called a “bad teacher” for not doing so. Parents also might not agree with the curriculum we have for our classroom but it’s one that we cannot just change for one student. I believe that people think that teachers work for them. When we as parents feel that something is not suited for the students and the classroom, we immediately try to change that by speaking our mind to the teacher. If want we want doesn’t happen, we assume that the teacher is negligent and therefore critiquing is called upon. Music is also a very emotional subject. When society thinks of emotional subjects, we directly think of women as being the teachers. But when a man teaches such subject, it’s out of the norm and we even get critiqued for that. The media covers more male teacher petafile stories that female and I think, because music is so emotional, that people have this notion of the male teacher as being a petafile.
There are so many reasons why teachers get critiqued. If something doesn’t go the way a parents want it to, they get critiqued. Media coverage gets people to critique teachers. If a student is doing poorly in a classroom, we immediately think it’s the teachers fault. We never stop to think that the student might not be working to their full potential, which in turn leads to critiquing of the teacher. Assessment, curriculum, and really just anything in general, leads to the chronic critiquing of teachers. We’re always in the spotlight whether we like it or not.
