NEW:
I stumbled upon this blog draft that I think perfectly depicts where I first began to see a problem in education. It's one of the first documentations where my vision of what being a teacher would be like didn't really jive with the reality of the education system, even as it was pre-COVID, all those years ago. I left it alone, as it was originally written back in 2018, exactly the way I left it. I had an unfinished sentence where I obviously intended to continue the narrative, but never came back to the post. I have left that cliff-hanger, and at present time, do not intend to go back and finish the composition, although I know all too well what type of rant past-Bri was about to go on. Anyway, without further ado, here is the publication of the 2018 draft of "The Overwhelming Reality" :
OLD:
So, I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything, and the truth is that this first year has just been too busy to allow it. Really, the only reason I'm making a post now is because I have all this pent up.....something....and I just need to get it out before I scream lol
I'm just coming to realize more and more just how overwhelming it is specifically to teach math, especially at a low-income, disadvantaged, inner city school. Teaching in general is HARD, and teaching at a school of such a low socioeconomic caliber is even harder. But by far, it is truthfully the HARDEST thing I've ever done to be a math teacher at this kind of a school.
In case you weren't aware (sarcasm, sarcasm), math is a hated subject. Not just hated, but HATED. Despised. You're either naturally good at math, or you hate its guts, and usually there is no in between. I suppose I have been blessed to be a "math person," but I believe that, like every other skill in life, hard work beats talent every time when talent doesn't work hard.
But I digress.
People don't like math because, sometimes, it's hard. And more and more, in each new generation, we are developing laziness of such magnitude that we seem to equate things that require extra work with things that we shouldn't do. That if we have to work a little bit harder at it, eh...that's okay, I won't do that, k, thanks, bye. As if things that we have to work harder for don't return an even sweeter reward.
"Oh, I have to actually put in some work for my marriage? Na, divorce!"
"Oh, I have to put in a ton of years in college to become a doctor? Forget it! I'll work at Burger King."
"Oh, I have to do some actual work to solve this math problem? Pft, I'mma guess on everything and just fail this test."
....
That last one is literally a statement I have heard from students (notice the plural) in my classes. And not just once in a while, but at least once each time we test in my class.
The laziness in these 13 and 14 year old students is....beyond concerning. I can't even. I just can't even.
But even that is only a subset of a much worse reality. The laziness stems from something that