I am a teacher in a typical Indian school. While here too teachers bemoan that they are not respected , I rarely find children who really disrespect teachers. Yes, they do have no respect for those who are not up to the mark. But any teacher who is genuine, who loves to learn and who loves the student (I do not mean the ones who try to ingratiate themselves with their students by trying to be iovertly friendly but the ones who are dignified, keep their distance but are available to the student at a moment of crisis) alwayys wins the respect of any student. We have to remember that respect is commanded not demanded.We have to conduct ourselves in such a waaythat we are role models and we should have integrity and conviction in all that we say or do. Then there would be no student who will disrespect you Votes: +0

Teachers occupy highest position in man-making enterprise.The issue of respect to teachers is a matter of great importance in ethics of education.Teachers are benefactor of mankind.Cultivation of human values such as character,discipline,compassion,truthfulness,honesty,em pathy,patriotism and universal outlook among the students are ultimate goal of education.Promotion of these values among the students is of great importance to find solution about the issue of respect to teachers.The role of teachers in this regard are of immens values to uphold the dignity of teachers. Remember,being a teacher is a god- gifted linage.Be faithful to this job.Respect is your ultimate reward.Think and introspect. Votes: +0

The issue of respect is the key to the future of
education.I'm in my tenth year of teaching Mathematics at Norte Vista High School. Although I have noticed a steady degrading of respect in my classroom, not only towards me, but amongst the students as well.

My strategy has been to chastize my disrespectful, and to model the correct behaviour including encouraging students who are not doing as well as they could.

However, this year I had two new students transfer into one of my classes. They demanded respect for themselves while giving none to me.
The class they entered was my best and brightest. Within a week things went down hill.
I made the usual home phone calls. Things improved for about a week, but things started up again

About two weeks ago one of the two left to go into the Youth Corp. The one that remains is adjusting to his new seat in class. Respect must be earned both as a student and as a teacher.
Teachers can not wait for the adminstrators to help, they must lead their students or risk anarchy.
Sincerely,
Ted Devian Votes: +0

Adult respect usually is attached to the level of professional qualifications or physical skills needed to perform a job. Professionals who form organizations to set and maintain standards of performance are an important part of this equation. If teachers desire more respect, perhaps we ought to mimic the professions that are generally admired. There are incompetent doctors and rocket scientists,for example, but that does not denigrate the general admiration for the professions of which they are members. Votes: +1

Hello,

I also agree with the comments that teachers are not seen as professionals. It is amazing to me that we do have celebrities and athletes who have less than a college education getting million dollar salaries. Yet when teachers ask for a raise that is comparable to the standard of living, there is outrage!

I really don't know who a previous poster is talking about when he mentioned that most teachers come from the bottom 1/3rd of their class. Personally, I was in the top 1/3rd of my class. I don't think that those teachers who teach AP English, math and science in high school came from the bottom 1/3rd of their class. How about those who teach computer science and programming? I have an MS in Educational Technology and my GPA was 3.9. If we are talking about the lowest common denominator, let's go back to those celebrities and athletes who don't have a college degree and yet make the six or seven figure income.

Teachers have been relegated to the status of glorified baby sitters, imho. People don't view our role as important. We are there to 'entertain' and 'engage' the children while parents go to work. If we require work from their children, it's our fault that it isn't done, it wasn't interesting enough, their child was bored, etc. If we think about our adult life, work is not always entertaining and fun. However, there is a time and place for everything, including work and fun.

We need to get out of the business of entertaining - because we aren't paid enough to do that - and back into the business of making minds, teaching, educating and preparing our students to live, work and thrive in the 21st century. Votes: +0

I'm in this profession since 15 years.I agree with `Tunio`that teaching is a passion more than a profession.If you are sincere and loyal with your profession,you'll be respected.Yes i'm also feeling that teachers are not getting much respect, but as teachers we need to look for the reasons.its not students who are not giving respect,actually the environment effects them. but still I SAY that IF WE ARE WORKING HARD AND are SINCERE then no one stop others from respecting us.we as teachers should be sincere and passionate towards what we are doing.However, apart from this there is a need to bring about a change in parents' and administrations' attitude towards the teachers as well. Votes: +0

I came into teaching quite incidenty but fell in love with the profession in no time. What I have learnt from my experience is that teaching is a passion more than a profession; the more you practice the more it gets fuelled.
One thing I have not been able to understand is that, why the word 'teacher' has not been able to win the place it is upto. Be it advanced counties of the West or developing nations of the East, right from the ordinary to the elite can be heard complaining against teachers. Teachers are blamed for everything wrong in the world. Parents seem to shy away what they owe to their chilren and expect teachers to do miracles. What to talk of others when parent-teachers blame teachers when it comes to the poor performance of their children. At times I think "the word 'teacher' needs to be redefined"!

W A Tunio
Pakistan Votes: +0

I started out in public school and I didn't get much respect. I was looked down upon because at first I didn't have any clue about classroom discipline. I did get good feedback on my lessons from one administrator but this kind of feedback was rare.
Today, working with Native American students I have been getting the kind of respect I feel is appropriate for being a beginning teacher.
I have heard the statistics of how very few new teachers stay in the profession after the first few years. I was almost one of those teachers. I know it would have been for lack of respect that I would have left teaching, if I hadn't found that just right position for me. Votes: +0

I am an English teacher at a secondary school in Thailand and I wholeheartedly concur that respect is lacking. Part of this, I think, is the malaise of the times but another could be that we have allowed
the protocols between teacher and student to slip. I am re-introducing the appellation 'sir' to be used everytime students speak to me. That way I hope to overcome this obnoxious 'you,you' that they keep yelling at us.
To sum up, I think that the hard-earned discipline and respect of former times have been thrown out of the window, opening up a virtual Pandora's Box that is now taking its toll on the noble profession. Votes: +1

Chas -

I was referring to the US when I made my observations about respect. I think one of the most interesting things about HotChalk is that we have members from different cultures who can contribute viewpoints from other parts of the world.

And it is different in other places.

Thanks for sharing your perspective and giving members a look at what it's like in a different part of the world . . .
Votes: +1

Remember please that to get respect we need to earn it and to earn it we need to be seen as respectful adults. Often the kids we teach do not see respectful behaviour in their home lives so it is up to us to model that behaviour. If we maintain a consistent approach and maintain respect for our students and their needs then we are part of the way to getting respect back. Votes: +0

Edward, I assume that you are speaking as a North American when you bemoan students' lack of respect for teachers. I am an Asian teacher and instruct international students in Asia. Here, students still have a modicum of respect for teachers. Western children who come to school in Asia seem to adapt to their local peers' attitudes and behavior when it comes to interacting with teachers. Most parents, being exposed to the culture, abide by these norms as well. Rare is the mother or father that barges into the teacher's classroom, screaming invectives and threatening to sue, "losing face" in the process. ["Saving face" is very important in the Asian perspective.]

My two cents, it's a cultural thing.

I agree with Christopher Gunn where he said respect starts in the home: when parents are unwilling or unable to demand respect from their children for themselves, why do we think these children would willingly respect any other elder? In addition, your culture teaches that respect must be "earned", [i.e. people must "prove" themselves to others in ways that are wholely subjective] before they can even begin to entertain the person's existence? Further, from what I understand, Westerners deem children "equals" with themselves; you allow yonger people to call older people by their first names. This is unheard of in most parts of Asia. I argue that this practice has subtexts that are incongruent with the expectation of respect given to adults, if only because said adult is older and more experienced. In Asia, the equivalent of "sir" or "ma'm", and even "master teacher" is still being used by the youth when adressing their elders.

Another possible factor is the typical Western thinking that spanking or other light forms of corporal punishment, will forever scar the child physically, mentally, and emotionally. Nothing could be further from the truth. I am from that era when a slipper or hand to the backside or palms of the hands meant business and never to do the naughty deed again. I am not talking about torture, nor am I suggesting that teachers start spanking students. I mean parents getting back order in the home. When children are used to such an environment, they will naturally assume it is expected everywhere.

Speaking generally, I don't believe that educators should have to bend over backwards to achieve respect or, god forbid, have it legislated. I'm talking about support and funding for all subject areas and decent salaries for teachers. It's just ridiculous that people throw huge sums of money at actors, athletes, and other entertainers whether they've got talent or not, but scrimp on teacher salaries. Lavish spending for entertainment but going cheap for education, that's where it's at now.

Lastly, are we pushovers? Are we prisoners of our own self-imposed ethics where we must maintain level-headed and decent demeanor in the face of adversity? Does being a professional teacher today mean we mustn't resist any abuse? Votes: +0

I totally agree with the fact that teachers don't get the respect they need. Too many administrator believe that if they punish a student for foul language, violence, fighting, etc... then they will receive a punishment from their superiors. The fact that teachers have to work harder with impossible conditions, and yet any corporation in the U.S. or the world that is making a good decent profit will not tolerate any employee behaving like this. Yet most superintendent want to run the school like a corporation. I a inner city school, there is so much violence that it is a wonder that teacher get a chance to teach. I spent 22 years in the military and I find it harder to manage and teach a classroom of students who are violent and disrepectfull. Something has to give, otherwise the quality of education will drop to rock bottom. Votes: +0

I totally agree with the fact that teachers don't get the respect they need. Too many administrator believe that if they punish a student for foul language, violence, fighting, etc... then they will be punish from their superiors. The fact that teachers have to work harder with impossible conditions, and yet any corporation in the U.S. or the world that is making a good decent profit will not tolerate any employee behaving like this. Yet most superintendent want to run the school like a corporation. I a inner city school, there is so much violence that it is a wonder that teacher get a chance to teach. I spent 22 years in the military and I find it harder to manage and teach a classroom of students who are violent and disrepectfull. Something has to give, otherwise the quality of education will drop to rock bottom. Votes: +0

Since it is obvoius that we all, as teachers, recognise this probelm and I can see that most of the reasons are already listed above, why don't we launch a (RESPECT YOUR TEACHER) campaign? if every teacher around the country is on the same page as the others then gradually, just how it was gone, the respect comes back. personally I don't like to complain and keep dragging this complain wherever I go. At the same time, it is always good to discuss the reasons but it should be followed by addressing,tackling the problem.
Am I a dreamer? But if techers themselves didn't do something about it who would? Votes: +0

I have been teaching in the public school system for the past 25 years. Before that I spent several years in industry. I am fixing to retire at the end of this year but I am still very concerned about the future of education and, in particular, that of the teacher-student relationship. I agree with almost everything others have stated about respect needing to start in the home and our need for a team of parent and teacher to make it possible for students to find success, but I think that there are two other points we are ignoring.

Number one: All other PROFESSIONAL organizations police themselves, create their own standards and enforce said standards. Unless ALL schools, no matter where they are, are held to the same level of excellence and ALL teachers must meet the same level of excellence, then we cannot expect our students to produce the future citizens we hope will take care of us in our old age much less be capable of running the future world.

Number two: We must quit taking our teachers from the lower 1/3 of the college graduates. Don't get me wrong! I have and still know many teachers who are excellent at what we do. They are devoted. They are in love with teaching. They sacrifice more than they should. I also know as many who want to have the same schedule as their children, who could not make it in sports themselves so became a coach, who needed a second income that was respectable and still allowed someone to watch the kids after school.

We forget that a truly effective teacher is born, not made by attending some classes oe passing some test. We ignore that most teacher training institutions have instructors training teachers that have never been in a public school classroom more than a few minutes. Just because almost EVERYONE has attended school sometime in their life does NOT make them an expert on teaching. In addition, adding more and more accountability hoops for the teacher does not cover up those who are not good at their job, it only makes the job more difficult for those who are good at their job.

How to change this? We must first police our own ranks. WE -- not the school board, not the administrators, not the state, not the federal government -- but WE as teachers. If we have lost sight of what we should be doing, WE need to fix it. If our career choice came because of some 'want' we had instead of some 'need' we saw, then we are in the wrong place doing the wrong thing. If my name being held up for others to applaud comes to mind BEFORE the idea of creating success for my students, then I'm not where I belong. If I only see the scraggily hair and misfit clothes and not the soul inside those eyes, I am not where I belong. If I am not willing to face the belligerent child and/or parent to stand for a principle that can only lead by example, then I am not where I belong.

If my life does not TEACH by example, then I am not where I belong. Votes: +0

Students and parents need to see a powerful adult in charge of a classroom. A teacher must have the power to drive their curriculum. A teacher must have the power to discipline. A teacher must have the power to determine the placement of their students. Until we take back these powers, our profession will never get the respect it deserves. Votes: +0

I feel that the deterioration in public respect for school teachers begins in our homes, and in our state and federal governments. In our homes, parents apparently do not demand the respect that they were required to provide to their own parents. Children are not prepared for adulthood by bearing the consequences of their actions, and parents appear to continually fail to set expectations and standards of excellence for children to strive to achieve. Our state governments fail miserably to implement solutions to funding crises, resulting in local school district financial pressures, and teachers' salaries being defined as the problem. This puts our teachers in the forefront of the controversy, and they are perceived as being greedy and self-serving, which is about as far from the truth as possible. Our federal government exacerbates this funding crisis by reducing financial support to the state governments, earmarking funds to other needs, and leaving the states to fend for themselves. Our priorities are skewed, and we cannot expect our school districts to run schools entirely according to established business rules. Financial responsibility is a must, but we are not measuring industrial productivity, we are measuring success, which is a much more difficult measurement. Votes: +0

My post is not intended as a public denounciation Nancy - it`s meant as a call to action. One of the principal issues that Time magazine highlights about the profession (on newstands now) is an almost universal lack of respect for teachers.

Every profession shares the attributes you ascribe to teaching: hard work and the intrinsic value of having a positive impact on someone (think heart surgeon). What`s the rationale for teachers having to take it on the chin at the same time? Isn`t it time we got past that? Votes: +0

As an educator for only 5 years, I am surprised that you would publicaly denounce teachers. We may not get paid what we should, but most of us teach because we truly love children and respect the industry. Is it hard? Yes...does it take most of our time? Yes...but no one goes into this for the money and the respect comes from being a teacher and sharing knowledge with children!
Votes: +0