Virtual Stupidity
If stupidity got us into this mess, then why can’t it get us out?
~Will Rogers
Writing is difficult. It feels impossible when what I have say is a downer. I don’t want to be a downer. I’m normally the life of the party.
But, there’s no party. Not really. A virtual party is not a real party.
Just like remote learning is not a real classroom. It sucks. It sucks for the teachers, for the parents, but especially for the students. More so for the students with learning and behavior disabilities. It really sucks for the students from families that have big problems and are dealing with a child who has a disability 24/7.
Yesterday was the end of a very long week. Yes, we had Monday off for Labor Day and there were only four days of “remote learning through necessity.” Not real school. But it felt like the week would never end.
A parent threatened to sue the school district for “making their child stupid.” Yes, that is a direct quote.
“Excuse me, I must go to work and make children stupid.”
I have only known my students for a couple of weeks, and met them online for an hour a day. I have not had the chance to make them really stupid. Yet.
A mom said, “That teacher is a big dick! And I want my child moved to another classroom.” Another virtual classroom, not a real classroom.
We have resorted to name calling?
The crazy was everywhere. It splashed all over me. I can’t seem to wash it off.
I have been a special education teacher for twenty-two years. I have taught three year old preschoolers with delayed development all the way through twenty-two year old incarcerated young adults. The journey from preschool to jail is a straight shot for many of our children.
Walking into my classroom everyday, with no real students, makes me feel like a failure before I turn on the computer and Zoom off to “remote learning by necessity.” Then, I open my email and read hateful accusations and threats from people I have never met about students I don’t know.
One parent wrote, “It’s time to get government agencies, child advocates, caseworkers, and lawyers to start harassing you.” Yes, that is a direct quote.
I have tried to be my best. My real best, not my virtual best. Which is in no way my best teaching. I admit it. Teaching online sucks. I suck at it. My strength is building relationships with students. Challenging to accomplish online. In a couple of weeks.
When did the word teacher become synonymous with someone to blame?
Someone to threaten?
Someone to sue?
It’s difficult for me not to take all of this personally. Even though I know it’s not about me.
Bill Maher made the observation that schools began to fail when parents sided with their kids against teachers. The pandemic has shifted the dynamic. Parents do not get a break from dealing with the little shits that do not want to do anything that they don’t want to do.
I have actually had a student say, “My mom says it’s your job to figure this out. Let me know when that happens.”
My response, “ I have a list for your mom too.”
Now that students are at home, parents see their struggle up close everyday. They see the real student. Not the virtual student that goes somewhere else to struggle. It’s scary. And when people are afraid, they want to blame someone.
I’m sorry, as a special education teacher, I don’t have a magic wand up my ass. I can’t bonk kids on the head and fix them. That’s not why they pay me the big bucks.
What I do, is teach compensation skills.
“You don’t know your multiplication tables? Then you better learn to use a calculator.”
“You don’t like to write? Then you better learn to use the voice to text feature on your computer or phone.”
“You can’t read? Then you better listen to the audio version of the novel your class is reading.”
For god’s sake, use your tools! Take your meds, wear your glasses, put your damn phone down, get some sleep, come to school, even virtual school, ready to learn.
“Don’t make it so easy for me to make you stupid!”
One of the reasons I became a special education teacher to was to protect kids from their parents. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The trick is to discover strengths and use the hell out of them.
As a kid I had problems learning, my family was a shit show, and trauma makes it tough to care about 2 + 2.
I hated school.
Here I am sixty years later, still in school. And, there are days I hate it. I like the kids. Some of them are going to make it in spite of all the stupidity around them.
