I have to jump in - I just don’t understand teacher bashing. My children have have had amazing teachers who have changed their lives. Many on CC like to jump on GCs too – we have had outstanding GCs, especially in the high school. Have we had some challenging teachers -sure. My oldest has learned the biggest lessons from some of her hardest teachers – lessons that will treat her well in college and life. Other parents rushed in to save their little precious flowers and attack the teacher – by the end of the year they all felt foolish, their kids loves the tough teacher and did fabulous on the AP exam. We had a disaster of a math teacher in the middle school that destroyed my daughter for math for a while but he was fired the following year.
When I realize that from K-12 there have been dozens and dozens of teachers – and only one or two disappointments – no teacher bashing here. Same experience can be reported for my nieces and nephews in other towns and states. I just asked on facebook for friends to share the # of amazing teachers that they or their children have had and the # of horrible teachers - no stories or names just numbers, although plenty recounted stories and most were positive. The outstanding teachers outnumbered the bad ones significantly – and I never asked about the neutral ones. I have found the arts teachers have been the most accepting, inclusive, and supportive teachers. Some people mentioned a teacher that was not right for one child but a life changer for their next child --go figure. A few friends mentioned thinking that a teacher was horrible while in HS but in hindsight realizing how good the teacher actually was. Most rational people realize that the best and worst stick out but there are thousands of outstanding teachers working a very difficult job every day.