Unfortunately, I had to take my son to the doctor the other day. While we were waiting (and waiting), my son played on the ipad to help pass the time. No worries, they were all phonics apps. 🙂 When the nurse finally came back in, we tucked the ipad away giving her our full attention. She says that she has good news and bad news. The bad news – he has strep throat. Ugh, I’m thinking to myself…what in the world could the good news be? She delivers the good news directly to my son with a smile. “You don’t have to go back to school until Friday!” I tried really hard to bite my tongue. I was unsuccessful. “Actually, ma’am, we really enjoy school.” She looks at me with a quizzical expression, turns to my son, and says “oh really, so you like school..?”. My son returns the quizzical look and said, “of course”. That’s my boy! She then PROCEEDS to explain how she didn’t like elementary school at all and would pretend to be sick just so she could miss school. Really?! I was giving her my teacher look but apparently it wasn’t working. After a few other choice comments from educator momma, we left the doctor’s office.
As we are walking to the car, I’m trying to understand why I’m so upset. I didn’t want my son to see that I was upset. We try really hard not to speak negatively about others, especially out loud in front of the kids. So I take a few deep breaths. I think to myself, I know I’ve heard similar comments before but why did this one upset me so much. My only conclusion…as an educator today, I just feel defeated. Everyday seems like an uphill battle and this was the last thing I wanted to hear after tending to a sick child all day.
While waiting for my son’s prescription, my son and I were discussing the doctor visit. He was truly upset about missing school for two days. And I thought to myself, why and how does this love for learning, this love for school change dramatically as our students get older. Unfortunately, from my experiences it seems the transition is happening sooner and sooner. And unfortunately, I believe that it is accelerated by comments such as those from our nurse. I know that our nurse meant nothing disrespectful by her comments. However, these nonchalant comments by adults shape our children’s views on school. Our children then think, oh, I’m supposed to dislike school. Of course, I know other variables contribute to a student’s attitude about school as well. However, I just wonder what would happen if we no longer heard…”Man, I sure hated school when I was your age.” “I hate math; I’m horrible at it.” “I hated my third grade teacher.” “I sure am glad I’m out of school.” And I could go on and on…
My two boys LOVE school. My two boys LOVE learning. I do not want this to ever change. I believe that their teachers have a lot to do with this but I also believe that their father and I have a lot to do with it too. My boys have never heard us speak negatively about their teachers or about school in general. We’ve molded them to love school. We’ve set them up to succeed as have their teachers. So, please, do not share your negative comments/memories/reflections about education with my children. I’m busy cultivating life-long learners here at the Smith household.
Red Fern Teacher 
When Good News Really Isn’t…
Unfortunately, I had to take my son to the doctor the other day. While we were waiting (and waiting), my son played on the ipad to help pass the time. No worries, they were all phonics apps. 🙂 When the nurse finally came back in, we tucked the ipad away giving her our full attention. She says that she has good news and bad news. The bad news – he has strep throat. Ugh, I’m thinking to myself…what in the world could the good news be? She delivers the good news directly to my son with a smile. “You don’t have to go back to school until Friday!” I tried really hard to bite my tongue. I was unsuccessful. “Actually, ma’am, we really enjoy school.” She looks at me with a quizzical expression, turns to my son, and says “oh really, so you like school..?”. My son returns the quizzical look and said, “of course”. That’s my boy! She then PROCEEDS to explain how she didn’t like elementary school at all and would pretend to be sick just so she could miss school. Really?! I was giving her my teacher look but apparently it wasn’t working. After a few other choice comments from educator momma, we left the doctor’s office.
As we are walking to the car, I’m trying to understand why I’m so upset. I didn’t want my son to see that I was upset. We try really hard not to speak negatively about others, especially out loud in front of the kids. So I take a few deep breaths. I think to myself, I know I’ve heard similar comments before but why did this one upset me so much. My only conclusion…as an educator today, I just feel defeated. Everyday seems like an uphill battle and this was the last thing I wanted to hear after tending to a sick child all day.
While waiting for my son’s prescription, my son and I were discussing the doctor visit. He was truly upset about missing school for two days. And I thought to myself, why and how does this love for learning, this love for school change dramatically as our students get older. Unfortunately, from my experiences it seems the transition is happening sooner and sooner. And unfortunately, I believe that it is accelerated by comments such as those from our nurse. I know that our nurse meant nothing disrespectful by her comments. However, these nonchalant comments by adults shape our children’s views on school. Our children then think, oh, I’m supposed to dislike school. Of course, I know other variables contribute to a student’s attitude about school as well. However, I just wonder what would happen if we no longer heard…”Man, I sure hated school when I was your age.” “I hate math; I’m horrible at it.” “I hated my third grade teacher.” “I sure am glad I’m out of school.” And I could go on and on…
My two boys LOVE school. My two boys LOVE learning. I do not want this to ever change. I believe that their teachers have a lot to do with this but I also believe that their father and I have a lot to do with it too. My boys have never heard us speak negatively about their teachers or about school in general. We’ve molded them to love school. We’ve set them up to succeed as have their teachers. So, please, do not share your negative comments/memories/reflections about education with my children. I’m busy cultivating life-long learners here at the Smith household.
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