A Conversation With a "Bad" Teacher

      This author starts the article by talking about what John did before he got into teaching and how he got into teaching. He goes on to talk about the horrible experiences that went on in just the little time that John was a teacher. He includes some crazy examples of what went on at the school where John was a teacher. He then starts a kind of summary of an interview with John. The author gives a list of the questions asked and the answers. They mainly talk about his time at the school, why he became a teacher, why he quit, why he wrote this book, and some specifics from the book.
     I kind of enjoyed reading this article after finding out that the principle he mentions was removed from her position. I feel that in a lot of places, not just the district mentioned in the article, just try "pass" there students. Like all they care about is their graduation rate and not if their students are ready for college or careers. My cousin has some learning disabilities and his special education teacher retired this year and his school district did not fill the spot for a few months into the school year. My cousin came from an area where he was learning nothing and was never given a chance, to moving in with my family and immediately receiving a much better education and situation. He started learning a lot better and was moving right along, even though he had a lot of one on one instruction in a special classroom, learning was still taking place. After, his teacher retired, they just kind of threw him in the general ed classroom without any help or accommodations. His teachers just started giving him A's with his work being all wrong, so that they would not have to deal with his problems. Because of this, his learning began to recess. I tell this story because that is what happens when teachers and administrators do not care about the actual learning going on and just care about their passing rate. No one actually learns anything and everyone is just hindered in the process when it comes to move up to the next level.