"Not all of your students aspire to the level that you aspire for them."
Tears actually did well up in my eyes when I read this. While I was teaching SED (Severely Emotionally Disturbed) high school boys, I felt obligated to maintain this clear line of pedagogical integrity while wading waist-high through the muck of subjective teaching standards and, of course, general student insanity. It was really fucking tough. In order to feel good about what I was doing, I had to maintain that standard so as not to dumb it down for those that wanted to learn. Then again, many students were far from interested in learning the subjects I was teaching and I always personalized this reality as some sort of personal failure. Although understanding that some of my students did not aspire to what I wanted for them should be an obvious bit of knowledge, my stubborness wouldn't let me absorb this thought.
It's comforting to know others shared my experience.
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Tears actually did well up in my eyes when I read this. While I was teaching SED (Severely Emotionally Disturbed) high school boys, I felt obligated to maintain this clear line of pedagogical integrity while wading waist-high through the muck of subjective teaching standards and, of course, general student insanity. It was really fucking tough. In order to feel good about what I was doing, I had to maintain that standard so as not to dumb it down for those that wanted to learn. Then again, many students were far from interested in learning the subjects I was teaching and I always personalized this reality as some sort of personal failure. Although understanding that some of my students did not aspire to what I wanted for them should be an obvious bit of knowledge, my stubborness wouldn't let me absorb this thought.
It's comforting to know others shared my experience.