Lately, many of my teachers have been a little grumpy and have complained in class about how much of our work they have to grade.
One tells us not to make so many mistakes on our tests so that he/she does not have to take the time to correct us. And just today, another teacher told my class that we were to have four timed writings in addition to a test and a quiz next week. Then, he/she complained to us that he/she will be the one with the most work to do. (This teacher also takes approximately 2-3 weeks to return graded assignments back.)
It seems my stress level and work load are directly related to how much my teachers complain. I don’t blame them too much, because students complain about homework often too. However, is it appropriate for them to complain right in front of their class? Is it hypocritical? Unprofessional? I would love to know the opinions of fellow high-schoolers.
I think it’s unprofessional, but more so than that, complaining simply gets on my nerves whether it be from a teacher or from a student. It creates a really negative environment that’s tough to be in.
That’s pretty moronic of them. They became a teacher, what did they expect they were going to do?
^ By that logic, we chose to take that class, so we can’t complain about anything regarding it: homework, quizzes, exams…
Except that the people who become teachers didn’t HAVE to become a teacher.
Tell them they’re salty af. I hate when teachers complain they don’t make much- it’s not like there’s so many other well-paying professions
You didn’t have to choose that class, either.
Anish14: Would you rather everyone go for the high-paying professions even if they hate it? That would really screw society over, to have no teachers. We NEED teachers.
Just like how students can opt to take easier classes to avoid as much work.
Someone’s gotta teach.
To OP: It’s not very professional to complain in front of students about all the papers and tests teachers have to grade, but it’s basically the same thing that students go through; we complain all the time about homework and classes. I’ve seen many kids complain directly to teachers about having a lot of work. We all get stressed out and complain, and while it’s not okay for teachers to complain in front of students about grading, just try to not let it get to you too much. Realize that they’re not blaming you and your peers for it; it’s just the system.
Teachers who complain about grading papers probably are in the wrong profession?
Right, if you don’t like the work that is required to do your job, get another. That’s like becoming a minister and then complaining about having to write a sermon every Sunday.
@NEPatsGirl Find me where I said that. That’s the equivalent to a software engineer complaining about how boring their job is to them, though they make good money. What do teachers expect? Math teacher is the only profession that even seems enjoyable and pays well starting with Honors Algebra 2 and up (in my district). Did they think students will all love and appreciate them and get them gifts? Why assign so much work when they cannot even keep up with a few assignments.
I don’t know if your comment was going with or against what I said, sorry.
There’s a lot more to teaching than just grading work. There’s a lot of behind the scenes stuff that teachers have to do. I don’t think teachers expect to be millionaires; I think they probably start out idealistic (as most people do in their chosen profession) and then gradually get stressed out more and more and then complain more (as many people do, including us students). It’s not as simple as assigning less work, especially for AP classes. If the teacher didn’t assign a lot of work and the students then weren’t as prepared for an AP exam as they should have been, then you can bet that the teacher would be getting complaints from parents about not being a good enough teacher.
@CE527M That is very true, but I find that mostly teachers that have to teach algebra 1 to a freshman (kids who are dumb) are often frustrated. Forget salary. Why wouldn’t a teacher get mad when s/he has to grade papers where kids don’t even know what they’re doing due to the fact that they won’t listen. There’s always going to be slackers and kids who have flat out don’t care. I was in study hall getting some help on math and a teacher was saying about how he keeps getting calls from parents that their students have bad grades while they have 4 missing homework assignments. There can be so many different scenarios lol
I think the negativity is what really bothers me. I agree that in some cases it’s justified, and @CE527M brings up at great point that I didn’t realize about the AP work load. Teachers are under a lot of pressure for their kids to do well on the exams. I don’t think teachers are paid enough, but I hope that at least they enjoy some parts of their profession. Above all, they must promote a healthy learning enviornment. As long as the complaining doesn’t interfere with my education, I can deal with it.
Some teachers don’t even try and that’s way more annoying than complaining. My AP Euro teacher literally has us stand in a line and turn stuff in and he puts a completion score in the gradebook right there. This takes like a whole class period every 2ish weeks. Waste of my time. Also, he has us grade each other’s essays ALL THE TIME… which means we really learn the rubric and I get a good score which is good I guess… but I don’t know if the grading is accurate and if the 9s that my classmates give me will translate to 9s on the AP test. Another time we ran out of time to watch a video in class so the next day he’s like ok I’m going to upload this entire 40 minute video to blackboard so you can watch it at home. The thing was, he didn’t get started on the PowerPoint till after the thing has uploaded… on my school’s slow internet I might add… and then we had to finish the PowerPoint by ourselves at home, wasting class time and my time. Why does he do this? Because he is literally too lazy to do stuff on his own time… which I’m sorry, but that is part of a teacher’s job description. Sorry about the rant.
No one is going to love every single moment of any job. Teachers often dislike grading because they’d rather be working with students. Even so, I think it’s bad for morale when teachers complain to students (about their job as a teacher, that is…they can complain about the students not doing their work).
Tell them to assign less work if they don’t want to grade so much.
OK, here’s a teacher’s point of view:
To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never “complained about grading” to my students. Of course, it’s entirely possible that your teacher(s) have-- this has been a brutal winter in lots of parts of the country, and complaints in general are running rampant.
But it’s entirely possible that what you’re seeing as a complaint about the grading is actually intended as an explanation.
For example, I collected 180 geometry projects a few weeks ago. Two days later, I was asked whether they would be returned soon. I responded that, no, they had 5 weeks to do the project, I hadn’t graded them yet. But I had graded 180 geometry tests the night before, which they were getting back-- I generally do a one night turnaround. And I had graded quizzes a few days before, likewise with a one night turnaround. That wasn’t intended as a complaint, merely as an explanation that the projects are the lowest of all my grading priorities.
As to “make fewer mistakes so I won’t have to grade so much”-- I can pretty much promise that was in jest. The fewer mistakes you make, the higher your grade. In fact, a blank test is the easiest one to grade-- it takes absolutely no time to see that it’s a zero.
I think that most of what students would see as complaints about grading are an attempt to explain why it’s not instantaneous. Those teachers who use scantrons (not me, I’m math) probably get fewer questions, since they’re probably more apt to return papers immediately.
Sometimes, every once in a while, something happens at home and I’m unable to get papers back right away. Heaven help the kid who complains if, for example, I have to attend my daughter’s volleyball meet or take my mom to the doctor’s and don’t get their papers back the next day.
A big thing is that schools are piling more kids and more classes on the teachers without asking for their approval and/or without giving them extra pay.
That’s probably what they’re complaining about, and they’re right to complain about it (at least the teachers in my county are).
However, since I am perfect, my assignments don’t add to the stress for my teachers (sarcasm).
i would think grading would be fun lol.