Teacher Says Kids Who Think They're Special & Don't Have To Follow Rules Now Run The Schools
Teachers are afraid to stand up to the parents of these children out of fear of losing their jobs.
wavebreakmedia / Shutterstock The discourse surrounding the unmanageable and impertinent behavior of this generation of students is far from new.
Teachers across America have been sounding warning bells regarding their students' inability to behave and lack of respect toward their educators, with some blaming parents and others pointing fingers at the school system as a whole.
One teacher on TikTok argued that the lack of discipline that parents wield over their children at home is what ends up damaging the learning environment of a classroom.
Content creator and public school educator Teresa Kaye Newman revealed that teachers are going toe-to-toe with parents who refuse to put their foot down with their children — and how this behavior has left a negative impact on teachers' relationships with their students.
She said that kids who think they're special and don't have to follow rules now run the schools.
"The students run the show, and they know they run the show. Teachers are afraid of the admin, admins are afraid of parents. Parents are afraid of their kids at home, in public, and anywhere else," Newman said. "There are enough parents that are afraid of their kids, that there are enough kids at school that know they're not beholden to anybody."
Children who can roam free at home with little to no consequences therefore have no incentive or expectation to follow any classroom rules. They know there won't be any repercussions from their parents if they're called down to the principal's office or reprimanded by a teacher. In fact, their parents will likely back them up.
Children are being taught by their parents that their teachers have no idea what's best for them and that they don't have to blindly follow their authority or respect them because of it. She explained that these types of children have the most interactions with school administrators and, as a result, are setting the standard for what is done about behavior and consequences.
"We are consistently catering to the lowest common denominator. Kids may be young but they are not stupid and they absolutely know that they can get away with doing whatever they wanna do," Newman said. "All they have to do is call mama and daddy and [they will] come up to that school and scare admin so badly that they will do whatever they say."
Because admin are scared of parents, they often accommodate their demands, despite the negative impact on teachers.
Newman pointed out that she knows many teachers out there are not scared of parents, and are willing to fight with the ones that want to prioritize their own child's needs above the well-being of an entire classroom. However, in the end, those teachers end up getting fired by the admin who are afraid of parents.
"These are the rules, written in black and white ink that campus admin are not willing to uphold and teachers are afraid to enforce in their own classrooms because they know that parents are so scared of their own child being upset at them that they're willing to do anything they possibly can to avoid that confrontation," she explained.
This issue is only exacerbated by administrators who only care about keeping parents happy, specifically those parents who can vote on bond issues and have the power to wield money in the community. They are willing to sacrifice the overall classroom well-being to cater to these parents.
It's an incredibly selfish way to think — no student's education should suffer because one parent isn't happy that their child is being punished, disciplined, or reprimanded.
"Those of us that want their kids to be there to learn are railroaded every time and they're left in the dark," Newman added.
According to survey data from Teachers Pay Teachers, an online platform for teachers to exchange instructional materials and tools, 65% of educators said that respect for the teaching profession has decreased compared to two years ago. More than half of the teachers surveyed said that they also have less autonomy as educators, and 36% said that parents cause them "a lot of stress."
Newman previously urged parents to stop letting their kids "run the show" at home because it ends up bleeding into the behavior they exhibit in the classroom. She acknowledged the irony of parents expecting schools to shift their entire framework and how they manage classroom behaviors just because they can't tell their child no and teach them the proper way to act in public.
"The parent has issues with the traditional method, and when we talk about traditional methods of handling students, we're not talking about something traumatic or abusive," she insisted. "We're talking about simply setting boundaries and holding boundaries at the adult in the room."
In a time when teachers are leaving the field of education in droves for incredibly valid reasons, parents need to realize their place in all of this. They can't be afraid of their own children, or too scared to discipline them. Instead, they must teach them basic manners and consideration for others, especially their teachers and fellow classmates.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.