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[–]msteacherlady 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

I feel you! On top of that, engaging in debate can be so exhausting because people come in with their conversation-stopping platitudes. It's the kind of "debate" my father and uncle engage in when they're harassing each other about their favorite baseball team.

A couple of years ago I had an AP student who actually had an IEP for anxiety, which in my years of teaching, I had only ever seen one time before with a foster youth. This poor young lady. She dodged class frequently, asked for alternative assignments (which I was compelled by her IEP to provide and wasn't really fair to me as I don't have that much time to prepare such assignments), asked for allowances beyond what her IEP said when it came to test taking, and there was a lot of crying. I could only do so much to protect her from other students who didn't want to work with her and complained about her behavior. I wasn't angry or upset with her so much as I was upset that her parent and the counseling team pushed her into AP classes because she expressed an interest in nursing. My previous district had a medical pathway and very few of those kids were AP kids. Like, who's putting the idea in kid's heads that there is only one, very challenging, high-stakes pathway to success?

I also believe that regular public education works fine enough for most people, even if they didn't exactly enjoy it, ha ha, but there are just some students who would do so, so much better in an alternative setting. The girl who I'm talking about had transferred to an alternative program over the winter break, and I really hope she found some peace in her future goals. I personally am wary of charter schools, but there are some good ones with vastly different structures than traditional ed that could really benefit some students. I really wish alt ed and public ed weren't pitted against each other so often.

[–]Complicated-Spirit 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

When you say counselors, do you mean career counselors? Some of those people are just off the wall. I thought it was bad enough when I was in college, but then I browsed through Ask A Manager’s “Bad Advice” section and it was just...holy shit. Telling students to go into fields they were completely unsuited for, telling them “That high-demand field is probably too hard for someone like you. You should probably just get an degree in [throws dart] Business Accounting and whatever”, and then the bizarre “How to get hired” schemes. “Make a website all about yourself with your picture, hobbies, resume, blog, etc. on it and then put it on every application you turn in!” And yes, you feel like they know what they’re talking about, so you feel compelled to do what you’re told, even if every fiber of your being is going “NO NO NO NO NO”.

Not to mention the basic fuckup cancel culture that academia is today. I think it’s actually super-stressful for young women in particular. We have to deal with all the regular stressors we’ve always had, but then the cognitive dissonance of the TRA movement, of being told you’re in a place that values debate and academic freedom above all else, until you think something that someone else decides they don’t like, and thus having to constantly police yourself, your language, your work, the feeling like you’re always vulnerable, yet being watched to make sure you comply.