Mount Holly a wonderful community . . . maybe once, but in light of Act 46 school legislation uproar, not today.
When neighbors hesitate to go out and about in town, worrying about what they will encounter or overhear, that is not a wonderful community. Shame on those who have created this hostile atmosphere by publicly and without empathy slamming your fellow human beings. Step back and listen to what is going on around you. This is not a free for all political race, this is a difficult process that includes innocent bystanders who have been thrown into a fight. This is not a two way street. It is not an argument, yet it escalates. Teachers are forced to defend various misinformed accusations or support their peers in doing so, all the while being subjected to misdirected attacks. Consider the individuals that attend these meetings as representatives, only go home broken after sustaining these unwarranted attacks. Our teachers are tolerant, have worked without contracts rather than strike, are subjected to behavior that borders on abuse and yet still come back every day and help their students achieve. They are getting pretty dirty with the unwarranted unidirectional mudslinging. Speak up to squash this horrible behavior.
Do you really think about what it means to be a teacher? Before anything else teachers are nurturers. Students enter their classrooms followed by the shadows of their life. Teachers are sensitive to that. Students enter their classrooms tired, uninterested, unmotivated. Teachers are sensitive to that. Before teachers can provide an education, they must trudge through these barriers and reach the place where a child can learn. All teachers do this, BEFORE they teach content. This nurturer must be flexible and empathetic and creative not for one or two students but each and every student in their classroom, to differing degrees, for each class, every day.
Compare this to your parenting expectations. Two children maybe up to six, having a bad day or week or month; you try to get them up, to shower, to eat, and out the door . . . then to bed and up the next day, maybe get them to do a few chores between. Multiply that by 10-20 kids, for 4-5 classes, for every assignment in the curriculum. When you are relieved to send your frustrated child off to school, teachers take them in and get them through their day, supporting and guiding them to be productive. Some of them needing extensive amounts of support to achieve. These teachers “hold their hand” all along the way.
Because of this, teachers take pride in the successes of their students. Teachers are vested and draw their self-affirmations from their student’s successes. Ask your friends and neighbors and young people you know, “who was the most influential person in your life”? Consider how many refer to a teacher. Then ask them why. I dare say that most of them will not tell you that it was the content they were taught. I dare say most will refer to the nurturing they received that made them successful in their lives.
Regardless of what you think of the quality of the education, before you bash your neighborhood school consider what ripple affect you are having on the people who are caring for our youth every day. What do you think this horrendous behavior is doing to these children? They not only worry about themselves but in this small close knit school, which many feel provides the security of “home”, they also worry how their peers and teachers are affected. Let’s foster a safe, respectful environment for everyone in this difficult process with civil, respectful representation.
Lisa Patch
Mount Holly resident
When neighbors hesitate to go out and about in town, worrying about what they will encounter or overhear, that is not a wonderful community. Shame on those who have created this hostile atmosphere by publicly and without empathy slamming your fellow human beings. Step back and listen to what is going on around you. This is not a free for all political race, this is a difficult process that includes innocent bystanders who have been thrown into a fight. This is not a two way street. It is not an argument, yet it escalates. Teachers are forced to defend various misinformed accusations or support their peers in doing so, all the while being subjected to misdirected attacks. Consider the individuals that attend these meetings as representatives, only go home broken after sustaining these unwarranted attacks. Our teachers are tolerant, have worked without contracts rather than strike, are subjected to behavior that borders on abuse and yet still come back every day and help their students achieve. They are getting pretty dirty with the unwarranted unidirectional mudslinging. Speak up to squash this horrible behavior.
Do you really think about what it means to be a teacher? Before anything else teachers are nurturers. Students enter their classrooms followed by the shadows of their life. Teachers are sensitive to that. Students enter their classrooms tired, uninterested, unmotivated. Teachers are sensitive to that. Before teachers can provide an education, they must trudge through these barriers and reach the place where a child can learn. All teachers do this, BEFORE they teach content. This nurturer must be flexible and empathetic and creative not for one or two students but each and every student in their classroom, to differing degrees, for each class, every day.
Compare this to your parenting expectations. Two children maybe up to six, having a bad day or week or month; you try to get them up, to shower, to eat, and out the door . . . then to bed and up the next day, maybe get them to do a few chores between. Multiply that by 10-20 kids, for 4-5 classes, for every assignment in the curriculum. When you are relieved to send your frustrated child off to school, teachers take them in and get them through their day, supporting and guiding them to be productive. Some of them needing extensive amounts of support to achieve. These teachers “hold their hand” all along the way.
Because of this, teachers take pride in the successes of their students. Teachers are vested and draw their self-affirmations from their student’s successes. Ask your friends and neighbors and young people you know, “who was the most influential person in your life”? Consider how many refer to a teacher. Then ask them why. I dare say that most of them will not tell you that it was the content they were taught. I dare say most will refer to the nurturing they received that made them successful in their lives.
Regardless of what you think of the quality of the education, before you bash your neighborhood school consider what ripple affect you are having on the people who are caring for our youth every day. What do you think this horrendous behavior is doing to these children? They not only worry about themselves but in this small close knit school, which many feel provides the security of “home”, they also worry how their peers and teachers are affected. Let’s foster a safe, respectful environment for everyone in this difficult process with civil, respectful representation.
Lisa Patch
Mount Holly resident
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