OK.. so I know there's heaps of comments here already about how we hate teaching, and this one will probably be lost within the endless criticism already posted, but I'm hoping this will be therapeutic for me...

I hate teaching.

There.. I said it. After almost 8 years, I have come to the realisation that I hate teaching. And whilst for some people this revelation is an eye-opener, to me, it scares me stupid. What on earth am I going to do now? As an English teacher, I'm sure there's many opportunities, but what.. I have no idea.

To all the parents reading and becoming more and more annoyed at us teachers whining about how much the job leaves us dissatisfied.. please understand that YOU'RE not the parents that frustrate us. It's the ones that think it's ok to swear at us in person and over the phone, the ones who openly tell their kids that teachers only teach because they can't do, the ones who refuse to buy their children the textbooks thereby making learning almost impossible, the ones who give into their child's demands for the latest trends in clothing/piercing/tattoos/games/hair colour (etc) all of which are clearly stated as against the school rules, who then have the audacity to file a complaint against you for following up on school policy...
It might not be YOU, but after years of such treatment, there is a breaking point.

Students too, are slowly crushing our spirit. How many times do instructions need to be said before they are followed? I work in a secondary school (in Australia) where we are supposed to be preparing students for life after school. How is that possible when schools are artificial environments where teachers can be treated so poorly?

I recently started a new school, in the hopes that this may refuel the passion I once felt for this amazing job.. I have 16 year old girls who won't listen to me, and have said the reason they don't like me after 3 lessons is because my shoes were boring!!

One would think that support therefore should come from admin.. well sorry folk, that's not part of reality! Schools are weighed down by too many rules and regulations where the rights of the disobedient, disrespectful students carries more weight and authority than those students who want to work, and those teachers who genuinely love their job.

To those students reading these posts.. You're probably not the problem either. If you're taking the time to read this rather than be on any number of social networking sites bullying you peers, chance are you are one of many individuals who teachers would love to have in the class, but whom we can never pay the right attention to, or help inspire or educate you, as we are too busy dealing with the miscreants. Your names are the hardest to learn because these days more time is spent on classroom management than on education.

Once, teaching was about teaching. Within the secondary education system, I would be expected to teach English skills. Now, I'm required to teach social, emotional and cultural values one used to get from home. The media is saturated with stories of children who harass others and how schools need to develop bullying and cyber bullying policies... How are we supposed to police cyber bulling at home? How are we supposed to teach students about these values when discipline at home no longer exists?

Schools can't do everything and teachers are burning out because of the expectations placed upon them by their schools, their students, the community and society.

I get to work at 8am, work until 4:30 even though my last class ends at 3:30. I do this 5 days a week. I also attend morning briefings and after school meetings, some of which regularly go until 5:00pm. Then I go home, and plan for my classes or correct work I have forced students to hand in by keeping them in a recess or lunch - which effectively means, I have no had a lunch break.
How may occupations are there where employees DO NOT GET A BREAK? You might respond with: "But that's your choice", but when it's part of the student management policy, no, it''s not our choice. Parents.. would you be happy with a teacher who responded to you that they didn't keep your misbehaving or lazy child back at lunch to do the work because the teacher wanted lunch?? How would you then react your child was told they were staying down a year? Whose fault wold it be then??
I spend my weekends trying to find new ways of engaging these awful children... any kind of way which may settle them for a period, and which will allow me to work with those individuals who truly appreciate the work that teachers do.

I am tired of the notion of teaching society has created.. and its is because of this, that I HATE TEACHING.

I feel the pain as I read your article.... I think the world over is having this problem. With many couples having only one or two children, these kids are really like little emperor... and getting accesss to media so easily... these kids know their rights.... and as a society gets more developed and educated somehow even the most traditional oriental family seems to go "western" as being an updated household... also when you have a dual income household.... there's this guilt esp with the mother and they tend to pamper the kids with gifts, money, psp, anything and everything.... discipline, values... I am not so sure.... but demands on academic performance tie in with monetary rewards... X-box.. PSP... is common among some of these families. The kids gets lots of tuition to help them perform too. And... a number of my acquaintances left the teaching job with the public school.... they go to tuition centres instead... and that's good... you negotiate on the numbers of hours you want to teach... the best place to go is Learning Lab. They pay well ... of course parents are demanding. English teachers are in demand.... so long as you have the necessary qualification.... teaching diploma etc. All the best... Good Luck!

Hi. I'm a student and I really understand how you feel.
I feel that students need to be taught values at home before coming to school.
Example, Parents should teach their children that being rude in school is wrong and why is it wrong. They should not just say its wrong and not give an explaination. Children would feel why is it wrong. Parents should punish their kids if they have done something wrong and not let them scott-free. So what if the school has punished the kid? What the school did was probably give the student a demerit point or gave the student detension. What did the kid suffer? Nothing. But the teacher has been humilated in front of the whole class. I feel that the school should give talks on educating their children and make sure all parents attend the talk esp if the kid is misbehaving in school. All the more the school should make the parent attend the talk.