Although teachers do one of the most important jobs in our society, the way they're treated is often seriously lacking. These individuals are tasked with instilling knowledge in the next generation while also keeping our children safe for the majority of the day — and yet their salaries can be a joke. On top of that, they often have to field disrespectful behavior from parents. This can take a major toll on anyone, and one teacher named Julie Marburger is officially D.O.N.E.
Marburger is a Texas sixth-grade teacher and explained why she quit in a viral rant that's schooling parents.
Marburger started off her post by explaining that she ended up leaving work at Cedar Creek Intermediate School early after an incident with a parent that left her emotionally unable to finish out the day. "I have already made the decision to leave teaching at the end of this year, and today, I don't know if I will make it even that long," she wrote. "Parents have become far too disrespectful, and their children are even worse. Administration always seems to err on the side of keeping the parent happy, which leaves me with no way to do the job I was hired to do … teach kids."
She wants parents to see what their darling kiddos do to her classroom daily.
These photos were taken of her classroom over the past two days, and hopefully the level of disregard that these tweens show her and her property sinks in. "This is how my classroom regularly looks after my students spend all day there. Keep in mind that many of the items damaged or destroyed by my students are my personal possessions or I purchased myself, because I have NO classroom budget," she wrote. "I have finally had enough of the disregard for personal and school property and am drawing a line in the sand on a myriad of behaviors that I am through tolerating."
And she says things are only going to get worse with report cards going out -- because parents blame her.
"Report cards come out later this week, and I have nearly half of my students failing due to multiple (8-10) missing assignments. Most of these students and their parents haven't seemed to care about this over the past three months, though weekly reports go out, emails have been sent and phone calls have been attempted," she wrote. "But now I'm probably going to spend my entire week next week fielding calls and emails from irate parents, wanting to know why I failed their kid."
In addition to having to defend herself to pissed parents, she also has to be on the defense when it comes to her bosses. "My administrator will demand an explanation of why I let so many fail without giving them support, even though I've done practically everything short of doing the work for them," she wrote.
These parents who "abuse" and work against her have ruined her dream to teach.
Marburger is disgusted by the fact that in their profession, teachers pour their heart, soul, time, and personal resources into their job only to be paid "such an insultingly measly amount" and constantly get torn down. "Teachers are some of the most kind and giving people I have ever met, yet they get treated so disrespectfully from all sides," she wrote. "Most parents can't stand to spend more than a couple hours a day with their kid, but we spend 8 with yours and 140 others just like him. Is it too much to ask for a little common courtesy and civil conversation?"
It had always been Marburger's dream to have a classroom of her own; however, in the last two years, she says she's become completely disillusioned about what being an educator in America really means today. "This is almost all I hear from other teachers as well, and they are leaving the profession in droves," she wrote. "There is going to be a teacher crisis in this country before too many more years has passed unless the abuse of teachers stops."
"People absolutely HAVE to stop coddling and enabling their children," she wrote.
Marburger has watched as the problem has only gotten worse, and she fears that it's going to continue to spread before anything is done about it. "It's not fair to society, and more importantly, is not fair to the children to teach them this is okay. It will not serve them towards a successful and happy life," she wrote. "Many will say I shouldn't be posting such things on social media … that I should promote education and be positive. But I don't care anymore. Any passion for this work I once had has been wrung completely out of me. Maybe I can be the voice of reason. THIS HAS TO STOP."
