Teachers have a lot of pressures to deal with, such as test scores, curriculum, lesson plans, grading papers, and monitoring individual progress, among many others. They should not have to deal with the consequences of negligent or irresponsible parents who allow their children to do anything they please at home. Many of us who’ve hosted other people’s children may have experienced something similar with a child who doesn’t seem to know how to behave in someone else’s home. It’s very embarrassing and stressful, but just imagine dealing with that child day after day as part of your job?
Coddled children have no concern about how they are making their parents look in the eyes of others; in fact, the thought never even occurs to them. This narcissistic trait can carry into many other relationships later in life as these kids become spouses and parents themselves someday.
Teachers today often find themselves juggling many roles separate from their main job as educators. Unfortunately, many kids with parents choose not to be actively involved in their lives while allowing strangers to practically raise their kids for them when it comes to teaching them life lessons. These parents also tend to try and make up for their lack of parenting by befriending or coddling their children while making excuses for their actions. However, one teacher had quite enough of coddling parents and their hard-to-teach parents, so she wrote a post on social media directly addressing parents.
Former teacher Julie Marburger wrote her post after one incident made her so angry that she decided to quit teaching altogether. It was the last straw. She then took to Facebook to describe the incident in which a mother of one of her students became upset because her son was being held accountable for his disruptive behavior. Instead of scolding their child, the parent decided to go after the teacher in front of her student.
The teacher’s response immediately went viral and sparked a crucial conversation regarding discipline, respect, and parenting. It was something many teachers could relate to and an insight that’s helped many parents.
Marburger also shared several troubling photos on Facebook showing the conditions in which she had to teach every day. The photos show torn textbooks, destroyed bookshelves, a messy floor, and gum stuck to a window sill, among other disturbing indicators of poorly behaved children. As she had no classroom budget, all of the destroyed times were paid for out of her own pocket, according to Good Morning America.
She said that she had enough and was no longer going to tolerate these conditions and was “drawing a line in the sand.” Marburger explained that almost half of her class failed because of missing assignments. She wrote:
“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. Parents have become far too disrespectful, and their children are even worse.”
She added:
“People absolutely HAVE to stop coddling and enabling their children. It’s a problem that’s going to spread through our society like wildfire. It’s not fair to society, and more importantly, is not fair to the children to teach them this is OK. It will not serve them towards a successful and happy life.”
And it turns out Margburger isn’t alone.
“I have had responses from people literally all over the world,” she said. The teacher continued, “I was worried after this kind of blew up all over Facebook that people would be offended by it, and what I found is that I’m getting more support now.”
The teacher made sure to share her gratitude to all who left supportive comments under her post. She also updated her viral post, saying:
“I never intended to be a spokesperson for anything. I’m not the most qualified to do so, and I’m certainly not the best teacher out there, by far. But obviously my words, spoken in desperation that day, have struck a chord with many people.”
And while Marburger also noted that she had the pleasure of teaching many “amazing, hard-working, respectful” students, she still believed that parents needed to do more to make the classroom environment better for everyone involved — especially teachers.
“The education system as we know it needs reform,” she said. “It is broken and inadequate for our children.” Marburger also said that children should be held to a “higher standard of accountability in all areas.”
Good Morning America reports that many educators worldwide have expressed similar thoughts concerning their workplace. Teachers in many states in the US called for raising teacher pay, with many going on strike to amplify their grievances. Erica Souter, editor of the parenting site said:
“We’re overworked. Some of us are juggling multiple kids, multiple jobs. It’s easy to say, ‘This is the teacher’s responsibility. This is their job those eight hours during the day,’ but that’s not how it works.”
Marburger’s post continued to stir conversation over the last few years. The teacher notes:
“We as a society have to get back to treating one another with manners and respect. We are only going downhill with hatred and name-calling. No one wins when kindness dies.”
You can watch the Good Morning America segment featuring Julie Marburger in the video below.
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Sources:
- “Fed-Up Teacher Calls Out Parents For ‘Coddling And Enabling’ Their Kids In An Open Letter” Apost.