According to an article on the Washington Post poverty and student achievement are related. The reason for this everyone should know and it’s that the rich get the best education possible, tutors, help from their parents, better schools than the rest and the list goes on. Of course poverty affects learning! Students that have a nice home and everything they need, unless they have a critical situation or learning disability, have to succeed more than those that do not have that.

While the rich parent can provide for all these extra help for their kids, the low-income class has to struggle to make ends meet. The author in the article blames the government for cutting the budgets, not providing for art and music teachers (it has been proven through research that these two help students to do better in school, tests, etc) and tutoring assistance for those that need extra help.

For example, in my school, my principal did everything in her power to help us by hiring Interventionists Math and Reading, to help us with those students that needed one on one intervention plus what we call Tier 3 Intervention given by a professional teacher outside the teacher in the classroom.

More needs to be done. The article suggests that parents should be trained and encouraged to learn to be able to help their children to do better in school. We have to cater to those parents that have two and three jobs to make it. Those parents love their kids, too and want them to be successful. My point being that perhaps those parents need to be trained, educated on how to become better parents. I know one principal in my career that did that and it worked. We can teach the people that do not speak English, the ones that can become great citizens if they could only find the right job, etc. I know the situation would change and students would do better. Volunteers can be of great help! There are a lot of retired teachers that can still help students read and do Math, but where are they? What happened to the experienced teachers? Well, according to the “AngryExTeacher”, experienced teachers are leaving the profession either by quitting or retiring because teaching has become harder. Why are experienced teachers leaving teaching?

Teaching has turn into a more nerve-racking profession very quickly.  Students’ manners are meager and respect is nearly zilch.  Actions from students have been a problem since education began, but the problem now is that teachers are expected to put up with it – even to take the responsibility for it.  Many find that troublesome that students are reinforced – even stimulated – by their parents and by school administration.  If a student disturbs a lesson, the teacher is responsible; not the student.  If I would’ve given that opportunity when I was in school, backed up by my parents and the principal, I would’ve probably taken it. Any child at school I’d had the opportunity to vent my spleen at the teachers I disliked, with the backing of my parents and the powers that be, I would have grabbed it with both hands.