When is Enough Enough?

As anyone in the education business knows teachers in today's schools are called upon to be all things to all students, but at what point is enough enough? I would assume that most people that choose this profession do so primarily because they want to make some sort of difference in the lives of our students, but when is enough enough? I completely understand that teaching at the middle school level brings with it all sorts of unique challenges not faced by educators teaching K-5 or high school, but how many times do you tell a student to correct the errors of their ways, how many opportunities do you provide them to do the right thing, and how much of yourself do you give to this occupation and your students before you say enough is enough?

How is it possible that our society has helped to create students so screwed up that the teachers care more about our their futures than they do? I, along with so many of my colleagues, give so much of ourselves each and everyday to our students simply because as educators we care about every single student that enters our classroom. The unfortunate, and terribly tragic, other side of this story is that we teach some students that could care less about themselves, their future, or anything else of substance. As educators we can easily blame parents, some of which should not even be allowed to raise a guinea pig, much less a human being. We could easily blame a pop culture and society that places more value on the ability to dunk a basketball or run fast, than it does on simply being able to read. The bottom line is that we could blame people and circumstances forever, and it still will not change the fact that some of our students JUST DO NOT CARE!

This forces me to put in writing what I have been asking myself for several weeks now...

If I have students that do not care about themselves, their future, their education, anything of substance, or even care about the fact that I care about those things for them then what the hell am I doing in the classroom? It certainly isn't for the large checks I receive each month (Enter: heavy sarcasm), nor is it the copious amounts of free time afforded to me by this line of employment (Enter: laugh out loud sarcasm). I entered this profession to make a positive impact in the lives of my students, and to help them to not make the same mistakes I made at their age. For some I have had success, but the little dirty secret that no ones talks about with teaching is this...most educators, even if they have had a positive impact on one million students, will be driven to the brink of insanity by the one they could never reach.

Enough may very well be enough for this guy!