bad teachers essay

Traits of a Bad Teacher

What qualities can deem a teacher ineffective or bad?

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One would hope that all teachers would strive to be excellent, effective educators . However, education is just like any other profession. There are those who work extremely hard at their craft getting better on a daily basis and there are those that are just simply there never striving to improve. Even though this type of teacher is in the minority, just a handful of truly bad teachers can hurt the profession. 

What qualities can deem a teacher ineffective or bad? There are many different factors that can derail a teacher’s career. Here we discuss some of the most prevalent qualities of poor teachers. 

Lack of Classroom Management

A lack of classroom management is probably the single biggest downfall of a bad teacher. This issue can be the demise of any teacher no matter their intentions. If a teacher cannot control their students, they will not be able to teach them effectively. Being a good classroom manager starts on day one by incorporating simple procedures and expectations and then following through on predetermined consequences when those procedures and expectations are compromised. 

Lack of Content Knowledge

Most states require teachers to pass a comprehensive series of assessments to obtain certification within a specific subject area. With this requirement, you would think that all teachers would be proficient enough to teach the subject area(s) they were hired to teach. Unfortunately, there are some teachers who do not know the content well enough to teach it. This is an area that could be overcome through preparation. All teachers should thoroughly prepare for any lesson before they teach it to make sure they understand what they are going to be teaching. Teachers will lose credibility with their students quickly if they do not know what they are teaching, thus making them ineffective.

Lack of Organizational Skills

Effective teachers must be organized. Teachers who lack organizational skills will be overwhelmed and, as a result, ineffective. Teachers who recognize a weakness in organization should seek help in improving in that area. Organizational skills can be improved with some good direction and advice.

Lack of Professionalism

Professionalism encompasses many different areas of teaching. A lack of professionalism can quickly result in a teacher’s dismissal. Ineffective teachers are often tardy or absent. They may fail to follow a district's dress code or use inappropriate language in their classroom. 

Poor Judgment

Too many good teachers have lost their careers due to a moment of poor judgment. Common sense goes a long way in protecting yourself from these sorts of scenarios. A good teacher will think before acting, even in moments where emotions or stressors are running high. 

Poor People Skills

Good communication  is essential in the teaching profession. An ineffective teacher communicates poorly, or not at all, with students, parents, other teachers, staff members, and administrators. They leave parents out of the loop about what is happening in the classroom. 

Lack of Commitment 

There are some teachers who simply lack motivation. They spend the minimum amount of time necessary to do their job never arriving early or staying late. They do not challenge their students, ​are often behind on grading, show videos often, and give “free” days on a regular basis. There is no creativity in their teaching, and they typically make no connections with other faculty or staff members.

There is no such thing as a perfect teacher. It is in the nature of the profession to continuously improve in all areas, including classroom management, teaching style, communication, and subject area knowledge. What matters most is a commitment to improvement. If a teacher lacks this commitment, they may not be suited for the profession. 

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Does Your Child Have a Bad Teacher?

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Truly bad teachers are unusual, but they do exist. Today, most states require a college degree and a mentored student-teaching internship before someone can teach in the classroom. The path to becoming a professional certified teacher is challenging enough to stop most people who do not belong in the profession from even pursuing the job.

Occasionally, however, someone who might not be fit to be a teacher gets the credentials and a teaching position—or stays in the position long after their enthusiasm for the job is gone. When your child complains about a bad teacher, it's natural to worry about how they are doing in school. You may wonder what they are learning, if they are feeling anxious or sad, and if they will be ready to move on to the next grade level.

Remember, you are not seeing firsthand what happens in the classroom. You are getting a very limited view of what is going on.

While these concerns are certainly valid, there are ways to cope with this situation and help your child feel good about their teacher and their school day.

Types of "Bad" Teachers

What is a "bad" teacher, really? Is the label justified? While some teachers are victims of the rumor mill and develop an unfounded reputation as mean or ineffective, other teachers are just that.

The following are some of the most common types of teachers that get a reputation as being "bad" among kids:

• The Boring Teacher : This teacher goes back and forth between lecturing the class and handing out worksheets. While more engaging teachers do give lectures and worksheets from time to time, they also incorporate hands-on assignments, projects, and group discussions to inspire their students.
• The No-Control Teacher : This teacher's classroom feels more like a party than an organized learning environment. Students chatter during lessons, talk back to the teacher, and may even throw things during class. Some students may like this teacher, but can't tell you what they are supposed to be learning in school. Other students may complain the classroom is noisy, chaotic, and even stressful or overwhelming.
• The Lightweight Teacher : This teacher doesn't teach the material to any depth. Your child may complain of being bored or say school is too easy. You may notice that your child's schoolwork is much easier than it has been in the past and requires little effort to complete.
• The Mean Teacher : This teacher views children as always out to take advantage of others any way they can, all the time. A mean teacher is unwilling to make exceptions for students who are truly struggling. This teacher will do the minimum required on an IEP , or not cooperate at all. They may yell at kids, roll their eyes when asked questions, and make fun of students. They seem to dislike children.

How to Find Out More

Every teacher has bad days—but one bad day does not make a terrible teacher. The truly awful teacher falls into one or more of these categories on a regular basis. Before you act, you need to find out more about the situation.

Gather Information 

Usually, parents who worry their child is dealing with a bad teacher are concerned for one of two reasons: Either the child has come home from school telling them terrible stories about their day, or the parent has heard awful stories from other parents.

Your first instinct may be to jump right in and make changes—don't. Instead, pause and try to gather the information you need to fully understand what is going on before you do anything else. The stories that you have heard from your child or friends may not be the entire story.

Your child may have misunderstood what the teacher was telling them, or they could be repeating a silly rumor that is going around the school between kids. Your friends who don't like the teacher may not have been willing to consider that their child may have had a hand in causing problems at school .

Talk With Your Child

Getting your child to think about the material they should be studying in school can pique curiosity and become a learning practice. An ineffective teacher may be giving out assignments, but not following up to make sure the material is clicking.

You can help at home by asking questions to get your child to think at a deeper level about their classwork.

Here are some prompts to get you started:

• Can you teach me what you learned about today?
• Are you wondering anything else about what you learned?
• How do you think you might use that knowledge in the future?

This kind of discussion not only gets kids thinking more about their studies, but it also gives parents invaluable clues about their teachers and what is happening in the classroom.

Give kids some time to decompress when they get home from school. Before asking about their day, consider making them a snack or going for a walk—they may be more likely to open up.

What to Do When There Is a Problem

Once you have a bit more information, there are several steps you can take. Your child has been assigned to this class for this year. Everyone benefits when parents have a positive relationship with the teacher and the school. Choosing the best strategy to take when handed something that does not meet our expectations can prepare us—and our children—for challenging problems we may encounter in the future.

Support Your Child

Help your child by first asking them to pinpoint exactly what the issue is and what they think might make it better. Suggest some coping techniques they can use in the classroom to deal with the problem.

For example, if the teacher doesn't answer questions, can your child find the answer in a book, from their classmates, a website, or their notes? If the classroom is chaotic, can your child move to a quiet spot in the room or the hallway to do their work?

If the schoolwork is boring, can your child nicely suggest to the teacher to assign additional projects? Try a role-playing scenario where your child can practice approaching their teacher about the problem. Or, you can coach them with a few talking points they can use on their own when talking to the teacher.

Above all, it's important to support your child and assure them you take their concerns seriously. Let them know you understand and will be there to guide them every step of the way.

Talk With the Teacher

Schedule a time to talk with the teacher. It is best to do this in person, if possible. Let the teacher calmly know what your child has shared with you, and give the teacher a chance to respond. Be careful to present what your child has said without being accusatory.

For example, you could say, "My son seems to think you don't like him, he says that when he asks for help with his math you just tell him to try. He feels lost in math. How can we work together to improve his experience?"

The teacher may have a different explanation of the events. They may be totally unaware of how they are perceived. After hearing how your child feels, they may be moved to reflect upon their behavior and take a fresh approach.

It may not be easy to hear, but you may learn your child is part of the problem. For example, their teacher may be unwilling to assist them because your child refuses to pay attention, participate, follow directions, or take notes in class.

Always be respectful when talking with the teacher. Avoid being accusatory and playing the blame game, which may cause the teacher to shut down rather than respond productively.

Feedback enables the willing teacher to improve and exposes the truly bad teacher. If nothing else, reaching out to the teacher lets them know your child talks to you about what is happening at school. If they are an inept teacher, they may rethink their methods, knowing an involved parent is watching.

Observe the Class

Very often, watching the class in action is enough to help parents understand all the dynamics at play. Every school has different rules about parent visitors, so check with the office and the teacher before you schedule a day to stop by and observe. Don't worry that the teacher will be on their best behavior just to impress you. A genuinely bad teacher will have a hard time faking it.

Talk With the Principal

Administrators are extremely busy and generally defer to their staff members as professionals to resolve issues within their own classroom. Keep in mind that involving the principal is essentially complaining to the teacher's boss. The teacher may resent you "tattling" on them, and a petty teacher may hold this against your child.

However, it's more likely the teacher will feel more cautious around you and your child, inhibiting an open and honest dialogue about your child's progress moving forward. But if a teacher really is really problematic, you may need to take this step.

Begin by calmly and clearly stating in one or two sentences what you see as being the problem. Be prepared to explain how you know what you know. Talk about what happened and how it affected your child.

For example, you might say "Mr. Smith's classroom is unruly and my child cannot learn. My child has told me several times she feels stressed out by the noise and cannot complete any school work. I came and observed twice for 20 minutes during the reading lesson in Mr. Smith's room. Several students talked loudly while Mr. Smith tried to teach, and a few students were throwing things across the classroom. Mr. Smith clearly saw what the students were doing and did nothing about it."

Don't expect the principal to go into specific details about how they plan to handle any issues with the teacher. Any disciplinary action is likely to be handled with discretion.

Always document any communication with teachers and administrators. It's important to keep a paper trail to show the school is aware of your concerns.

Ask to Change Teachers

Switching teachers is a last resort. Changing classrooms means adjusting to new peers, a new routine, and different classroom rules. Some schools may not be able to provide a different teacher due to staffing limits or district policies.

If you can't change teachers or schools, do your best to fill in any learning gaps as quickly as possible. Look into tutoring or other options to provide learning outside of school . This way, your child will be up to speed and ready to move onto the next grade the following year.

Give your child some coping skills for navigating the situation so they feel empowered to advocate for themselves. Check in with them often to make sure the situation hasn't become worse and to monitor your child's emotional and mental well-being .

A Word From Verywell

Keep in mind that while an entire school year with an ineffective teacher is far from ideal, it is not the end of your child's education. Other subjects and other school years will bring different teachers into your child's life. View their experience as a lesson in how to handle difficult situations and difficult people—skills that will be very helpful throughout their life.

Frequently Asked Questions

How can i deal with bad teachers in elementary school.

In the formative years, it is especially important for parents to step in to help address a situation involving a bad teacher. Your child's early elementary school experience can influence how they go on to feel about school and learning in general. Listen for clues your child is unhappy at school, share concerns with the teacher, and reach out to the administration if things don't improve.

How do bad teachers affect students?

A bad teacher is more than just a boring or impatient teacher. A truly bad teacher can have an impact on a child's emotional health. Research shows the way a teacher runs their classroom and engages with students plays a big part in how kids feel about themselves and their education. A positive classroom environment is a primary reason why kids want to go to school and enjoy learning.

How can you avoid bad teachers?

Unfortunately, the odds are your child is going to come across a bad teacher at some point. Instead of trying to avoid a bad teacher, which is most likely to be out of your control, teach your child coping skills to deal with their frustrations.

Take further action if a teacher is seriously affecting their academic performance, self-esteem, or mental health, in which case, you might consider contacting the school administration to request a change as soon as possible.

How can I deal with bad teachers in middle school?

As children approach the tween and teen years, it's natural for parents to take a step back and let kids handle tough situations on their own. Guide them by offering tips on approaching a teacher with their concerns.

The reality is, teachers at this level expect more independence from students and may not respond well to a parent's intervention. However, if there is a serious problem with a teacher, you may need to step in and contact the school at some point.

U.S. Department of Education. Certification requirements by state .

NewSchool of Architecture and Design. What are the benefits of hands on learning ?

The Center for American Progress. Do schools challenge our students ?

Understood. My child's teacher is mean to her. What can I do ?

Edutopia. 15 questions to replace 'How was school today?'

Healthy Women. How to get along with your child's teacher .

Scholastic. How you can help children solve problems .

Slate. My daughter's teacher is atrocious: What should I do ?

Grade Power Learning. 13 signs your child needs a tutor .

Understand. How to help kids cope when they get upset .

Blazar D, Kraft MA. Teacher and teaching effects on students’ attitudes and behaviors .  Educ Eval Policy Anal . 2017;39(1):146-170. doi: 10.3102/0162373716670260

By Lisa Linnell-Olsen Lisa Linnell-Olsen has worked as a support staff educator, and is well-versed in issues of education policy and parenting issues.

Informing and Advancing Effective Policy

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• More Easily Firing Bad Teachers Helps Everyone

Teacher tenure discussions often suggest that what is in the best interest of teachers is also in the best interest of students. But the groundbreaking decision in the Vergara case makes it clear that early, and effectively irreversible, decisions about teacher tenure have real costs for students and ultimately all of society.

Teacher tenure, and the related onerous and costly requirements for dismissing an ineffective teacher, have evolved into a system that almost completely insulates teachers from review, evaluation, or personnel decisions that would threaten their lifetime employment. Research shows that this results in serious harm both to individual students and to society, because a small number of grossly ineffective teachers are retained in our schools.

The California court, noting that education is a fundamental right of California youth, struck down the law that requires administrators to make essentially lifetime decisions after a teacher has been in the classroom for just 16 months and has yet to complete an induction program. Similarly rejected were statutes that make requirements for removing a tenured teacher so onerous and costly that it is seldom attempted.

Legislatures will likely respond to the court decision by lessening (but not eliminating completely) the burden of dismissing an ineffective teacher. The teachers unions will undoubtedly claim that is an attack on teachers. It is not. It is simply an attempt to restore some balance in the system.

A small percentage of teachers inflicts disproportionate harm on children . Each year a grossly ineffective teacher continues in the classroom reduces the future earnings of the class by thousands of dollars by dramatically lowering the college chances and employment opportunities of students.

There is also a national impact. The future economic well being of the United States is entirely dependent on the skills of our population. Replacing the poorest performing 5 to 8 percent of teachers with an average teacher would, by my calculations , yield improved productivity and growth that amounts to trillions of dollars.

The teachers unions have an opportunity to participate in crafting a more balanced system that promotes world-class schools. By not collaborating, they face the very real possibility that courts and state legislatures will continue to disregard their voices in attempting to improve schooling opportunities. The stakes in getting it right are extraordinarily high.

Eric Hanushek is an economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University. He is co-author of " Endangering Prosperity : A Global View of the American School." He testified for the plaintiffs in the Vergarra case.

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What happens if you get a bad teacher?

by: Carol Lloyd | Updated: December 5, 2019

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When I learned my daughter had been placed in Miss W’s second grade class, I began hearing whispers around the playground. There were complaints of strange punishments — something called “the walk of shame” — and of students being yelled at and publicly humiliated. It was also rumored that she was running a boat-parts business off her laptop and cell phone during class time.

“What class is Anna in?” I asked the mother of my daughter’s best friend. Her older daughter had already graduated from the school so she knew the terrain well. “The other one,” she said with a bright smile, not elaborating. But I knew what she wasn’t saying.

Most schools have them: Teachers whose reputations precede them in the worst possible way. Some such reputations are wholly unearned. Just as the most popular teacher is not necessarily the most effective, so too the cranky school marm may turn out to be an educational rock star. But other bad raps reflect a sad reality: There are bad teachers roaming the schools of America and every year countless kids must endure their whims.

There are bad doctors and bad garbage collectors, why should teachers be any different? Still, they occupy a special place in the occupational world. Lifetime tenure and a flaccid evaluation process can conspire to keep terrible teachers in the classroom until retirement. Firing a tenured teacher is a complicated and expensive process, involving months and even years of hearings and appeals, and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Once they are installed in their classroom, teachers wield prodigious power over the students they teach. This vast sphere of influence makes teachers godlike in the best possible way; it can also translate to catastrophe for a young child’s education.

Yes, I know. To say teaching is challenging is an understatement. Given a big class full of diverse, often squirmy, students in an underfunded public school, even the best teachers are stretched to their limits — intellectually, emotionally, and organizationally. There are so many ways to fail. As Tolstoy might have said: Every ineffective teacher is ineffective in her own way.

My daughter survived Miss W’s class, but many of her classmates didn’t fare so well. A boy who was not allowed to go to the bathroom during class time got so nervous he ended up peeing in the car after his mother picked him up, and needed psychotherapy after reverting to bed-wetting. A girl became math phobic and required months of private tutoring to get back on track after Miss W publicly yelled at her to “cut out the nonsense” when she handed in an error-strewn math quiz. Another child, who was wrongly accused of stealing pencils and made to do “the walk of shame,” spent every morning weeping and refusing to go to school. (For the “walk of shame,” a child had to walk around the classroom while other students, egged on by Miss W, glowered to make her feel bad about her transgression.)

Since then, I’ve heard plenty of nightmare teacher stories from friends. There was the teacher who punched a locker within millimeters of a seventh grader’s face, while yelling full-throttle. There was the fourth grade teacher who broke his students into two instructional groups: “the brainiacs” and “the numskulls.” There was the fifth grade teacher who sent her difficult students to the hall in the morning, where they bullied other students for the rest of the day. There was an OCD kindergarten teacher whose room was immaculate because he kept the children from doing anything — including the curriculum.

For each of these tales of terrible teaching, no matter how savvy the parents were, there were no easy answers — and plenty of pitfalls. Regret was a common theme. Parents prefaced their stories with, “I wish I’d done it differently,” or, “If I’d only known.” Advice from educators, parent advocates, straight-from-the-trenches teachers, and expert pundits produced a smorgasbord of responses.

Bad teacher=good lesson?

Some experts and parents suggest that not only is the bad teacher experience probably inevitable, it’s actually a blessing in disguise.

Tiffany Andrews, coauthor of Sincerely, the Teacher , a book of advice for parents from a teacher’s perspective, recommends that parents use the experience as a “golden opportunity for a student to learn how to adapt.” Mother and parenting writer Loulie Scharf suggests that it’s a good chance to teach kids that, “you get what you get and you don’t throw a fit.”

A less-than-effective teacher may not lay waste to a child’s entire education, but parents who have had more than one negative experience — or a truly nightmarish teacher — may not be willing to look for the silver lining in the maelstrom of their child’s misery.

To broach or not to broach

For many parents, the first question is whether the chance of upsetting the teacher or administrator is worth risking the child’s standing. “I think I’m going to complain anonymously,” confided a colleague grappling with whether or not to confront her son’s English teacher. After she went on Ratemyteachers.com and read multiple tales about the teacher’s vindictiveness, she made her decision to go incognito and leave a message at the principal’s office.

Most experts I spoke to contend that parents shouldn’t shy away from openly raising concerns, but they also advise planning the approach with all the strategy of a guerrilla general. First, parents need to make sure they have the right intelligence.

“Take all information from your child with a grain of salt,” says principal Steve Perry, CNN education correspondent and author of Push Has Come to Shove: Getting Our Kids the Education They Deserve—Even If It Means Picking a Fight . “Kids do some stupid things and they sometimes blame the teacher,” he points out.

Once you’ve established the basic facts, or at least your child’s version of the facts, set up a meeting to communicate your concerns, without your child. “It’s an adult conversation,” Perry says. “Children don’t belong in the back and forth.”

Tactical triage

Because parents are at a natural disadvantage, Perry recommends that they plan carefully for potentially difficult conversations with a teacher or principal. “Schools are like car dealerships,” Perry says. “When you go to a car dealership, I don’t care how much research you’ve done, the car salesman always knows more than you do.” He recommends that parents dress professionally, and bring someone to referee who has your best interest at heart. “Treat the meeting like a business meeting: Send an email in advance, communicate concerns, be precise, solution-oriented, document everything, and then go up the chain of command.”

Elaine Meyers, a reading specialist and the founder of READS , recommends first doing a close analysis of the teacher and figuring out exactly how he’s ineffective.

“Less-than-desirable teachers fall into three categories: the fluffy, the boring, and the mean, and each requires a distinct response,” Meyers says. Boring teachers, she says, read from the curriculum script and are “just deadly.” Children with a boring or unchallenging teacher need parents to fill in the learning gaps with extra-curricular activities, tutoring — whatever it takes to help their child get excited about learning.

Fluffy teachers, Meyers says, show movies or tell personal anecdotes when they should be teaching. “For this kind of teacher, begin by asking to see the curriculum and look up the Common Core Standards to find out what your child should be learning. This will send a message that you are informed.” Meyers acknowledges that such situations may also require parents to fill in the learning gap outside of class. Even homework duties may fall to the parent: “If you have a teacher who doesn’t mark the homework, you should be the editor, check homework, AND be the ‘rewarder,’ offering stars or praise.”

If your child feels the teacher has been mean — or worse? Meyers recommends asking the child if he would like you to talk to the teacher. “If the kid says no, validate that you’re upset and that you’re proud of him for talking,” she advises. “And tell him if this happens again, you want him to tell you about it. If it does happen again, make an appointment to talk to the teacher or principal.”

Fight or flight?

In these difficult conversations, psychologist Jennifer Powell-Lunder, co-author of Teenage as a Second Language , suggests presenting concerns as issues that require clarification, as in, “‘Mrs. Smith, I need your help. I am a little confused about something. Johnny said ______, but I think he may have misunderstood. Can you explain it to me?’ This gives the teacher an out for an inappropriate comment; it also implies that her approach to your child is unacceptable.”

For an intransigent problem, Richard Horowitz, former superintendent and author of Family Centered Parenting , recommends joining forces with other parents: “If no progress is made, I strongly suggest contacting other parents in that class and going to the principal as a united front. There is strength in numbers.”

In the end, all experts agree on one thing: If your child has been bullied , threatened, or abused, you should take action. “You need to say, ‘I want my child taken out of the classroom,’” Meyers says. “It will not reflect poorly on the child or the parent. Your child will be welcomed into the next room. I’ve done it myself.”

“In the end, your job is to protect your child,” Steve Perry agrees. “If a teacher does something so unprofessional, they’ve jeopardized their status and all bets are off.”

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I don’t like my teacher: How to deal with “bad” teachers

Katie Azevedo January 21, 2020 good habits , learning styles , mental health , self advocacy

By Katie Azevedo, M.Ed.

My favorite teacher in the whole world was my second grade teacher because she took me to the fifth grade classroom to borrow cool books.

Somehow, this very same teacher was my sister’s least favorite teacher in the whole world. 

My point: what makes a teacher “good” or “bad” doesn’t always have anything to do with the teacher. Sometimes our perception of a teacher as good or bad is simply a reflection of our personal preferences, personalities and learning styles.

Here’s the thing: if you get a bad plumber, you can call a different one next time. If you get a bad Uber driver, call your mom next time. 

If you get a bad teacher, however, you can’t just swap him or her out for another one. If you get a “bad” teacher, it’s on you to handle it. 

If your excuse for everything going poorly in your class is “I don’t like my teacher” or “my teacher is sooo bad,” then use the 3 strategies below to survive.

How to deal with “bad” teachers

The following 3 strategies can help you get through a class being run by a “bad” teacher. If it’s not the teacher who’s the issue, and it’s the class you hate, then you want to use these 6 strategies here .

1. Stop blaming them.

I’m not saying that your teacher is always right. I’m a teacher and I’m definitely not always right. (That’s because I’m a mere mortal.) But it’s highly (highly!) unlikely that every single issue you’re having in class is your teacher’s fault.

Own what you can own. In other words, is your teacher actually “bad” because she didn’t accept your essay 3 weeks late? Really? Is your teacher actually “mean” because she finally got annoyed after asking you nicely to stop talking … three times? Really?

2. Avoid their triggers.

There’s a good chance that you know exactly what to say or do to upset your parents. Or you know just what buttons to push to annoy the bejeezes out of your sister. Am I right? I’m right.

Same goes with your teacher: If you know what really bothers your teacher, even if you don’t agree with it or understand it, then don’t do those things.  

For example, I had a student recently (true story here) who was upset about losing 10 points on his essay because he didn’t use Times New Roman size 12. We looked at the rubric together, and right there – clear as day – it specified that the final essay had to be in Times New Roman size 12. 

But this student was putting up a fight, arguing that the teacher was mean and unfair. Really? Reeaally?  

Sure, I don’t personally care what font a student uses as long as it’s not Wingdings or something equally ridiculous. And I also don’t care if a student submits to me an essay in size 11 or size 12 font. But if your teacher DOES care, then just do what she’s asking for. Don’t agree with it? Do it anyways. (Love, Mom.)

Bottom line is this: Avoid annoying your teacher and pressing her buttons, even if you don’t understand her rational or even if your other teachers are perfectly fine with the exact same triggers.

3. Learn their style.

All teachers have their unique way of doing things, and the sooner you “learn” your teachers, the better. Some have preferences for communicating with students (email, during class, staying after school, using office hours, etc.), others have unconventional ways of grading, others have their own policies for accepting / not accepting late work, and the list goes on. 

You might find yourself thinking I don’t like my teacher when you actually just haven’t identified or adapted to their systems yet . 

How do you “learn” your teacher? First, start with the class syllabus; usually class policies are listed clearly there. 

Second, learn from your mistakes: if you turn in a paper late and she doesn’t accept it, now you know that you cannot turn in late papers. If she doesn’t reply to your email (here’s the right way to email your teacher ), then now you know you should communicate with her after class. 

You could also ask other students who have had the same teacher before. It doesn’t hurt to reach out and see if previous students have any tips for how to deal with this “bad” teacher.

I don’t like my teacher: Final notes

These 3 tips are meant to help you deal with teachers whose teaching methods, styles and personalities just don’t match your preferences. Yes, having a “bad” teacher can be annoying and difficult, but learning to adjust is the key takeaway here. 

It’s important to learn these skills early on, so that “I don’t like my teacher” doesn’t turn into “I don’t like my boss” and eventually into “I don’t like anyone who does things differently than how I want them done.”

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Essay on Teacher for Students and Children

500+ words essay on teacher.

Teachers are a special blessing from God to us. They are the ones who build a good nation and make the world a better place. A teacher teaches us the importance of a pen over that of a sword. They are much esteemed in society as they elevate the living standards of people. They are like the building blocks of society who educate people and make them better human beings .

Moreover, teachers have a great impact on society and their student’s life. They also great importance in a parent’s life as parents expect a lot from teachers for their kids. However, like in every profession, there are both good and bad teachers. While there aren’t that many bad teachers, still the number is significant. A good teacher possesses qualities which a bad teacher does not. After identifying the qualities of a good teacher we can work to improve the teaching scenario.

A Good Teacher

A good teacher is not that hard to find, but you must know where to look. The good teachers are well-prepared in advance for their education goals. They prepare their plan of action every day to ensure maximum productivity. Teachers have a lot of knowledge about everything, specifically in the subject they specialize in. A good teacher expands their knowledge continues to provide good answers to their students.

Similarly, a good teacher is like a friend that helps us in all our troubles. A good teacher creates their individual learning process which is unique and not mainstream. This makes the students learn the subject in a better manner. In other words, a good teacher ensures their students are learning efficiently and scoring good marks.

Most importantly, a good teacher is one who does not merely focus on our academic performance but our overall development. Only then can a student truly grow. Thus, good teachers will understand their student’s problems and try to deal with them correctly. They make the student feel like they always have someone to talk to if they can’t do it at home or with their friends.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Impact of Teachers on a Student’s Life

Growing up, our parents and teachers are the first ones to impact our lives significantly. In fact, in the younger years, students have complete faith in their teachers and they listen to their teachers more than their parents. This shows the significance and impact of a teacher .

When we become older and enter college, teachers become our friends. Some even become our role models. They inspire us to do great things in life. We learn how to be selfless by teachers. Teachers unknowingly also teach very important lessons to a student.

For instance, when a student gets hurt in school, the teacher rushes them to the infirmary for first aid. This makes a student feel secure and that they know a teacher plays the role of a parent in school.

In other words, a teacher does not merely stick to the role of a teacher. They adapt into various roles as and when the need arises. They become our friends when we are sad, they care for us like our parents when we are hurt. Thus, we see how great a teacher impacts a student’s life and shapes it.

{ “@context”: “https://schema.org”, “@type”: “FAQPage”, “mainEntity”: [{ “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “Why are teachers important?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”: “Teachers are the building blocks of a nation. They are responsible for making thousands of people educated. Teachers push us to do better and succeed in life.”} }, { “@type”: “Question”, “name”: “What makes a good teacher?”, “acceptedAnswer”: { “@type”: “Answer”, “text”:”A good teacher is one who is well-prepared. They always care for their students even outside the classroom. They instill good values in them and teach them subjects efficiently.”} }] }

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Teacher — Difference Between Bad teacher and Good Teacher

Difference Between Bad Teacher and Good Teacher

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What Separates a Good Teacher from a Bad Teacher? Evaluation Essay

October 8, 2013 by Taylor   

Taylor Monkman

Essay Three: Evaluation Essay

ENGL 015 – Womack

October 8 th , 2013

What Separates a Good Teacher from a Bad Teacher?

            Students have all experienced good and bad teachers. Students everywhere have sat there, in either boring lectures where they would have rather slept or would have rather been at home, or have sat through lectures that always had those students engaged and wanting to learn. The question to ask ourselves is what makes a good teacher, and what makes a bad teacher? What does a great teacher have, that a terrible teacher does not? There are many components that come together to make good and bad teachers. Being a good or bad teacher depends on quite a bit. Well, a good teacher has qualities that keep students engaged. They are fun, nice and have great personalities. Those teachers want to be in the classroom teaching. They do not care if they have any bad seeds in the class. All that good teachers care about is what they do and why they are doing it. A terrible teacher bores the students in his or her classroom. Bad teachers have qualities like terrible or boring personalities, or just don’t care enough to make a class amazing. But there are three qualities that really separate good teachers from bad teachers. It really all depends upon the teachers tone, lesson plans, and availability. Without these three qualities, there really would be no good teachers or bad teachers.

A make or break quality for a teacher is their tone. The tone is a very important thing while teaching, it is a must have for any teacher. If a teacher speaks with a low or monotone voice, students will get bored easily. A monotone voice is almost like listening to white noise, it is dull and puts people to sleep. Students have all had that one teacher, including myself, that made the student’s feel like the class would never end. Those are the teacher’s that make a classroom environment boring. That is probably the worst feeling for a student. If it’s a class that is 80 minutes every day, sitting in that class with a monotone teacher really makes the students not want to be there. This also contributes to students skipping that class in the future just to avoid what they would see as a waste of time, constantly being “talked at”. Students become inattentive and that eventually leads to their failure in that class. A good teacher will speak with an energetic voice that will make the students feel like they want to listen to whatever the teacher is teaching about. Speaking in an energetic and upbeat tone will show the students how passionate that teacher really is, about what he or she does. If a teacher speaks in monotone voice, they obviously do not care much for the profession they are in. If a teacher is truly passionate about his or her job, then they will speak in a tone that will keep students alive, meaning awake. Speaking with a loud, energetic tone will make students want to listen. Students will match interests with the teacher and students will want to stay involved within the class, instead of being forced to be involved. If the teacher is excited and upbeat about with he or she is teaching, then the student’s will also be excited and upbeat. A teacher has to make a great effort to stand in front of a classroom full of students and make it fun for not only the teacher themselves, but to make it fun for the student as well. That is why a teachers tone is very crucial. Teachers need to remember to keep a loud and energetic demeanor, instead of a low and boring one.

Lesson plans are another critical area, in which teachers must be aware of. If a teacher’s lesson plan is tedious and has students unengaged then what is the point of having that class. What is so fun about having a boring lesson plans? A teaching method should be creative and fun for students. Many students dislike lectures because lectures are dull, and there is nothing exciting about a mundane lesson. There is nothing exciting about a teacher talking the entire class period. Teaching methods should include visuals. For example, if a teacher is teaching a kindergarten class how to count. The teacher should bring in blocks. Blocks will engage the students, and the students will be having fun while learning how to count. Good teachers will be creative and bring in new ideas of learning every day. Those teachers are the teachers, whose classes are fun. On the other hand, bad teachers will teach the same way every day. Students will hate going to that class with that boring teacher who teaches the in same tone, and teaches the same way, every day for the whole year. However, students will absolutely love going to the class, whose teacher strives to find new ways to teach different lessons. If a teacher doesn’t aim for the most creative ways to teach, then those teachers will not succeed for being a great teacher. That is why finding new ways to teach a subject is vital in a teacher’s career. Teaching methods will set apart good and bad teachers.

Lastly, a teacher’s availability is among one of the most essential qualities a good teacher must possess. In a student’s eyes, a great teacher should have many office hours available, so students can get help if needed. Not all students understand a certain lesson right then and there at the time of class. Many students will need that one-on-one time with a teacher, to help that student understand that lesson, that that teacher is presenting at that time. If a teacher has absolutely no available time to help a student after class, then that teacher would be considered terrible. A good teacher should also be available through email or through text message.  In a generation like ours, not everyone uses email as frequently as they have in the past. Most students have smartphones that make it extremely easy to be contacted by their teacher any time of the day.That is why it is important to be available through text message. Good teachers will give out their cell phone numbers and email in the start of the year. Giving out numbers and emails will provide students with help at any time of the day. That is why; if any of those teachers’ students have questions they can be answered quickly and effectively. That is another thing, teachers should always answer their emails within a day’s time. That way the student, who emails that teacher, can get an answer before the next class. Bad teachers will have office hours, or will have very little hours after class to provide students with extra help in that class. A bad teacher will also either not give out his or her cell phone number or email, or will not respond to a student’s question within a days’ time. Many students have experienced teachers not answering emails or text messages, and those students always end up stressed or frustrated with that teacher’s class. They then become accustomed to not being able to contact that teacher with important questions, which can lead to a bad student/teacher relationship. The teacher then seems unreliable. Teachers want to make sure that students are clear of the material they are learning. In order for all students to pass a class, students must be sure of what their learning. That’s why it is essential for a teacher to have open office hours for any student to come into.

Many qualities set good and bad teachers apart. It is not just the teacher’s tone, teaching methods and availability that makes a great teacher, good and a bad teacher, terrible. There are many characteristics a teacher must own. They need to have great personalities, as well as loving what they do for a living. Many teachers are unhappy with what they do, that is why their classes are not liked, because their dislike for their career shines through and is noticed by their students. Great teachers are passionate about what they do. That is why their classes are fun and engaging. Different students have different opinions on the matter but the three qualities named in the evaluation above are the three most crucial components that can either make or break a teacher’s success in the classroom. For me, these three qualities are a must. I am in the process of becoming an early childhood teacher for pre-school through fourth grade. So these components are very important to me. If teachers do not have qualities like the ones mentioned above, they will certainly not succeed in anything they do in the classroom or out of the classroom. Being a great teacher does not happen overnight, it takes much experience and it involves working hard every day in and out of the classroom.

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Lazy? Anxious? Overlooked? Teachers Sound Off on Unmotivated Students

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Labeling students who don’t do their work and seem unmotivated as “lazy” has transcended generations in the classroom. As time has gone on, and social science research has gotten more advanced, it’s clear that there’s many factors at play. Technological advancement, a pandemic, and an educational system under stress have only further complicated the question of what drives student apathy.

In a recent EdWeek Opinion piece , Kyle Coppes, a secondary school principal at an international school in Germany, wrote about the nuances of “student laziness.” In response to the article, many teachers felt inspired to share their own opinions on the topic. Some agreed that what seems like laziness is often a symptom of another problem; others insist that sometimes, students just don’t put in the effort that’s needed.

Here’s a collection of the most popular themes from what they had to say.

The success of classrooms reflects the system ...

“as an educational psychologist, i strongly agree but it is not the fault of the teacher. schools are a mirror of society.”, “the education system—or at least where i teach—is primarily responsible for creating the lazy child. maybe lazy isn’t the word we need to be looking at, but rather the unmotivated child.”, “i appreciate the philosophy brought into the argument. furthermore, i very much want to believe the idea here, but this requires a much more practical follow-up question: if the reason students appear lazy, but are not, is that educators are not addressing other issues, how are administrators, school boards, and others in charge of school policy going to change to allow students to get their needs met”, “what if this apathy is a result of the school system itself”, the issue is nuanced, “i can understand my students are avoiding the content by doing many of the things they are doing. i can understand why they are avoiding the content, because they avoided the content during covid and now can’t handle the content before them.”, “i agree there’s usually reasons behind behaviors that appear to be “laziness.” unfortunately, many of the times the classroom teacher has little to no control over many of the factors contributing to that ... family issues, lack of food at home, student mental health problems, etc. this is why student support in terms of counselors, psychologists, and social workers are needed.”.

Gabrielle M.

“You only have to listen, as students tend to know it’s self-inflicted sleep deprivation from texting, surfing, online games, and chats. They start their homework after midnight—2 a.m., and then have to get up at 7-8 a.m. to make it to school. All this from a group that needs more quality sleep than almost any other age bracket.”

“always look further into what is going on with your students. don’t ever just label them lazy and move on—just like i always try and look when the behavior is defiant—99% of the time the kid is crying for help, attention, love, etc. ... i am not doing my students justice to just label them defiant and move on—however—in this case, there is still that 1 percent that is just downright defiant because they want to be …. “, “i totally agree with this. and honestly the first person to tell you kids are lazy are the kids themselves. it’s the only 4 letter word totally banned in my classroom. there is a reason behind their lack of motivation. uncover the reason, address the problem, work gets done. i have spent a lot of my career with kids with school anxiety and avoidance. a lot of teachers just don’t get it.”, “it is true that knowing one’s students, truly knowing them, helps immensely. but there are some factors at work right now that are totally student laziness.”, “it’s not about blame—mindset is the invisible aspect of teaching practice that guides how we respond to students and how they see us. when we label, even subconsciously, a student, they know it —when we bypass the inactions and speak to the ‘function of their behavior’ we can actually move mountains.”, do principals understand what teachers face, “i’m curious how long this principal was a teacher. we are seeing less and less time in the classroom from administrators. experience doesn’t mean expertise but it is one of the requirements for it.”, “this person has clearly been out of the classroom for the past 40 years and most likely spends all of their days in their office hiding from actual responsibility.”, “well, i—like most teachers—agree that we educators can suss out the reasons that a student appears “lazy” and provide formative support ... i would have been more impressed if kyle talked about how, as principal, he supports teachers in this endeavor ....”, “this principal will struggle to keep a fully staffed building.”, “i like the overall tone of this but i’m guessing that this administrator has not had to spend much time guiding classrooms lately. there are some systemic things that have been put in place in many school districts where a student can almost never fail ... and then there’s the added element of how something can look like laziness but it’s masquerading a much deeper issue. that’s its own special consideration.”, “as long as perspectives like this continue placing 100% of the responsibility & accountability for learning on teachers, there will continue to be high burnout and turnover rates. another disconnected administrator missing the mark.”, “kids tell me they don’t care. they google the answers right in front of me instead of trying to do the work. he needs to get into the classroom.”, true laziness can be a factor, some teachers insist, “some students find anything that requires any effort nearly impossible to do.”, “i think a better way to put it is don’t assume laziness is the issue right off the bat. explore other reasons why students are avoiding work. but, sometimes, students will admit to me they just feel lazy ... it can happen.”, “i’m a teacher and sometimes i’m lazy, too. i’m human.”, sign up for edweek update, edweek top school jobs.

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The Comedy Film “Bad Teacher” Essay (Movie Review)

A bad teacher is a comedy that features Elizabeth Halsey as the main character. She is a gold digger who does not care about her job as a teacher to nurture young minds. She is also a frequent user of marijuana. Scott and Russell are Elizabeth’s prospective suitors who constantly fight for her attention. Scott is a handsome rich man, whereas Russell is his smart and funny opponent.

Russell is a serious gym teacher who catches the audience’s attention as well as Elizabeth’s. Amy Squirrel is a cunning character who is also very pretentious. She covers her callous, condescending trait behind a pretty smile and pretends to be Elizabeth’s friend.

Bad Teacher has striking similarities to a 2003 movie called Bad Santa. Bad Teacher is about teachers abusing their authority and power by taking advantage of young school-going children. Elizabeth comes home from school one day and finds that her rich fiancé is no longer interested in their relationship.

She goes back to school with a scheme on how to attract a rich man so that she can quit her teaching job. Luckily for her, the new teacher in her school (Scott) happens to be very wealthy. Miss Halsey is determined to do everything to catch his attention even if it means getting breast implants. She is even more determined when she realizes that Scott’s ex-girlfriend has an ample bust. However, she faces a challenge of raising enough money for the surgical procedure. She resorts to helping her students cheat in a test to raise money.

Bad Teacher comprises a sequence of segments linked together. It is a very entertaining movie to watch although it copies most of its plot from other movies. The quality of the picture is very good as well as the lighting. However, the language used in some scenes is quite obscene and is not appropriate for young audiences and family viewing. There is a lot of profanity, suggestive sexual insinuations, as well as drug abuse (smoking of marijuana and drinking of alcohol). Several songs are used to depict different moods and themes in the movie.

The issues that the movie addresses are clearly outlined throughout the film. Therefore, it is easy for a viewer to relate to the lives of the characters. The playwright also uses symbolism when assigning names to characters in the play. For example, Amy squirrel’s name (Squirrel) depicts her cunning character in the play.

The movie portrays the theme of change. A wicked teacher faces many challenges, which gradually transform her into a good person. Elizabeth learns valuable life lessons that change her ways. Ultimately, she realizes what is crucial in life and becomes a good judge of character when she chooses to date Russell, the gym teacher over Scott who is extremely wealthy. The movie also depicts immorality. Elizabeth is immoral to the extent of using students to get money illegally for their selfish needs.

In my view, this film scores three out of five points. The movie director does a commendable job in assembling a star-studded and talented cast who play their roles effortlessly. The key setbacks in the movie are the predictability of the outcomes and the flow of the plot. The events look like a series of skits or parts that are incompetently connected. The raunchy nature of the film also restricts its audience, yet the title suggests that the movie ought to be suitable for school-going children.

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Jessica Grose

Get tech out of the classroom before it’s too late.

By Jessica Grose

Opinion Writer

Jaime Lewis noticed that her eighth-grade son’s grades were slipping several months ago. She suspected it was because he was watching YouTube during class on his school-issued laptop, and her suspicions were validated. “I heard this from two of his teachers and confirmed with my son: Yes, he watches YouTube during class, and no, he doesn’t think he can stop. In fact, he opted out of retaking a math test he’d failed, just so he could watch YouTube,” she said.

She decided to do something about it. Lewis told me that she got together with other parents who were concerned about the unfettered use of school-sanctioned technology in San Luis Coastal Unified School District, their district in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Because they knew that it wasn’t realistic to ask for the removal of the laptops entirely, they went for what they saw as an achievable win: blocking YouTube from students’ devices. A few weeks ago, they had a meeting with the district superintendent and several other administrators, including the tech director.

To bolster their case, Lewis and her allies put together a video compilation of clips that elementary and middle school children had gotten past the district’s content filters.

Their video opens on images of nooses being fitted around the necks of the terrified women in the TV adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” It ends with the notoriously violent “Singin’ in the Rain” sequence from “A Clockwork Orange.” (Several versions of this scene are available on YouTube. The one she pointed me to included “rape scene” in the title.) Their video was part of a PowerPoint presentation filled with statements from other parents and school staff members, including one from a middle school assistant principal, who said, “I don’t know how often teachers are using YouTube in their curriculum.”

That acknowledgment gets to the heart of the problem with screens in schools. I heard from many parents who said that even when they asked district leaders how much time kids were spending on their screens, they couldn’t get straight answers; no one seemed to know, and no one seemed to be keeping track.

Eric Prater, the superintendent of the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, told me that he didn’t realize how much was getting through the schools’ content filters until Lewis and her fellow parents raised concerns. “Our tech department, as I found out from the meeting, spends quite a lot of time blocking certain websites,” he said. “It’s a quite time-consuming situation that I personally was not aware of.” He added that he’s grateful this was brought to his attention.

I don’t think educators are the bad guys here. Neither does Lewis. In general, educators want the best for students. The bad guys, as I see it, are tech companies.

One way or another, we’ve allowed Big Tech’s tentacles into absolutely every aspect of our children’s education, with very little oversight and no real proof that their devices or programs improve educational outcomes. Last year Collin Binkley at The Associated Press analyzed public records and found that “many of the largest school systems spent tens of millions of dollars in pandemic money on software and services from tech companies, including licenses for apps, games and tutoring websites.” However, he continued, schools “have little or no evidence the programs helped students.”

It’s not just waste, very likely, of taxpayer money that’s at issue. After reading many of the over 900 responses from parents and educators to my questionnaire about tech in schools and from the many conversations I had over the past few weeks with readers, I’m convinced that the downsides of tech in schools far outweigh the benefits.

Though tech’s incursion into America’s public schools — particularly our overreliance on devices — hyperaccelerated in 2020, it started well before the Covid-19 pandemic. Google, which provides the operating system for lower-cost Chromebooks and is owned by the same parent company as YouTube, is a big player in the school laptop space, though I also heard from many parents and teachers whose schools supply students with other types and brands of devices.

As my newsroom colleague Natasha Singer reported in 2017 (by which point “half the nation’s primary- and secondary-school students” were, according to Google, using its education apps), “Google makes $30 per device by selling management services for the millions of Chromebooks that ship to schools. But by habituating students to its offerings at a young age, Google obtains something much more valuable”: potential lifetime customers.

The issue goes beyond access to age-inappropriate clips or general distraction during school hours. Several parents related stories of even kindergartners reading almost exclusively on iPads because their school districts had phased out hard-copy books and writing materials after shifting to digital-only curriculums. There’s evidence that this is harmful: A 2019 analysis of the literature concluded that “readers may be more efficient and aware of their performance when reading from paper compared to screens.”

“It seems to be a constant battle between fighting for the students’ active attention (because their brains are now hard-wired for the instant gratification of TikTok and YouTube videos) and making sure they aren’t going to sites outside of the dozens they should be,” Nicole Post, who teaches at a public elementary school in Missouri, wrote to me. “It took months for students to listen to me tell a story or engage in a read-aloud. I’m distressed at the level of technology we’ve socialized them to believe is normal. I would give anything for a math or social studies textbook.”

I’ve heard about kids disregarding teachers who tried to limit tech use, fine motor skills atrophying because students rarely used pencils and children whose learning was ultimately stymied by the tech that initially helped them — for example, students learning English as a second language becoming too reliant on translation apps rather than becoming fluent.

Some teachers said they have programs that block certain sites and games, but those programs can be cumbersome. Some said they have software, like GoGuardian, that allows them to see the screens of all the students in their classes at once. But classroom time is zero sum: Teachers are either teaching or acting like prison wardens; they can’t do both at the same time.

Resources are finite. Software costs money . Replacing defunct or outdated laptops costs money . When it comes to I.T., many schools are understaffed . More of the money being spent on tech and the maintenance and training around the use of that tech could be spent on other things, like actual books. And badly monitored and used tech has the most potential for harm.

I’ve considered the counterarguments: Kids who’d be distracted by tech would find something else to distract them; K-12 students need to gain familiarity with tech to instill some vague work force readiness.

But on the first point, I think other forms of distraction — like talking to friends, doodling and daydreaming — are better than playing video games or watching YouTube because they at least involve children engaging with other children or their own minds. And there’s research that suggests laptops are uniquely distracting . One 2013 study found that even being next to a student who is multitasking on a computer can hurt a student’s test scores.

On the second point, you can have designated classes to teach children how to keyboard, code or use software that don’t require them to have laptops in their hands throughout the school day. And considering that various tech companies are developing artificial intelligence that, we’re meant to understand, will upend work as we know it , whatever tech skills we’re currently teaching will probably be obsolete by the time students enter the work force anyway. By then, it’ll be too late to claw back the brain space of our nation’s children that we’ve already ceded. And for what? So today’s grade schoolers can be really, really good at making PowerPoint presentations like the ones they might one day make as white-collar adults?

That’s the part that I can’t shake: We’ve let tech companies and their products set the terms of the argument about what education should be, and too many people, myself included, didn’t initially realize it. Companies never had to prove that devices or software, broadly speaking, helped students learn before those devices had wormed their way into America’s public schools. And now the onus is on parents to marshal arguments about the detriments of tech in schools.

Holly Coleman, a parent of two who lives in Kansas and is a substitute teacher in her district, describes what students are losing:

They can type quickly but struggle to write legibly. They can find info about any topic on the internet but can’t discuss that topic using recall, creativity or critical thinking. They can make a beautiful PowerPoint or Keynote in 20 minutes but can’t write a three-page paper or hand-make a poster board. Their textbooks are all online, which is great for the seams on their backpack, but tangible pages under your fingers literally connect you to the material you’re reading and learning. These kids do not know how to move through their day without a device in their hand and under their fingertips. They never even get the chance to disconnect from their tech and reconnect with one another through eye contact and conversation.

Jonathan Haidt’s new book, “The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness,” prescribes phone-free schools as a way to remedy some of the challenges facing America’s children. I agree that there’s no place for smartphones on a K-12 campus. But if you take away the phones and the kids still have near-constant internet connectivity on devices they have with them in every class, the problem won’t go away.

When Covid hit and screens became the only way for millions of kids to “attend” school, not having a personal device became an equity issue. But we’re getting to a point where the opposite may be true. According to the responses to my questionnaire, during the remote-school era, private schools seemed to rely far less on screens than public schools, and many educators said that they deliberately chose lower-tech school environments for their own children — much the same way that some tech workers intentionally send their kids to screen-free schools.

We need to reframe the entire conversation around tech in schools because it’s far from clear that we’re getting the results we want as a society and because parents are in a defensive crouch, afraid to appear anti-progress or unwilling to prepare the next generation for the future. “I feel like a baby boomer attacking like this,” said Lewis.

But the drawbacks of constant screen time in schools go beyond data privacy, job security and whether a specific app increases math performance by a standard deviation. As Lewis put it, using tech in the classroom makes students “so passive, and it requires so little agency and initiative.” She added, “I’m very concerned about the species’ ability to survive and the ability to think critically and the importance of critical thinking outside of getting a job.”

If we don’t hit pause now and try to roll back some of the excesses, we’ll be doing our children — and society — a profound disservice.

The good news is that sometimes when the stakes become clear, educators respond: In May, Dr. Prater said, “we’re going to remove access to YouTube from our district devices for students.” He added that teachers will still be able to get access to YouTube if they want to show instructional videos. The district is also rethinking its phone policy to cut down on personal device use in the classroom. “For me,” he said, “it’s all about how do you find the common-sense approach, going forward, and match that up with good old-fashioned hands-on learning?” He knows technology can cause “a great deal of harm if we’re not careful.”

Jessica Grose is an Opinion writer for The Times, covering family, religion, education, culture and the way we live now.