LETTER: Nevada teachers struggling with unruly students

In response to a recent Review-Journal piece concerning teachers wanting more money:

I’ve been married to a middle-school teacher for more than 30 years. I believe teacher-student relationships have gradually gotten worse over that time. I know many people, including the folks at the Review-Journal, complain that the teachers always want more money even though the academic results don’t show any improvement. I get that. Why would you ever pay someone more for a negative result? But I do think it’s a little unfair because teachers don’t control the whole situation.

I never seem to hear anyone address what I consider to be the elephant in the room. They don’t address it because they can’t fix it. That “elephant” is the attitude and lack of basic respect many of these students bring to school.

A lot of parents have given up the responsibility of teaching right from wrong or the importance of showing respect for adults. They now expect the teachers to do it all. Plus, many kids come to school with no chance of learning anything. They don’t care. They make no effort. They won’t do their homework. Now, where does this attitude come from? But many of these parents expect the teacher to overcome all of this and turn out a fine student with great grades.

It takes all the pieces of a puzzle to make it work. But that’s just a little too hard for some critics to understand. And life goes on increasingly dumber every year.