Humans of New York - The post that raised over $1m

DoYouEvenLift

The Humans of New York Facebook page posted this portrait of this school kid and asked him a question, his answer got a lot of attention and over 35,000 people donated to his school.


All I can think of after seeing this is why aren't there more teachers and principals like this one? Teaching is one of the most important lines of work as it's basically responsible for developing growing children's intelligence and curiosity on their pursuit of knowledge into their adult lives. Did anyone on here ever have a truly great, standout teacher who went above and beyond their job description to connect better with their students? Seems like most just want to get in, do the minimum amount of work and get out even though they have what, like 4 months worth of holidays each year? I can still understand teachers being disheartened and not feeling like trying with certain students who are too much hassle though but even they could be positively changed if just one of their teachers invested more personal interest and time with them by talking to them about where they're heading if they don't get their sh!t together.

El Weirdo

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

All I can think of after seeing this is why aren't there more teachers and principals like this one?

I'm willing to bet that there are.

DoYouEvenLift

El Weirdo wrote: »

I'm willing to bet that there are.

Do you think I was implying that there weren't any at all?


Why aren't there more =/= Why are there no

One of my sisters is a teacher and she got a letter from one pupil thanking her for every thing she had done for her, now my sister is tough enough and not the slightest bit sentimental, but it made her day to think she had made a difference.

Ave Sodalis

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Did anyone on here ever have a truly great, standout teacher who went above and beyond their job description to connect better with their students?

I had two, in a school of fifty or more teachers. None in primary school. Most of them were just there to get paid and their job was to go through the curriculum and that was that. One even had the philosophy that his job was solely to get through the curriculum and if students couldn't follow his classes or were stuck, then it wasn't his job to help. To him, teaching was following the book and giving an example, regardless if students learned.

But then, the two that did care (maybe there were more but they were the only two I had) really stood out. Their classes got consistently higher marks in JC and LC and there was rarely a bad word said about them, except people who were on the receiving end of their punishment. That, in itself was interesting. The two had two completely different teaching styles. One was very bubbly and creative, the other was very strict and held her classes on a tight leash. Both were highly effective for them because despite their differences, they both had one thing in common. They both gave a damn about the students and would go out of their way to make sure the students succeeded.

DoYouEvenLift

sup_dude wrote: »

I had two, in a school of fifty or more teachers. None in primary school. Most of them were just there to get paid and their job was to go through the curriculum and that was that. One even had the philosophy that his job was solely to get through the curriculum and if students couldn't follow his classes or were stuck, then it wasn't his job to help. To him, teaching was following the book and giving an example, regardless if students learned.

But then, the two that did care (maybe there were more but they were the only two I had) really stood out. Their classes got consistently higher marks in JC and LC and there was rarely a bad word said about them, except people who were on the receiving end of their punishment. That, in itself was interesting. The two had two completely different teaching styles. One was very bubbly and creative, the other was very strict and held her classes on a tight leash. Both were highly effective for them because despite their differences, they both had one thing in common. They both gave a damn about the students and would go out of their way to make sure the students succeeded.

I didn't have him but a maths teacher at my school was known to be similar to the teacher you described who was strict but kept the students on a leash. I heard in the weeks leading up to the junior cert and leaving cert mocks and official exams he stayed back everyday after school with the students who wanted extra help/grinds and he constantly gave out copies of as many past exam papers he could find and didn't even charge for photocopying.

kylith

I still fondly remember my old French teacher. She stood up for me and made me feel it was ok to be different. It really is the little things that make a huge difference to a kid.

Shout out to Mrs. Cox

polydactyl

My mother has been a teacher for over fourty years and recently announced her retirement...she has had letters and emails every day since from parents/people long gone from school who heard her news thanking her for all she did and even people crying at her door. She was an agony aunt/social worker/sounding board and a fab teacher. I have been with her when she would rnadomly stop parents in the street just to tell them what a great job they were doing with their kids esp when she knew they were having a tough time. So yeah my mum is one and I am very proud of her!

DoYouEvenLift

folan wrote: »

ask your local principle how many active frivolous suits are currently being taken against the school. Ask how many of the teachers have been harassed and downright bullied by parents over the past year.

Then ask why you think it is the teachers and principles place to tell kids they matter, make them understand that they are important to society, and why it is not the parents.

I guess some parents don't have any principals.

Amica

as with every profession, there are good eggs and bad eggs. I'm sure a lot of teachers try to "reach" their students but may be overwhelmed themselves or their message just doesn't get through.

Ave Sodalis

folan wrote: »

ask your local principle how many active frivolous suits are currently being taken against the school. Ask how many of the teachers have been harassed and downright bullied by parents over the past year.

Then ask why you think it is the teachers and principles place to tell kids they matter, make them understand that they are important to society, and why it is not the parents.

How many teachers do their jobs right though? I'm not saying for one moment that unless teachers are brilliant, they can't do their jobs but how many teachers are clueless about children? How many principles for that matter? My primary school was terrible. Myself and two of my siblings got on okay. My brother needed a different approach and my mother went into the school on numerous occasions to explain that yes, she knew he was difficult but this and that works very well as that's what's happening at home. The teacher even agreed and went back to treating him as she usually did. The principle, of course, took the teachers side and said she can teach the class whatever way she wanted. Which was true, but it was making her life very difficult when she refused to use the solution that was given to her. That made life at home more difficult. We ended up having to move schools with him and that made so much difference.

lazza14

This is typical american propoganda bullshít, the reality is if you're born in the USA poor - you basically are FÚCKED for life !!!

The system is designed to be against these people from the start, with a huge price on a decent education.

Meanwhile the rich white folks born with silver spoons in their mouths have it made - Daddy has money so easy to get into the best universities, and once there you have the best connections and references ... so fúck off Harvard and Yale and poxy Stanford "liking" this post.

It's all bull****.

I hope the kid proves me wrong, but he'll end up working his ass off and struggling for life to make some fat Donald Trump replacement rich.

Baggy Trousers

I was lucky enough to have 2 absolute psycho principals in CBS primary and secondary growing up. One was a violent abuser and one was a cruel alcoholic. I stayed out of trouble for the most part but I often think back on the poor divils that suffered. I know some that never really recovered.

A school is so defined by it's principal. A bad principal will ruin a once great school.

Ave Sodalis

lazza14 wrote: »

This is typical american propoganda bullshít, the reality is if you're born in the USA poor - you basically are FÚCKED for life !!!

The system is designed to be against these people from the start, with a huge price on a decent education.

Meanwhile the rich white folks born with silver spoons in their mouths have it made - Daddy has money so easy to get into the best universities, and once there you have the best connections and references ... so fúck off Harvard and Yale and poxy Stanford "liking" this post.

It's all bull****.

I hope the kid proves me wrong, but he'll end up working his ass off and struggling for life to make some fat Donald Trump replacement rich.

So a school tries to change that and is doing very well (how many schools in poor areas, or rich areas for that matter, that you know have all the students respecting the principle?) but since it mightn't work, they should just quit? Not bother trying to change it?

Frigga_92

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Did anyone on here ever have a truly great, standout teacher who went above and beyond their job description to connect better with their students?

I had a brilliant ordinary level maths teacher for my leaving cert.
I dropped down to ordinary level maths about mid-way through fifth year and ended up in her class. I was absolutely rubbish at maths, I just couldn't get my head around theorems and x and y and all that stuff. She taught both maths and irish. She knew I was good at irish and loved reading in irish so she used to talk to me in irish in the maths class and it helped me a lot. It was a small class, there was only 8 of us in it, as there was an overflow from the main ordinary level class and the 8 of us did better than most of the people in the other ordinary level class. She was an older woman, easily in her fifties I would say.

I also had a brilliant business teacher for my junior cert and leaving cert. I did higher level business for my leaving cert and she was the best business teacher in the school. Instead of just teaching us what the books said she used to bring in loads of case studies for us to work on so that we could put what we knew into action. She also had a great relationship with all of the students. She was young, probably around early to mid thirties.
She was also the only teacher who was never on maternity leave, in my whole 6 years of secondary school (I did transition year) she was never off having a baby at any stage. This meant there was no swapping and changing from her method of teaching to a different method which I thought was very important especially for leaving cert.

I had an accounting teacher for junior cert and leaving cert and while I got on well with her she was absolutely horrible to anyone in the class who wasn't doing well. We used to have a double accounting class once a week and at the start of the class she would go around asking everyone questions and if you didn't know the question she would make you stand for the rest of the class so you could be standing for an hour and a half. The same people always ended up standing and eventually they dropped down to ordinary level, the teacher was delighted, she only wanted people in her class who needed minimal teaching and could learn things on their own, not really understanding that it's not that easy for everyone.

I went to a convent school and the principal was a nun and she really couldn't have given less of a **** about anybody in the school.

Boring username

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

The Humans of New York Facebook page posted this portrait of this school kid and asked him a question, his answer got a lot of attention and over 35,000 people donated to his school.


All I can think of after seeing this is why aren't there more teachers and principals like this one? Teaching is one of the most important lines of work as it's basically responsible for developing growing children's intelligence and curiosity on their pursuit of knowledge into their adult lives. Did anyone on here ever have a truly great, standout teacher who went above and beyond their job description to connect better with their students? Seems like most just want to get in, do the minimum amount of work and get out even though they have what, like 4 months worth of holidays each year? I can still understand teachers being disheartened and not feeling like trying with certain students who are too much hassle though but even they could be positively changed if just one of their teachers invested more personal interest and time with them by talking to them about where they're heading if they don't get their sh!t together.

Did they actually raise $1 million? I'd be amazed if they did. The Humans of New York comments section is usually a bunch of cringey hipsters who try to out do each other for the most right on, feel-good post of the day.

The Backwards Man

The teaches in my secondary school had a big party when I left.

Venus In Furs

I guess there are teachers who just lose their passion for the job, and give up.

It's hard for everyone to hold on to that resolve they have when they start teaching at a tough school.

I remember teachers just clearly not caring anymore at my school because there were such messers (and it was a small bit of a tough school in the centre of town but absolutely nothing like actual tough schools). "What's the point?" had set in.