Review: I Hate Everything: A Day in the Life of a Teacher

I Hate Everything: A Day in the Life of a Teacher by Robert Lantana
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a unique book. I am not a teacher, although I have given lectures and taught students at a graduate school level, so the beginning of the book was a bit of a shock at first. Then many of the points mirrored my own experiences as the parent of four children, with the youngest in high school now. So many of the points made, very loudly in this small book, resonant as true in almost any public school system in the US. My children have gone through a magnet sort of school and yet it is underfunded, teachers underpaid and overburdened with responsibilities and everyone loses. The only people not losing are the administrators who earn the real money, what little there is of it, to be had in education. It feels like a reward for failing at the highest levels. Failing the teachers they serve, failing the students they serve, failing the schools they manage. Some of the answers are alluded to in the problems presented, such as in bringing up a study of failure rates on the "End of Course" tests while these same students earned their diplomas. I have seen the same thing, for instance, last year, my child took an advanced science class and earned 99-100 throughout the entire school year and just barely passed the EOC bringing her yearly grade down to a low A. So, is this a problem with the school, the teacher or my child? Was she too confident? Did she not study? Was the class watered down compared to the test?
This brings up another excellent point in the book, "Students should be held 100% accountable for their OWN learning". This is an absolute brilliant point and should be made by schools and educators daily. But, how are students to do this if they do not have the tools or the knowledge of what is expected of them in a course in order to successfully learn the material? The author mentions previously students having to work through problems in a textbook and then ask questions from there, whereas now there is a "learned helplessness" to education on the student's side. From my own kids' perspective I can see this is a huge issue as school budgets are crunched and there aren't textbooks or online books for everyone. The kids are left without the resources to do the work themselves thus relying even more on overburdened teachers for adequate and frequent communication. Unfortunately, this turns into a vicious circle of spotty communication, poor planning on everyone's part and missed learning opportunities.
There are many other, wonderful and correctly made points in this small book that are well worth the time.
My only criticisms are in the approach and some of the word choices. I am assuming, not knowing the author, that his rants are meant tongue in cheek out of frustration but as a parent I certainly do not want to think that teachers are constantly wanting to physically harm my child, even in their imaginations. So I am not sure this is the best way to win over the audience that may actually be on the same side of this fight. The other negative comment is that, while I agree wholeheartedly with the opinions of Trump and his election, it appears hypocritical to call him out for all of his -isms and then throw around the words "retarded" and "special ed" like its nothing. It seems to me that some degree of insight into the importance of being respectful towards the very people that Trump has openly mocked (especially those that cannot defend themselves) would be a better look.
Thank you for this ARC.
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