Quitting Teacher Posts Fierce Facebook Rant, Slamming Parents For "Coddling And Enabling" Their Children

Being a teacher is one of the hardest jobs in the world - and even that's an understatement. While this might not have been the case in the not so distant past, in the modern world, teachers have a lot more to contend with than just ensuring that their pupils get an education.

Budget cuts mean that they're often left with no option but to go into their own pockets for classroom supplies, and on occasion, single-handedly deal with mixed ability classes whose education would have been previously assigned to multiple teachers.

In short, don't let the fact that teachers seemingly have long vacations give you the wrong impression about their workload. It's so intense, especially in the 21st century, that they need them.

Credit: Julie Marburger

One teacher who knows this all too well is Julie Marburger. After just two years in the profession, she decided to throw the towel in and took to Facebook to explain how parents need to stop "coddling" their children.

In the now-deleted Facebook post, the teacher, who works at Cedar Creek Intermediate School in Texas teaching the sixth grade, wrote:

"I left work early today after an incident with a parent left me unable emotionally to continue for the day. I have already made the decision to leave teaching at the end of this year, and today, I don't know if I will make it even that long. Parents have become far too disrespectful, and their children are even worse. Administration always seems to err on the side of keeping the parent happy, which leaves me with no way to do the job I was hired to do… teach kids.

"I am including photos that I took in my classroom over the past two days. This is how my classroom regularly looks after my students spend all day there. Keep in mind that many of the items damaged or destroyed by my students are my personal possessions or I purchased myself, because I have NO classroom budget. I have finally had enough of the disregard for personal and school property and am drawing a line in the sand on a myriad of behaviors that I am through tolerating. Unfortunately, one parent today thought it was wrong of me to hold her son accountable for his behavior and decided to very rudely tell me so, in front of her son."

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

Writing as a former teacher, I can only concur with her words. I didn't even last two years in the profession. After less than six months, I said goodbye to whiteboards and marking homework and assignments forever. The pupils I had were simply too challenging, and by the end of the term, I was left physically and mentally exhausted.

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

To make matters worse, the other members of staff were less than supportive of my situation. Even though I explained that I'd been up until 3 am making lesson plans, as far as my mentor was concerned,  it wasn't good enough. She actually expected me to work through the night and then come into school at 9 am and perform. It was madness.

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

Julie Marburger continued to reveal her similar gripes in her Facebook post, explaining how the children's parents have made it nigh impossible for her to do her job:

"Report cards come out later this week, and I have nearly half of my students failing due to multiple (8-10) missing assignments. Most of these students and their parents haven't seemed to care about this over the past three months, though weekly reports go out, emails have been sent and phone calls have been attempted.

"But now I'm probably going to spend my entire week next week fielding calls and emails from irate parents, wanting to know why I failed their kid. My administrator will demand an explanation of why I let so many fail without giving them support, even though I've done practically everything short of doing the work for them. And behavior in my class will deteriorate even more. I am expecting this, because it is what has happened at the end of every other term thus far."

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

"People absolutely HAVE to stop coddling and enabling their children. It's a problem that's going to spread through our society like wildfire. It's not fair to society, and more importantly, is not fair to the children to teach them this is okay. It will not serve them towards a successful and happy life.

"Many will say I shouldn't be posting such things on social media… that I should promote education and be positive. But I don't care anymore. Any passion for this work I once had has been wrung completely out of me. Maybe I can be the voice of reason. THIS HAS TO STOP."

Credit: Facebook / Julie Marburger

Needless to say, I'm far from the only person to agree with Marburger. In response to her post, another teacher shared their equally exhausting and frustrating experience of the profession:

"I'm with you girl. You read my mind. I was in the exact same shoes yesterday. I left in tears too and most kids saw me. Many of them were sympathetic but some cheered and said they were happy i was leaving as I walked by crying. I, like you spend about 20 hours outside my contract time a week doing everything I can to be the best teacher possible and spend hundreds of dollars out of my own pocket every year to have the supplies I need to give these kids the best educational experience possible."

"I thought I could make it another 7 weeks," the posted continued. "But after yesterday I'm not sure. I'm taking today and tomorrow off to figure out my options. I'll keep you in my prayers. Please do the same for me," another person shared."