My wife is a high school teacher and has been teaching for quite a while. Until you know and live with a teacher you do not realize the amount of work they do. They are required to have a lesson plan for each class every day. The plan is detailed to the degree it teaches various standards that are in the curriculum. A math lesson could also include language. A history lesson could include math. She is given one "prep hour" this is a class period for her to grade papers, do lesson plans etc. She rarely gets the days work done in that period because of other things like working for the student club that she moderates. The students different than in my day. The school wants to give every child an education and they give the student the benefit of the doubt if they are absent or late. the only problem is that you cannot force a child to learn. You can present the knowledge, but if the child doesn't absorb it, what can you do.
The students know that as long as they attend one class per day, they are counted as being at school. When a student has 5 or 6 classes per day, but only attends one, is that child really getting an education?
A student has to miss 10 class periods in a row in order to be dropped from the class. If they miss 8 and then attend three in a row, the clock is reset. That student will get an incomplete, but won't be penalized.
The students know the rules and some take full advantage. I am not saying all the students are there for social life and not for an education, but some of them definitely are. The classes are like any life situation. There are a small percentage of really good ones, a middle class that are around average and then the other small percentage that are there because they have to, not because they want to learn.
When the teacher has to spend time disciplining these students who don't want to be there, they are taking time that could be used to help and educate the people who really want to be there.
It is no wonder that a newly graduated teacher only lasts 5 or 6 years before burning out.
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