I am very happy with the teacher’

Image: Nine IJf

Mariëtte Middelbeek is a journalist and author, and a columnist for Kek Mama. She and her husband Erik have two children: son Casper and daughter Nora.

In a work-avoiding moment, I got caught up in Facebook comments under a post about a kindergarten teacher doing something wrong. A category of minor suffering, a child that, according to the parents, was not appreciated by the teacher, because Pietertje had written the letter S flawlessly and – I’m exaggerating – the teacher in question had not urgently registered for the university.

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teachers

In the reactions, it was soon no longer about Pietertje and the majority of the responders had not read the article, but hit on the headline in which the teacher was blacked. Because hello, their child was also not seen by the teacher / wrongly punished / poisoned with ordinary teaching material / ruined forever with an episode of Moffel and Piertje / for incomprehensible reasons not placed in the plus class / wrongly not treated with a prince or princess treatment.

“I literally cried when I suddenly read in a profile of one of my children ‘I’m so proud of how you’ve grown’ – I mean, that’s love, isn’t it?”

The longer I read, the angrier I got; 419 comments and not one positive. Not one parent said: I am actually very happy with the teacher, I have endless respect for controlling thirty children, for the endless patience you have to have as a teacher, for being ready every day to help my child. to help them grow, for the many hugs, plasters (literally or figuratively) and compliments that are handed out daily, for filling in thirty student profiles with a kind word for each child (I literally cried when I read from one of my children ‘I’m so proud of how you’ve grown’ – I mean, isn’t that love?), for speaking to demanding parents, for dealing with various challenges within or outside the autistic spectrum – in short, for everything that is expected of teachers.

Undoubtedly, there will be a few snags here and there – in which job not? But I plead for 419 compliments for the teachers of the Netherlands, and just a little tribute for what they do every day.

This article appears in Kek Mama 09-2022.

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