Retired teacher writes a letter about school problems and it goes viral

A retired teacher opened up about where the real problem in the education system lies.

Lisa Roberson is a retired teacher, and she reacted to the criticism of the education system -and of teachers - by writing an open letter to the editor of a newspaper. The letter caught the eye of a parent who posted it on Facebook/Tony Flowers.

The post struck a nerve and was shared over 1 million times, and had a strong, though mixed response.

"As a retired teacher, I am sick of people who know nothing about public schools or have not been in a class-room recently deciding how to fix our education system."

Lisa Roberson

THE TEACHERS ARE NOT THE PROBLEM

Robertson attributes the problem in school to parent's failure to educate their offspring, and teach them basic manners.

She points out that the children come to school in expensive sneakers, but have no school supplies; sometimes not even a pencil.

PARENTS ARE THE PROBLEM

According to Robertson, parents do not come to parent nights, they do not talk to their children's teachers regularly, or make sure the children do their homework.

GETTING PARENTS TO DO "THEIR JOB"

For Roberson, teachers cannot do their jobs until the parents do theirs - and it is impossible for the harried overworked teaching staff to do both:

"Teachers cannot do their jobs and the parents’ job. Until parents step up and do their job, nothing is going to get better!"

SOME ANGER, SOME APPROVAL

Robertson's letter certainly struck a nerve, but the responses varied between rabid outrage to effusive approval.

While some parents - presumably the 'good' ones - wholeheartedly agreed with the retired teacher's letter; others were angered and offended by her opinion.

The fact that it solicited such strong response indicates that Lisa Robertson told some unpalatable home-truths. Hopefully, some parents may actually listen and make some changes.

TEACHER BANS CELL PHONES FROM HIS CLASS

Cellphones are everywhere, and everyone seems to have one.

Michael Lee, a teacher from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington, has done the unthinkable and banned cellphones from his classroom.

"I just needed to do something different. My overall goal was to give kids an opportunity to engage in what they're doing."

The teacher, who runs a class in digital photography has seen a decided rise in his student's grades as a result of his actions.

Lee had purchased a cubby locker from Amazon and demanded that his students lock up their phones during the class. Each student has their own locker number, students can leave their phone to charge while locked in the cubby.

Lee hasn't had complaints or demands for access to their cell phones from any of his students:

"They'll just walk in, lock it up. They get to work, and that's exactly the intention of it."

Teachers in other schools are starting to follow his lead, and the trend is to create a cell phone free classroom in which students' main focus is on their work.