Teacher's Resignation Has Gone Viral: 'It Is Not The Children Who Are Disordered'

Wendy Bradshaw loves teaching. But when the new mum realised that in five years she'd be sending her baby daughter into the same public school system where she works, the thought filled her with dread. So she resigned, and explained why in a letter that's going viral with parents and teachers across the country.

Bradshaw has held many positions in her twelve years as an educator, from working in the classroom with special education students to mentoring teachers while working on her doctorate. Becoming a mum last June, however, allowed the Lakeland, Florida teacher to see a different side of the school system — that of a parent.

A statement prepared by Polk County Public Schools reads, in part, "We understand her frustration over trying to delicately balance mandates, other instructional priorities and most importantly, the needs of each child. Teachers strive for an effective balance every day to positively impact their students...We appreciate the six years she gave to our school district, and we wish her success in her future endeavors."

"It's a useless endeavor until they're ready," Bradshaw said in an interview about the standards used in her former school district. "We may teach them some things, but we also teach them to hate reading and to hate school because it becomes a chore and it doesn't become about how much you love hearing about Junie B. Jones' adventures — it's about how fast you can read 'The fat cat sat on a mat.' There's no joy in it."

While she's now working as an adjunct professor and looking into writing homeschool curricula, Bradshaw says she's actively working to fix the issues she sees with public education by learning about the political system and lobbying for change.

Below is the resignation letter:

Source.