Diary Of An Iranian Teacher

How are you my friend? I'm sorry you weren't able to open the poem, I'll try to send it to you again. It's been snowing a lot here these past few days. We expect ten more inches of snow tonight! I hate this weather! It's a hassle driving in it. Our schools here, tend to close down when the weather gets too bad for the children to attend classes. The children are happy when they hear that their school is closing It sounds like you get a lot of vacation time yearly. You're lucky. Americans work too much. Regarding the educational system in my country..... Teachers are usually highly paid, and have excellent benefits as well. There are two different educational systems offered in my country to children. The first one is public school. Public school is free to all students. Secondly, there are religious schools. There are Muslim schools, Christian schools, and Jewish schools. These schools are not free to attend. There is a tuition that the parents must pay for their child to be educated there. Many parents want their children to be taught in a religious school setting. These schools tend to be better than the public schools, and have a higher rate of student achievement. One of the reasons for this, is that they tend to be more strict with the students, and demand a higher standard for the students to perform at. They are more academically focused than the others. My niece went to a Christian school and received an excellent education. The problem with some of the public schools, is that the children don't have much discipline in the classroom. They are allowed to wear anything they choose to wear to school. Boys and girls attend classes together, and there is distraction because of it. The religious schools are usually same sex schools. Regarding teacher and student relationships... They tend to be very good. We have a lot of excellent caring teachers within the educational system. For the most part, the students respect them, but there are schools in poorer areas where that is not the case. We have a problem in this country with single mothers. It never use to be like that, but now it's very common. Often children only have one parent at home, which is usually the mother. When she works there is no one to take care of them and make sure that they behave themselves, so many grow up having no discipline or manners or respect for authority. So when these children attend classes, they bring this attitude into the class with them. Again, this is not a large population that I'm talking about, but it exists. When I was young attending school, teachers had permission to discipline their students, and they often did! I have to admit however, we respected and behaved our teachers! As for relationships in general.... American women have changed a lot over the years. The women now are much more forward to the man. They will not hesitate to ask a man out on a date if they like him. Sexual morals are different as well. Women now are much more aggressive in that area than they used to be. It's common to meet a woman out at a club or some place, and end up sleeping together the same night. Women are as sex crazed as men are now! There was a statistic that I read that said that most teenagers by the age of 16 have already had sex one or more times. This applies to both girls and boys. Many couples choose to live together without getting married. It's pretty common practice. Again this isn't the entire population, but it exists. Well, I hope I answered all your questions. Feel free to ask me anything. I'm your friend. Take care.

Your friend

David