Results are in, and according to the state Education Department’s 2016 Tennessee Education Survey, most Tennessee school teachers are satisfied with their jobs. Central High School teachers also voiced both similar and conflicting views compared to the results of the state survey.

An anonymous teacher said that she loves her job and does feel appreciated among the students, the principle, but not from the government.

“I believe that there still some improvement for that.” she commented based on the topic of school discipline and whether it might be focused on who the student is rather than what he or she did. She also mentioned that there is a lot of pressure over the principal and it’s understandable.

The question of whether teachers always love their job brought good points into view.

“No, of course not.” stated Ryan Mallory, a creative writing and ninth-grade English teacher at Central, when asked if he loves his job or not.

“Sometimes I have bad days and sometimes I have good days,” he recalled.

When asked if he always felt appreciated, he then replied,

“No, they are kids, they are not always going to appreciate you. If you are looking for student appreciation, you will not last long as a teacher.”

“I like working with kids and students, to make improvements in like… writing.”

In the survey, most teachers said that they work in an atmosphere of trust and mutual respect. At Central High, something similar was said.

“Yes, absolutely. With that trust there’s responsibility, they trust me to do what I have to do.” Mr. Mallory asserted.

Finally, a more urgent question was asked that seemed controversial among teachers: does the school effectively handle student discipline and behavioral problems?

“A lot of times it seems like we punish behavior , but it doesn’t seem like it’s working because the behavior is repeated after the punishment is over. We need to find a different approach, we need to correct behavior without being too harsh.” concluded Mallory.