End of Semester 1

I am now over half way through my third year as a high school science teacher. There are always pros and cons in any job, and I am still finding many more positives where I am at. This year, I feel, like I am doing the best work and actually teaching well. I know what makes a successful lesson and what doesn't but I am still fine tuning the balancing act of grading, planning, meeting, volunteering, communicating with parents, and of course, classroom instruction.
I feel very fortunate that I am in a school with so many young teachers, but also, young teachers that are inspired in their work. I also love working with co-workers that have the same teaching philosophy as I do.
I feel some times as if I am an alternative ed teacher. I have homeless students, students with parole officers, students who have been abused, students with minor and severe disabilities, as well as students who have substance abuse problems. I really do enjoy my job and ffeel that I am teaching students to be better citizens more than I am teaching them science (at least my sophomores). The first half of this year I had 95 sophomores. My students earned 2 "A's" and 33 "F's." That is over 1/3 of all my sophomores. This means that I am pretty much guaranteed to teach another section next year for juniors or seniors who did not pass the first time through. I am currently teaching two sections of "retakes" with 9 and 20 students respectively. Next year, I know those numbers will go up.
The biggest issue with my students is not that they aren't smart, they can understand what I say. They may not be bale to turn on their critical thinking skills when I expect it, but the biggest issue is work ethic. Homework doesn't give them enough satisfaction. In class, they know if they tell a joke they will get a quick and positive response of a classmates laugh. They do not see the reason for working on a project from start to finish, or how effort translates into positive reactions from their teachers or how it has positive effects on their grades.
Part of where I think education is broken, is that when we were bringing our numbers forward of the failed students, we were asked how did we cover our bases with our parents. While I think this is important and if we had dropped the ball I would expect to be held accountable. However, when we bring up our concerns there is no answer given to us about what we can do. When I was in school (and granted I am a special case with 14 in my graduating class) there would have been a minority of students that had poor grades, or items of concern. If I spent as much time as I should communicating with parents when students do not show up, forget an assignment or underperform, or misbehave, there would be no time for any other tasks.
There is no perfect answer. One of the best solutions would be to lower class sizes. We would need to hire new teachers to offer more sections of the same classes. If not more classes, at least we need more resources for students who need an extra boost. Whether it is a classroom aide to help with skills or language, a substance abuse counselor, food, a school nurse, or any other type of support, we just don't have them in our district. With budget cuts in every school district in our state, there is not much hope in this front. The other issue is that we are being run like a business. Schools are not there for profit. If they were, a lot of things would be different, and many of my students would have been "fired."
For all of the disgust in this rant, I will say I love my job because of the great moments with students and the discussions and passion of my co-workers. If I was surrounded by a different mindset or different personnel, I could see me getting jaded quickly and giving up. I don't feel this way at all. I also work with students privileged enough that they need very little support in high school and have the ability to help other students. I look forward to the second half of this year.