One small issue

I am having one small issue with teaching so far. That issue is just something that I have noticed around my school. That issue is complaining. Wow, is there a lot of complaining that goes on at the school.

Maybe this is coming from the point of view of a novice teacher (although I see an equal amount of complaining about school related subjects in my teacher education classes) but I don't understand why there is always so much complaining that goes on at the schools. Granted there are issues with class sizes, student abilities, students receiving special services, and a whole gamut of other issues, but I am not sure how the excessive complaining is going to help the issue. Of course we all need to vent from time to time to keep ourselves healthy and to process issues, but the complaining I see crosses the venting barrier.

There seems to be a lack of teachers saying, "Man, I am really having an issue with X (whether that be student ability discrepancy, class sizes, etc.). I am having my issues with X due to S, T, U, and V. So now, what am I going to do as a teacher to better the situation and group of students that I have been given?" Most of the teacher interactions I have stop short of the last question, "What can I do to better the situation and group of students that I have been given?" Is that not the reason that they all became teachers? To better their students and to make sure that students see their own internal value within themselves based on the positive environment that it provided for them?

While it is true that we all need time in our days and lives to vent our issues to friends and colleagues, we also need to take time in our days and lives to analyze what we can do as educators to better the situations we have been given and make the most out of our opportunities to teach. That means looking past the low test scores, looking past the high test scores, the standards that we are all required by state and federal law to meet, standardized tests and all of the other issues that seem to bog down the minds of teachers, young and old, and see the child standing before us and really decide, "What is the next best step for this child's education and how can I meet those needs?"