Teachers Stand With Aretha On This One
Much is being written these days that makes my heart hurt. Our country is suffering a severe teacher shortage with no end in sight. I say “no end” because the number of students in university education programs has also dropped. It seems no one wants to be a teacher.
In my reading I have learned that the teachers are leaving for different reasons. Some are leaving because they are constrained about what they can teach. For example, Florida has lost many teachers since it initiated laws that say teachers can’t teach certain aspects of United States history.
In other areas, teachers are leaving because they don’t feel safe in their schools. School shootings aren’t going away and the more the emphasis is on school safety with shooter drills and lockdown white boards, the more stress the teachers feel. Some teachers believe they need to look for a job with a lot less danger.
A third reason is the most important. It’s the lack of respect teachers feel from their administrations, their parents, and often, from their students. These teachers don’t talk about how much they make – or don’t make – but how much they don’t feel valued as professionals. The most important job next to doctors for our children and we can’t find it in ourselves to give them their due as careerists with college degrees, Master’s degrees, and certificates beyond.
How on earth did we get here?
Some people writing have suggested it started a little more than a decade ago and that it might be related to a time when people started to rail against politics and the government. Around the time of the 2009 recession when many people lost jobs, homes, and lifestyles, they started to equate “authority” with negative adjectives. Somehow, that thinking has translated to teachers and school systems. How many school board meetings have made it into the news lately with parents screaming at teachers and principals? Much of that is about topics being taught and books being banned. The question for all of that is “how does someone who hasn’t been educated and trained to be a teacher think she or he can do that job in an effective manner?”
The people who talk about summers off and short workdays have no idea how many teachers work all summer to supplement their incomes. As for short workdays, teachers create lesson plans, grade papers, and fill out enormous amounts of paperwork outside of class time. These people who complain about teachers wouldn’t think about disrespecting their doctors because they value their education and their experience. How is it that the people who are so very important for our children’s academic and social growth don’t command the same? How is it that the people we “trust” with our children for most of every weekday aren’t afforded the same care and support they expect teachers to give to their students? Doesn’t make much sense, does it?
What do you think?
