One Teacher's Thoughts

     There are many issues that impact public education today, and depending on which politician, teacher or news channel you listened to this morning, there are countless contradicting causes, effects and solutions. I believe budget cuts, achievement gaps and lack of parental support to be among the most pressing concerns. However, the most disturbing issue for me is the lack of legislative support for teachers. It seems that every time I turn on the television or read a newspaper, there is yet another politician degrading the teaching profession. These policy-makers never step into a classroom except to take advantage of an election year photo-op. Nor, do these educated individuals ever hesitate to share a heart-warming story about dear old Mrs. Second-grade Teacher, who made such a difference in his/her life. Yet, these same educated policy-makers seem to have no concept of the compassion and dedication for her profession and students that enabled Mrs. Second-grade Teacher to motivate her students. One cannot help but wonder if these future politicians were absent the days that their dear old teacher taught the Golden Rule.

      I do not know the cause of such narrow-minded thinking from educated individuals. I can only suggest that this current trend of blaming teachers for everything from the national debt to immoral children is due to the fact that so many of the teachers in America are so involved and so focused on their students that they do not have the time or energy left at the end of the day to defend themselves. Maybe we are too stunned by the over-simplified descriptions of our roles and duties to respond. Or, perhaps, it is the disbelief that our collective gifts and talents are so misunderstood and unappreciated that keeps us quiet. Whatever the cause, it is our children who suffer.

     The education system in the United States is often compared to the educational systems found in other countries and seems to comes up lacking. When I see the test scores and other data used by politicians to prove this deficiency, I also look for some mention of the professional status of teachers. Most of these other countries have a reverence for educators that is unheard of here in America. Parents, students and politicians see teachers as crucial partners in their children’s and country’s future. I fear that our policy-makers do not see our children as teachers see them – as fragile, precious and priceless individuals. These children are seen, instead, as a commodity – a something for politicians to use at their discretion to trade and bargain for a more important agenda.

       How do we solve this problem? I offer this solution with both a sense of hope and cynicism. I hope that someone will see the truth in what I write and implement my suggestion. Yet, I feel that my solution is oversimplified and, perhaps, even naive. There is a desperate need to educate our politicians about the teaching profession and our students. I would like to see our policy-makers in the classrooms, engaged in meaningful, time-consuming, heart-lifting and heart-breaking activities – mentoring low socio-economic children, teaching remedial lessons to below-grade level students, assisting with homework in afterschool programs, re-shelving books in our media centers, and serving the only meals that some of our children receive. I challenge these politicians to refrain from cutting another penny from a school budget or offering up another self-serving sound bite about teachers and education until they have taken the opportunity to walk in a teacher’s shoes and allow themselves, instead, to be educated by our nation’s children.