Imagine if We Treated Teachers With the Respect They Deserved

What will it mean for your children when all the qualified educators have left the profession?

Hello All!

It has been a busy few days. My wife’s uncle made a surprise visit and it was wonderful to have him. Years ago I made my wife move far away from the land of her birth. She’s thrived here, but it was delightful to see how happy she was with her uncle over for a visit.

As I pulled into the airport to pick him up, my car made a sound that I’d never heard it make before. It sounded sort of like a spring from a Loony Tunes cartoon.

“Boing!”

So I thought, “Dang it, why does my car always break down when I’m a hundred miles from home?”

I did what I always do in situations like that. I tried not to think about it. Fortunately, I was able to pick up my wife’s uncle and we made it back home. My mechanic friend looked at it on Monday, and I’ve got a “fix it” appointment on Thursday. Apparently a bad bearing in the driver’s side front wheel is confusing the anti-lock breaks.

So, that’s in play. Car problems tend to linger in the back of your mind because mobility is so badly conceived in the great United States of America.

On Saturday, I went to this “community event” thing to discuss the direction of the school district. I left with a headache and I’ve been thinking about the experience ever since.

My biggest takeaway is that even though we were purportedly there to discuss how we want out school system to evolve, it didn’t seem like the teachers that were present felt they were free to speak openly.

For example, there was talk about how the district is going to “run out of money” in a few years. That’s another constant in the United States. There is always a blank check for the police force and the military, but schools are always “running out of money.”

But, educators carry on through all the uncertainty. They have faith that the money will come from somewhere in the end.

At talk of the lack of funds, I brought up the voucher programs that steal funds from public schools and divert them to private Catholic schools that serve rich kids. At the mention of the word “voucher” I got poker faces from all the teachers present. This was clearly a, “Thou shall not comment on this issue,” type of moment.

I brought it up because I think the general population is largely unaware that this is going on. Yes, programs exist to blatantly steal taxpayer money that is supposed to benefit OUR kids and sends it to RICH JERKS in other parts of the state. Why shouldn’t we talk about that? Why shouldn’t we create some pressure to get that program changed?

Heck, the last Republican candidate to run for governor in Wisconsin made it part of his platform to EXPAND those programs. So, they’re talking about it. People need to know what it means. Educators need to educate!

But this was the reoccurring theme of the meeting, anything that sounded “political” was something the teachers present didn’t feel comfortable to opine on.

The problem is, everything in the whole word is political. These days, FACTS are political.

So, during the meeting, I made it my focus to just try and say that teachers deserve more respect. Even this was pretty close to the line for what the people present were comfortable with.

“In the past, teachers and parents used to understand that they were working together for the benefit of the children of the community. Now it seems as if there is conflict between those groups. We have to remove that conflict.”

In my mind, there’s nothing controversial about that statement. It’s a sobering comment on the divisive reality of discourse in the US to think people would have a problem if you say “teachers and parents need to work together.”

I think it would be good for the community to hear that they’re being extremely foolish. Schools are already having a hard time hiring qualified candidates. The reason is that you don’t get paid enough to be a teacher, then you get the job and the whole community treats you with disrespect.

At some point, local communities have to understand that they’re lucky to have the qualified and caring teachers that they do. The pandemic added another level of stress to a profession that’s constantly under assault. These days, teachers also have to endure threats of violence and absurd accusations of “indoctrination” (sometimes for simply telling the truth about US history).

My assessment of the situation is that teachers are right at the breaking point. Maybe there are people who would celebrate at that thought, but if that’s the case, they’re sorely mistaken.

Teachers are highly educated people who take less than they can make in other fields because they care about your kids. They care! Teachers are the people who will use their own bodies to shield their students from danger in the event of an attack.

This happens way too often.

Parents expect teachers to sacrifice themselves to save the lives of their children, but they can’t even be courteous when speaking about education in general terms?

We should be saying, “Thank you for your service,” to teachers, not criticizing their every move.

The level of disrespect teachers get is deplorable.

The weirdest part is that the teachers in your community represent the best chance your children have of getting out of poverty. You need qualified teachers to instruct your kids, otherwise your kids are going to be stuck having minimum wage jobs.

That’s just the reality

And if the qualified teachers get sick of being mistreated and leave, the school district is going to have to hire unqualified teachers who don’t give your kids accurate information.

I mean, THIS is the way our “community discussion” should have gone. At some point, people have to recognize that anyone who is still in education what with all the challenges of the last few years is an absolute saint. The current group of educators at work today is the best of the best.

But do we stop and thank them? Nope. There is a significant percentage of the population that is just looking for a way to get that knockout punch.

And the teachers don’t feel as if they’re free to talk about it.

Our society needs a massive philosophy shift, and it’s not going to happen if people remain quiet. Over the last few days I’ve been torn as to whether I should speak out more. On the one hand, there are things that need to be said. On the other hand, I don’t want to contribute to a situation that’s even more hostile.

But I’m coming to the conclusion that the situation is about as hostile as it can get. If your message is, “We need to have respect,” it’s kind of hard to envision how there could be blow back. It’s also important to recognize that there are consequences, too, for doing nothing.

So, my message for today is to be an ally of teachers. In random conversations, say things like, “The teachers in our community do a great job! We should be thankful to have them. They’re saints. They do everything for our kids!”

If people aren’t talking like this, you might find that your community will lose all its teachers. I mean, be smart! What’s going to happen to your kids if they don’t have access to an education? What’s your community going to be like if all the young people are educated by unqualified people?

It’s irritating that this even needs to be said, but here we are.