Teacher bashing has now become a national phenomena. From the Mayor of Los Angeles to the Governor of New Jersey, coast to coast, teachers are blamed for fiscal irresponsibility and academic failure. The United States is becoming the Cambodia of the 21st Century as we blame the educated for the problems our nation has created for itself. Who would want to become a teacher today in this environment of low pay and high blame?
1. We are constantly compared to Finland the world’s number 1 education powerhouse. While they are not known for their smiles, the Fins do pay teachers well and recruit from the highest caliber that their colleges and universities have to offer. Here in the U.S. a starting teacher makes less than many non-professional positions. The brains that run our government are saying we make too much money.
Teachers are hardly responsible for our national debt.
2. Teachers don’t work hard enough. Do any of them really know how many hours we put in outside the classroom? No, and when you tell them they won’t believe you.
We can’t blame teachers as we watch China soar past us with their high speed trains while we debate the advantages of a low polluting high speed rail network. We can’t blame teachers as stressed out parents here in America send their children to school with lower levels of preparedness than Asian couples do. We can’t blame teachers because they don’t have textbooks or modern technology in their classrooms. We can’t blame teachers for having so many kids in their class that the amount of time they can spend giving each child the personal attention they need is eliminated.
The only thing we can blame teachers for electing politicians who have gamed the system against us, against the children we teach, and against the future of our country.
