I've set up this blog because I believe teachers need a place to discuss and vent. I'm not here to share lesson plans (although if you've got a great idea about how to unsnooze the Revolutions of 1848, I'm all ears). I'm here because, like Hunting Season, the Teacher Bashing Season is upon us, with a vengence. While I'm aware that Teacher Bashing is a perennial sport, during these difficult economic times it's become particularly ugly.
A little about myself-I am a 26 year veteran History teacher at a Regional High School. My colleagues are very bright, informed, and dedicated. But we're also frustrated. WE, apparently, are the cause of the "failure" of Public Education. I dispute that accusation adamently. We are also, according to some of the stuff I read on the Web, responsible for the current economic crisis, WWI, WWII AND Global Warming. (My references will be mostly Historical, since Math scares me.) We are VERY easy targets, and the accusations come from those who truly believe we are raiding the public coffers, have "cushy" jobs, and are protected from dismissal because of our scary unions and "tenure." Again, I dispute those accusations, particularly when they come from adults whose only expertise on Public Education is their memories of being Sophomores in High School and shooting spitballs from the back of the classroom.
OUR voices need to be heard, because we in the trenches are the REAL experts. We've all seen the movies-an idealistic teacher takes on a class of disrespectful, underprivileged kids and uses his or her smarts and savvy to turn them all into Harvard material. The general public eats this stuff up, because it's SO inspirational. But when I watch these movies my question has always been "So...what about the OTHER four classes he or she has to teach? And why is this teacher's life CONSUMED by other people's children at the expense of his or her own family? And they always get sick at some point during the movie, which really pisses me off.
WE know the real deal. I watched a snippet of the Town Hall Meeting with teachers (I'm not sure what network hosted it) and saw a young perky teacher go up to the mic and say "I don't need tenure! I'll just do a good job and they'll re-hire me!" She should have had cute little birds sitting lovingly on her shoulders chirping-and all I could think was "Sweetie, you're in for a RUDE awakening."
So I want to start a dialouge about the REAL issues we confront as educators. We know the issues, and what happens in our classrooms day in and day out. They are much more complex than either the media or the politicians can grasp. OUR voices need to be heard-so please join me in this discussion.
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