I have a tremendous amount of respect for Teachers of all levels and of all specialties. In fact, my mother was a 27-year veteran of Chicago Public Schools. I myself have taught grades 3-12 as a substitute teacher. I’ve also taught on the college and university levels. So, I think that I have a good basis for the privilege of speaking on this topic. When I look at the plight of the teachers of this country it has led me to know wholeheartedly that the US Government and State Governments do not care about education.
Every year, it seems as if teachers are getting paid less and less and the workload on teachers seems to be forever increasing. The workload has increased so much on teachers that it has led teachers to quit and seriously discourage other inspiring teachers from getting into the profession. Let’s run down a quick list of some of the multitude of issues that teachers face on a day-to-day basis. First of all, there is an undeniable teacher’s shortage which leads to overpopulated classrooms thus providing a social barrier to your child’s education. Then there is also the issue of children that come to school hungry either because their families simply can’t afford food because of its rising cost or because their mother has sold off their food stamps benefits for cash.
In addition, the outright violence that teachers have to put up with from students that often leave teachers either afraid to actually teach or having to take on a self-defense position out of fear of their own safety. I can attest to this fact because I’ve had to almost put one of these kids down like a dog in a classroom. You may look at that statement and say, “that's harsh”. However, let me tell you this “kid” was nearly 6 feet tall, 200 pounds and part of a street gang. Worthy of mention: There was an incident of a North Carolina teacher that was put into a coma because of a student's violent assault on her.
If that's not enough, there is the issue of schools located in socio-economically disadvantaged neighborhoods that are disproportionately underfunded because of the lower tax based in the area in which the school is located. Another issue is the mass shootings on school grounds. Another barrier for teachers are the many crappy parents that show up to the school and give them hell because the teacher notified them of their child bad grades and or piss poor behavior. And let's not talk about the issues students with disabilities face in the educational system. There are just so many issues that teachers have to face outside of simply being a teacher and a pseudo-psychologist. The big question is: what is Texas and the rest of the country going to do about it?
And from the looks of it absolutely nothing. Why? Because from their deeds you shall know them. See Texas and the rest of governments from around this country will fund trillions of dollars in other programs, businesses and countries like Ukraine before they pump the petty dollars they do into their/our schools (unless someone famous is associated with it). Here in Texas, the TEA (Teacher Education Agency) is stated to take over the City of Houston's ISD (Independent School District) school board members because the schools in Houston were constantly producing low test scores. But the low-test scores that were produced were not because the board failed to provide oversight; and it's not because teachers failed to educate these kids.
The true issues other than the ones mentioned above boils down to a bifurcated one. The first being that the social and economic resources that are needed are/will not be equally distributed to the schools in the state of Texas or schools across this nation. There will be some people that say: “life’s not fair - so the funding of education will not be fair.” Also, there’s the argument of the property taxes that supports the schools will not be even across the board. I understand that. However, we have the power to change that - especially on the federal level.
I can say this because again; this country gives billions if not trillions away to foreign countries that if used for education in this country would literally transform our educational system two-fold or more overnight. The second issue is that under the current way we administer education; we simply cannot educate these kids to an acceptable standard on an international competitive level. For the people that say that children should be forced to compete, I would say look at the following chart provided by the Pew Research Center.
This should be food for thought.
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