Teaching - what does it mean to people these days? It seems that the "powers that be" see it as a nuisance profession that is bankrupting the country. It seems that we teachers are nothing but no good hoodlums, corrupting today's youth and stealing tax payers' money by the millions. They cut budgets, decrease salaries, benefits, and pensions, fire teachers, load on more and more responsibility and then expect the few that remain to pick up the slack. How does that help your children? How does beating down teachers until they even lack the morale to pull their own pants down so the government can bend them over again help to improve the education of your kids? I'll tell you folks - it doesn't.
All teachers want is to help children to succeed. We got into this profession, not for the salary, not for the summers off, but to HELP kids. Government is taking away our ability to do that. We have so much to worry about now that our focus cannot remain on the children. Teaching to a standardized test will NOT help America's educational system. Can we improve? Absolutely - I do not refute the fact that education needs some reform. But threatening teachers? Cutting our budgets by the MILLIONS? Loading 40 kids into one classroom? Teaching to a test that is supported by someone who was NEVER a teacher in a classroom does NOT help to push our rank in the world of education up any farther. It is only going to hurt us......That I can promise.
I'm completing my fifth year of teaching. I have loved every second of it until this year. My focus as long as I stay in education will be on my students and making sure that I do the best that I can with them - but I will NOT recommend anyone come into this profession until things change again. Young college students, I hold before you a banner that says, "Stay out of education!" It's a sad day when I have to pronounce that the career I chose - the career I love so very much - is becoming a joke.
It seems, also, that the general public believes everything that they hear. "Why should teachers get pensions?" Why? Because I don't even earn a wage that supports the current cost of living! It was a small perk - something that folks in the private sector get ALL THE TIME. I'm not asking for millions of dollars in bonuses. I'm not asking for a car allowance. I'm not asking for a private jet. We want to be able to survive on our pay - we want to be secure when we retire after 30 years of educating YOUR doctors, lawyers, police officers, and businessmen.
"Why should our tax dollars support your wages?" Well, folks, they don't...your property taxes no longer support your schools. The quality of your local schools, whether you have children in them or not, can dramatically increase your home's value. It can help make for safer neighborhoods, more responsible and active children, and a better future in general. Perhaps we shouldn't be so selfish, even in difficult times. Feel free to live in Gary, East Chicago, and Hammond. Tell me how keeping a child educated doesn't help you out in the long run........
The question is, when debilitating education doesn't work to solve the state's financial problems, who will they turn to next? Nurses, are you ready to take more pay cuts? Do you really want less Police on the streets? Firemen, instead of working 48 hours straight, you'll now work 96, and we won't pay you more. That's okay, isn't it? Seems ridiculous, right?
So, my fellow teachers - I leave you with a quote a wise boy once spoke to a very sweet, yet ignorant bear....... These words may not have meant anything to you when you first heard them as children, but they may help you to stay strong during these times.
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