Teaching Should Be Far More Venerated
Right now, it’s one of the worst jobs out there
Very Unpopular Strong Opinions Blog by Christyl Rivers
Pandemic Panic
We politized the pandemic, and in addition of health care workers, and other service essential personnel, we have put teachers on the front lines of a culture war.
Race to learning
In this challenging age of Critical Race Theory, CRT, it is not the first time that teachers have come under fire. Teaching science, and keeping a healthy separation of church and state has always been an issue in education. And given the troubled history of race, gender, and class division, social justice will always be an ongoing challenge for educators.
If you only wish to be comfortable, you cannot learn very much.
We learn by being challenged, and/or excited, not by being lulled to sleep.
Teachers usually take on side jobs, educational classes, workshops, or long-term assignments during the so-called “vacation” months. That is, summer vacation can be a break, of sorts, but it is the rare teacher who actually takes the time off for leisure.
Maybe we should have more leisure breaks. The research is showing that all work and no play is not a good thing, and we want teachers who are refreshed, healthy, and ready to cope with every brand-new year and its fresh crop of new faces, especially the parents.
Income and the cost of living
Teachers teach to earn a living. Although, yes, there is tremendous love of education and for the love of their students, too, teaching is a job. We teachers (and former teachers) are people who need to make a living.
The age of global pandemics, with more to come, ensures that the world is waking up to the fact that teachers fulfill a role as a place for the kids to be while parents earn an income as well.
Like healthcare workers, and food providers, we need to encourage teachers to thrive, and excel. Don’t give them a hard time because people are stressed.
Not just pandemics, we must get used to disasters and upheaval
In addition to more plagues, usually zoonotic in origin, we have to use public education to teach climate adaptation, extinction awareness, conservation, social justice, and every other upheaval in store.
That people are having fewer kids is not surprising. There will always be an ongoing debate as to whether parents should be having kids if they cannot afford full time daycare, and whether there should be subsidized affordability for day care, or even whether stay at home parents (both genders) are as entitled to compensation as wage earners.
So far in history, the stay at home worker has not been as valued, let alone compensated.
Maybe total upheaval can affect our sense of essential work.
There are so many factors as to why education is crucial as an ongoing part of all of this. Innovation, collaboration, and educational opportunity are more important than ever.
Collaboration and education sent the JWST, Jay Dub- space telescope, a million miles out in the orbit around the sun. What we learn about science, engineering, and social harmony in how we share resources through technology is crucial.
Advances in technology ensure even more online, and even AI, learning ahead, but never forget there are human beings coordinating all this.
But teachers offer even more
Knowing the challenges of the 21st century, climate heating, extinction, pandemics, economic disparity, food shortages, and much more will become more and more important as we muddle through it all.
When people reach a certain age, they are usually finally able to remember a special teacher who gave them the boost they needed to apply themselves, gain self-esteem, learn their passions, and take on the world.
Many people especially remember kindness above all else, and that is something teachers must work extra hard at in these challenging times.
Therefore teach people to respect teachers. Respect science and knowledge. Thank a teacher. Defend a teacher. Be a teacher.