At a time when the teaching force of America is undergoing a great transformation with the retirement of the “Baby Boomer” generation, we are seeing a war on the teaching profession led by Republican Governors across the nation! 🙁
Because of the budget crisis that exists, we are seeing the attempt at the systematic destruction of teachers unions, which worked over many years to improve the conditions of work of the nation’s teachers. We are also seeing the organized plan to take away teacher tenure and benefits, including pension plans, the only reason many people entered the teaching profession, as anyone who wants to be honest knows that the average teacher is paid a salary much lower than any other profession! 🙁
And yet, it is the teaching force which is supposed to educate the future generations of children, many of whom will become professionals, but many others who will have great trouble ever making a living in an organized, consistent manner!
Teachers are supposed to be magicians, and make up for family shortcomings and failure of the taxpayers to be willing to pay for adequate educational standards!
If teaching were an honorable profession treated with respect and dignity, then we would not have an overwhelmingly female work force, as men would also see it as a rewarding career. There is a dire need for more male influence in education, what with the reality that a large portion of America’s families fail to have a decent male role model for the children, but to commit to education these days is to wish for poverty or for a secondary, not a primary income! 🙁
If America’s teachers are to be judged by examinations of student performance, then parents must be required to do their part to promote a healthy educational environment, as one cannot expect that in six to seven hours a day for nine months, that teachers can overcome the disadvantages of bad parenting in millions of homes!
If all we are going to do is show lack of respect for teachers, pay them low wages due to taxpayer resistance, constantly test them and give them a sense of insecurity about their jobs, deny them tenure, give them a future of a pension they cannot live on when retired, and have politicians, including Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and Governor John Kasich of Ohio and Governor Rick Scott of Florida constantly berate and insult them, then we will have what we deserve–a constantly changing teaching force of only mediocre, low level teachers who will stay a few years and leave, rather than a dedicated, qualified work force of the “best and the brightest”, who will want to be in the field of education and will be willing to dedicate their lives to such a venture!
If we continue down the road that the Republican Governors are taking us in many states across the country, the brain drain will continue, and we will get what we deserve as a nation, a citizenry poorly educated, ignorant, and unable to compete in the 21st century world! 🙁