Wednesday, June 10, 2020

A Few Bad Apples

I had a few really bad teachers growing up.

-I was called stupid by a teacher in fourth grade.

-I was called redneck a few times.

-I was bullied on the playground in third grade until I fought back. I had told the teacher numerous times and was told to get over it.

-I had one mathematics teacher in high school who showed up drunk daily.

-I was a voracious reader and was accused by a librarian of checking out books to make myself look smarter than the other kids.

-One of my daughters was being bullied in the classroom. The teacher kept her in from recess and let the bully play outside to keep Naynuh “safe.”

With all of that said, I am a teacher.

I do not judge my profession or the people in it by those ignorant, rude, incompetent, judgmental, racist people.  Because I had teachers who loved me, encouraged me, equipped me, taught me more than stuff on the page and gave me lessons on life, caused me to question and consider and explore, and inspired me.

A few bad teachers do not call for defunding education.  It’s asinine.

Make better guidelines. Weed out unproductive staff. Require more training and evaluations to ferret out weakness. Interview students about the teachers. Get peer reviews. I’m sorry, but you don’t just trash the profession because you don’t like the actions of a handful of people. Now apply that to any organization you deem fit to defund. Ditto. 

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