Thankful for teachers
May 7-11 was National Teacher Appreciation Week and May 8 was National Teacher Day. While this day and week are set aside to recognizing and thanking those who work on education’s front line, this year it also serves to highlight the serious challenges teachers and the teaching profession face.
There exists a shortage of teachers. And the forecast is for a continuing shortage.
Because K-12 teaching has been literally taken out of the hands of educators and the profession made the whipping post for its failures and deficiencies, the effect has been to cause potential teachers to seek employment elsewhere.
For those that do take the step, the majority have moved out by their 5th year due to the overwhelming paperwork, non-teaching duties workload, rules that keep them from truly teaching, long hours, inadequate pay, shortage of resources and being the scapegoat. And now, to this list, add armed bodyguard, rather than increasing the number of actual resource officers whose primary purpose is school protection.
Because of years and decades of their concerns being ignored, teachers across the country are beginning to take matters into their own hands. All teachers want to do is simply teach and help their students learn and successfully move on to the next phase of their lives, be given the resources necessary to make that happen, and be paid a wage comparable to the professionals that they are. They also realize firsthand that too many of their students come not prepared to learn in that they may be hungry, without adequate clothing, or dealing with outside issues. Teachers try to mitigate some of the problems by coming out of their own pocket on an average of over $600 a year for personal items and or classroom resources.
While this generosity will continue as long as there are teachers, this special day and week are a stark reminder to take a moment, just a moment, to stop and thank those that are currently in the classrooms and schools buildings across our state. You’d be surprised how far a simple thanks would go in letting teachers know they are appreciated on some level. Leave a voice message for them. Send a short note via your child. If you happen to be at school and see your child’s teacher, take a quick moment to thank them.
It will be very much appreciated.