Word From Wisconsin - We Don't Need No Stinkin' Teachers

One of the target groups for heavy, and probably unnecessary, funding cuts in Wisconsin is teachers. On a recent Jon Stewart episode, he showed clips of “newscasters” and others belittling teachers for their short work days – “They’re done by 3 o’clock every day”- as well as their summers off – “They get three months vacation every year.”
Other comments dealt with the incredible salaries and benefits these teachers receive by taking money from poor hard-working citizens. How did the definition of teacher suddenly morph into the definition of a CEO?

Now I’m sure most of the people who drop by this blog are very aware of the incredibly hard work that teaching is and deeply grateful for the excellent teachers who have made a difference in their own lives. For anyone who may not fall into this group, let me share with you some of my own knowledge and experiences from the battleground that is the American school system.

I have taught at the college level for a number of years, but about six years ago, I found myself teaching in an inner city high school. My subjects were English, English Literature, and Study Skills. An average day consisted of trying desperately to get my students to stay in their seats, stay off their cell phones, stay awake, stop eating in class, stop talking, find or borrow textbooks because none of them had brought them to class, provide them with paper and pencils because they hadn’t brought those either, and if there was time, actually try to teach something. In a class of seventeen students, only about four would actually be paying attention. Another four would be trying to start fights or set the leftover paper covers on the bulletin boards on fire. Almost none of my students passed the tests, mostly because they didn’t bother to complete them. They didn’t do assignments. It did make the grading easier. When I failed students, they told me I had to pass them because they had been in class. By that they meant they were there about half the time.

Now I have a Master’s Degree in Communication and a Teacher’s Certification in three areas. My Education training did not include how to break up fights. It did not include how to make students stay in their seats. It did not include methods for forcing students to bring their materials to class. There was nothing on how to take on the persona of a drill sergeant. My classes assumed that I would be teaching well-behaved, motivated students. And that any students who were disruptive and unmotivated would be dealt with by the administration, so I wouldn’t have to.

Now I know there are schools like this and I know that not all teachers have to struggle daily to motivate themselves as I did. But, schools like the one where I was employed do exist, and pretending that all teachers are working in some happy little paradise where all the children are bright, the classrooms are stocked with books and computers, the daily assignments are all available on Microsoft Edware, and teachers go home every night to spend their evenings going to yoga, a coffeehouse, or their bookclub, is merely subscribing to a fantasy world. (I know – that was a long sentence, but look at all the commas for pauses)

Most teachers I know spend from several hundred up to a thousand dollars each year purchasing supplies for their students because the school system can’t afford it. They spend their evenings grading, preparing assignments, researching to update material, and that’s Monday through Friday. So much for being done at 3:00. Weekends are catching up on what didn’t get done during the week. And many schools expect their teachers to sponsor an extracurricular activity. If it isn’t sports, it’s unlikely they’ll get any extra pay for it. Teachers are also expected to attend athletic and arts events. There goes a lot more evenings and weekends.

And then there’s that three month vacation. Teachers are required to keep up with educational trends, so part of the summer is spent taking classes which are necessary to remain certified. In most cases, the cost comes out of their own pockets. When not taking classes, many teachers have a summer job so they can afford to keep paying the bills over their “vacation”. Or maybe they take the opportunity to go into therapy.

Pensions are great if you can manage to stay in the field long enough. Burn out is all too frequent, and sometimes very literal. One teacher at my school had her hair set on fire by a student. Thank heavens for that great insurance. Although, depending on the school district, you may be penalized for taking sick days. And the insurance I had didn’t cover much.

I managed to stay in for two years and then I moved on. I don’t believe that any of my students benefited from my being there and that made me very sad. I didn’t have the training to handle the complete lack of motivation in the students, and the administration wasn’t interested in following through on their own policies for behavior. It was a lose – lose situation. Now I teach one night class in communications at a local community college. If my students aren’t interested, they don’t come to class. The ones I do have are bright, perhaps a bit unfocused at times, but willing to work. I am much happier and I feel I am successful in this environment.

Most teachers chose to teach because they love what they do and they want to make a difference in the future of our country. No one and nothing is served by denigrating the work that they do, denying them the pay and benefits they have earned, or by failing to provide the resources they need to do their job. Imagine a future where young adults are unqualified to do any but the most menial of jobs. A future where only the wealthy will have a well-rounded education. In this future, there won’t be any doctors, teachers, scientists, lawyers (well, ok, that may not be such a drawback), because the education won’t be available to most people and the ones who can afford it, won’t be interested in doing actual work. That’s wildly generalizing, but you see the point.

So to those who think teachers are over-paid, breeze through their seven-hour days, and work on their tans during their extended summer vacation, you don’t know squat. You ought to be spending some time as a teachers’ aide and maybe discover what the educational process is really all about. And then maybe teachers will be able to get combat pay.