Think of the Children

This will be a departure from my typical subject matter, though it still pertains to kids. It is a topic that every parent has to think and make decisions about, decisions that affect our children. Its education. This has become especially prevalent in my mind with the school year beginning and with the Chicago teacher's strike becoming such a news topic.

First a little background. Like most of you, I went to public schools and had some great and some mediocre school teachers. The best school teacher I had happened to be my mom. She was an incredibly gifted elementary school teacher who in her long career taught every grade from Kindergarten to Eighth. She was a Reading Specialist, with a Master's degree and in that capacity was able to help a lot of kids that under normal circumstances would have been left by the wayside. My father was a college professor, equally gifted. I'm jealous of his students. I never had a professor that was able to draw in young adults the way he could. I have siblings that teach. Jared's wife is a 5th grade teacher and just completed her master's degree (congratulations, Jill!). I have always been surrounded by teachers.

So, like you, I was taught. The difference is that when school was over I went home to a house full of teachers. I was able to observe the conversations, frustrations and the satisfaction that comes with their career. I was also privy to their motivation. Over the years I discovered why all these lovely people in my life decided to become teachers. More than any other reason people become teachers, particularly elementary school teachers, is that they truly love children and they sincerely want to make a difference in their lives.

Teachers are misrepresented. They are often characterized as individuals that took the job as an easy way to have benefits, and summers off. All you need is a teaching certificate, right? School only lasts 6 or so hours, so the time commitment must be low. If I were ever made King of the Universe I would end these misconceptions. Nothing about being a teacher is easy. Yes, you need to be certified, but that doesn't guarantee you a job. Most spend years substitute teaching before they can find an actual full time teaching position. Once you have a teaching job you have to continue your education or risk loosing said certification. Teachers are at school well before any kids, stay way later and even after they get home are often grading papers or writing report cards.

Then there is pay. I have a hard time writing this without getting angry. Let me just say that I find it ironic that for several years my school lunches were paid for, because my parent's income was so low they couldn't afford to feed me lunch. The money that paid for my "free lunch" came from the same place that paid my mother's substandard salary. As for benefits like medical insurance... I hope Jared will one day write a post touching on this. Let me just say, it's not enough.

Teachers suffer the substandard pay, the grueling hours, and perhaps worst of all, misrepresentation all because of the reward - being able to affect the most important resource we have in a positive way.

In following the teacher's strike in Chicago, I am often angered by some of the attitudes of the parents. Granted, working parents of 320,000 kids have been inconvenienced. Finding a safe place for kids to be during the day is a challenge when you're working and day-cares, churches, etc are already overcrowded. Often, these parents get angry with the teachers, feeling that they're being greedy or something. And ultimately, when interviewed they always say, "they need to think of the children." Really? What they're really saying is "think of me," because they no longer have a FREE service that picks up their kids from their doorstep, drives them to a safe place watched over by certified, educated people, who develop their children's minds and bodies, often making up for parent's short comings, all day long and return them back home - all at no cost.

"...think of the children."

Are you serious? Who else do you think they're thinking of? Themselves? That certainly isn't the case or they wouldn't have become teachers in the first place! When teachers strike its in behalf of YOUR KIDS. Teachers become teachers knowing full well that the pay is going to be garbage and conditions not always ideal. To them that is a given. So you know when they start complaining, its not out of avarice, its because something is affecting their reward - their ability to be a positive force in your child's educational development.

-Brother Brett