The more things change, the more they stay the same. At least so the adage goes. And it seems to apply here.
A couple of decades ago, I read an op-ed piece in our local Branson paper, written by a local English teacher. It was not only witty, but thought-provoking, and it’s worth re-visiting.
The teacher was cleverly bemoaning the fact that he was a ‘professional educator’ rather than an ‘educational technician’, since technicians seem to make much better salaries. He noted that “you can’t afford a good automotive technician on a teacher’s salary. Hell, you can’t afford a bad automotive technician on a teacher’s salary.”
He goes on: “Sometimes I dream about it at night. I find myself standing before a parent, frowning, filling out an Educational Repair Estimate on their child with my rates posted boldly on the wall behind me. But then I awaken and darn – I’m a professional educator again.”
It’s still fun to imagine about how things would be different if the educational system were somehow funded like the automotive repair business. What if teachers had the same hold over consumers that automotive repair technicians (or plumbers or fill-in-the-blank) have? It’s even funnier to think about the repair business being funded like public education, but I digress.
Let’s explore beyond the humor a little, as not much has changed in 20 years, has it? Teacher salaries and teacher respect remain topics of discussion – indeed, controversy – as much or more now as they were then. A recent (12/28) article in the Wall Street Journal notes that teachers and other related employees are quitting in record numbers. Teacher strikes in several states this past year made major headlines. And so on.
I mentioned ‘teacher respect’ above, but I’m not sure that’s exactly the wording I want. I continue to believe that most individual teachers receive a great deal of well-deserved, narrowly-focused respect from their students, colleagues, administrators, and the parents with whom they come in contact.
Ironically then, I wonder if what has been (or is being) lost is respect for the profession of teaching itself. Jacques Barzun, a French-American historian once said, “Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition,” and I believe he may have been right. We sure don’t view our teachers as Aristotles or Platos, do we?
Why is this, I wonder? None of us believes (do we?) that fixing a car is anywhere near as important in the long run as educating a child. Yet, we continue to appear to send the message that we’re willing to pay through the nose for auto repairs, but only through a tight fist to help educate our children, the future citizens of our society.
It’s not just money, by the way. Why, for instance, do we so often applaud/salute our youngsters who choose to enter professions of medicine or law, for example, while just as often subtly feeling, or even expressing, disappointment for those who choose to ‘just’ teach? This is even more ironic when we remember that doctors and lawyers (and others) would not even have their skills if it weren’t for the teaching profession!
It’s a labyrinth of complex questions. But we must continue to explore. How can we, as a society and as individuals, turn the momentum around, both nationally and locally? It is so crucial that we do so. Our teachers need our help. For themselves, yes, but also, of course, for the students in their classes – whoops, I mean for the clients that need servicing in their educational units.
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