This is me ranting again:
"Why oh why are teachers being hated on!!!? Do people not understand what we go through with their little ones in today’s society? Propaganda is strong. The media reports that Americans across the country are displeased with our failing education system. Guess who the blame comes down on? You got it, the teachers. People have been conditioned to think that teachers are lazy, selfish, and don’t really work. Who dares to think that our government has anything to do with education reform!!??!!"
Ok, so, I was a little angry, but let me tell you why. I came across a conversation on the internet which posed the question: How many teachers attend the NJ Teacher convention? I thought that perhaps I would read something nice about teachers and their commitment to change young lives for the better. This was not the case. I won’t share the site but I will share some of the comments. I give no viable credit to ignorance:
- “I have always wondered what percentage of teachers attend this conference. I don't think I have ever heard of a teacher that has gone and I am surprised Governor Christy has not tried to put an end to this four day vacation. With a long summer off can't this convention be held in the summer? The teachers who really want to attend would make it a point to go if it was held during the school year or in the summer. Somethings just don't make any sense, and frankly this convention just kind of makes me wonder what the priorities are. I hate seeing money wasted, and more importantly this appears to be a waste of time and another short vacation.”
- “Not many. I wonder if the convention now is also just an economic boost to AC. That may be why the Governor does not rail against it.”
- “I agree. It is a waste of money. All of the teachers I know view it as a paid holiday and do not attend the conference.”
- “Enough attend to generate income for AC during a down period I bet.”
- “We did college tours 2 years ago and all of the presenters would start by asking how many people were NOT from NJ. Of course, we all were from NJ!”
- “We used to live in FL, and at Disney it is called NJ week because so many teachers families vacation that week. It is a great time of week to be in FL, low humidity, less crowds that a traditional break week. I also do not know of any teachers that go to the convention, but my sample size is probably not statistically valid!”
- “You beat me to it. This is indeed known as Jersey Week at Disney. Not only the teachers vacation this week, but the students do as well. In election years they get an extra day off, which really makes a vacation.”
Wow, really? I’m a teacher from NJ who really enjoys going to the convention. I’m sure that other attending teachers receive great delight from the intelligible conversations they had outside of the complaint arena of the teacher’s lounge. It is a getaway, mini vacation if you will, from your kids and our own kids! Truthfully, for me, it is the only time I get to converse with other art teachers about our craft, our challenges, and our triumphs. I love the stimulation I get from being around other creative minds. It is a different type of energy. If you are a NJ teacher who has never been to the convention, I encourage you to attend. You won’t regret it.
In fact I wrote an article about the things I learned from the 2017 teacher’s convention and thought I would share with you; just click the link to the article to read more:
My thought is that their is a great stigma on teaching because the education debacle is soon to collapse. The scapegoat is the teacher. It has been conditioned in the minds of the masses already, there is no getting around it. Teachers, my advice is to keep investing in your personal and professional development because big business is coming after your job.
My Theory is that Corporations want to keep the education system as is; conditioning young minds to be compliant and consistent to conformation. However the technological age has tampered with the future of this system. More and more young, creative minds are rejecting the concept of school-work-retirement and are creating their own futures. Corporations, who are allied with the Government and Big Business elites, can not just let this unfold because it jeopardizes their money. If the children who are in school today actually start to think for themselves, then they won’t be the compliant worker, or the indulgent consumer; instead they would be the business owner, the entrepreneur, and the soon to be inheritors of wealth.
My Prediction is, which has already began, Big Business will demonize good, hardworking teachers in order to say that their is a problem with education. The masses will agree because the system is broken and propaganda will reiterate that the American teacher is not highly qualified enough to adequately teach our children. Then there will be some systems set in place to improve current teaching practices, i.e.. evaluations, charter schools, school voucher systems etc. However our children will still fail and score low on test that are not designed to measure their growth but instead used to track their compliance. Teachers will continue to be blamed, as new developments are made in the background designed to undermine tenure, get good teachers fired and force other into early retirement. Big business will take over education secretly through the back doors of the charter school system, run schools like a businesses, with inexperienced teachers that will do their time in education politics before moving on to other ventures. And because of this, the student is forgotten, left not to learn, but to be talked at, conditioned, and molded into becoming a worker and a consumer: rising early, sitting quietly, compliant, taking notes, direction, and attempting to please authority, the very reason why most children get A’s in the American school system today.
All the while the teacher who cares, is so busy thinking of new inventive ways to stimulate the young minds in their classroom, they can’t stop long enough to lift their head to see what is going on. And most people on the outside don’t know the hoops teachers have to go through just to teach their students, I mean really teach them. This is also by design, but I think I’m finished with my rant for the time being.
Continue to follow my journey in exploring how we can make a change in our education system. Teachers have to make a stand, because the future of teaching is at stake. The futures of our children are at stake. The future of our economy is at stake. If you can not see this where you stand, do me a favor and put this in perspective: Why are Charter schools so abundant in urban, low income districts? Could it be because this is the first social class that needs to be subdued into servitude in order for the Corporation’s economy to survive? Think about it?
I hope I motivated you to get involved. This could be part of your purpose to help people.
Tell me what you think . . . leave a comment.
Until next time.
-Tamorra