Today I’m taking on people who complain about teachers. If you’re a teacher, you know exactly what I mean. I’m talking about the people who complain that teachers are paid too much, don’t work enough hours, or aren’t doing their jobs “right.” A parallel category is the people who like to say things like, “It’s easy, I could do it.”
My husband is a teacher. We have found that the vast majority of people who complain, especially about the salary, are people who have an annual family income greater than ours. Now, I am not complaining. We are very comfortable and content. We live well within our means and we don’t have to struggle to keep up. But it does make me wonder why anyone would think it appropriate to whine about what we have when they clearly have, materially, much more.
I don’t have any compelling logical arguments to make that will change anyone’s opinion. I think the reality is that the majority of teacher-haters probably have no idea what it’s really like to be a teacher. So I’m going to propose that anyone who feels compelled to complain take the following steps:
1. Trade salary and benefits with a teacher. (This was my husband’s idea.)
2. Go teach for a year in one of these locations: the inner city, northeastern U.S.; rural Appalachia; among the Native Americans in Alaska. It might be a good idea to try out all three. Although there are other rough areas to teach, those present some of the most challenging because of poverty and cultural differences.
3. Spend a year teaching in a wealthy suburb. Deal with parents who believe their child deserves special treatment, students who don’t do their homework, and pressure to have the kids perform to a certain level on state testing.
4. Teach at a state college or university for a year. You will probably still have to deal with some of the same parents as in step 3, along with managing the pressures of having to publish original material. Some colleges also expect you to perform some type of community service or service to campus life.
5. Answer these questions and report back: Was it as easy as you thought? How did your salary and benefits compare to what you expected? Would you ever do it again?
I know that some people will be thinking that teaching is a “calling” and as such, should not necessarily be rewarded any more than a missionary or a pastor. But if you’re in a job you really enjoy and are good at doing, isn’t that the same thing? The difference here is that I don’t spend my life complaining that my non-teacher friends make too much money or don’t do their jobs well enough. All I’m asking, really, is for the same respect.
