Teachers have a bad rep. They are also incredibly underpaid. They have put their share of bricks in the wall. Parents enjoy blaming their children's educators whenever their kid is unable to be quiet in class, or receives an F because they simply did not complete a homework assignment on time. And according to some administrators, it is the teachers that need to be disciplined, not the students.
When did the amount of laziness that a child has become the fault of the person attempting to teach them reading, writing and arithmetic? Oh... and science and history, too.
My mom has been a teacher for over 40 years. I frown at that. Not because she has been a strong-willed, career driven woman, but because I have witnessed how exhausted she is when she comes home due to a lack of respect from students, parents and fellow colleagues. It disgusts me not just as her daughter, but also as a citizen. I even contemplated earning a teaching license, but switched to Writing because I am not a masochist.
I wasn't an easy student to teach by any means, I'm sure many of my high school teachers (and probably some peers) would tell you that. I was loud, obnoxious and thought that I was superior to everyone. There was one teacher in particular who was not very fond of my hilarious wisecracks about the chess club that I parodied over the announcements. Some teachers will never understand high quality comedy, but that doesn't mean that they deserve any less respect from us students, or our parents.
Growing up with a single mother who was a teacher, I got to spend a lot of time helping her fix up her classrooms, or sitting quietly in a corner as she wrapped up her lesson plans. I would see multiple students come in and out of her classroom asking why their grade is so low. Some would even have the audacity to blame her for their failing grade, claiming that the effectiveness of her teaching was to blame.
Unfortunately, America's education system is not currently seeing its best day. There are even some teachers who consider themselves to be in poverty due to the amount of student loans they racked up while training to influence the future generations of the world. Sure, teachers get summers off. They have no reason to complain, right? They also spend their summers preparing for the next random class the administration decides that they will teach, reworking teaching methods that have benefited generations of students and also wondering if all of their students will even be able to have their own desk, let alone enough copies of the textbook required by the curriculum.
Teachers have it rough; maybe now more than ever. It is time that we all (students, administrators, parents, government, etc.) begin showing respect to the ones who care so much about their futures, they are willing to work for pennies.
