Expecting teachers to teach with old, tattered —and frankly, sometimes destroyed— supplies is like expecting firefighters to fight fires with holes in their hoses and minimal safety gear. It is like expecting our military to protect our country and freedom, but only with their own self-defense and no weapons. It is like expecting police officers to arrest people, but with nothing to protect themselves and innocent bystanders from harm. It is like expecting McDonald's to fill your Wendy's order.
None of these are really feasible or make much sense.
Teachers are walking out of their classrooms and for good reason.
Teachers do not get paid a lot - they have to put up their own money for some classroom supplies they think will help their students. Some have taken to social media, and some teachers are working two jobs, the second one just to make sure they can actually pay their bills every month. They have old materials and even destroyed textbooks, and these are things that they cannot replace on their own without hurting themselves financially.
While some schools have textbooks in decent condition, they are old. Some schools, like ones shown in this article, are destroyed and held together with duct tape. Are these the supplies we want the future generations of students to have to learn from? They aren't for me. As a future teacher, it is sickening.
If that isn't sickening enough, scroll deeper through the article. Not only are the textbooks worn-out, but the computers are more than worn-out and so are the buildings. A girl in Oklahoma was excited to get a book that Blake Shelton used. While that is super cool to share a book with a celebrity, he was born in 1976 - the girl getting this book this year is 7 years old. Talk about an age gap.
Think, if this is a history book, it's nearly 40 years old and what has all happened in the last 40 years? First African American President, 9/11, War on Terror, Bill Clinton's presidency and much, much more. The class of 2020 high schoolers, for example, were not even born when 9/11 happened. The class of 2019 high school juniors; they were born right before 9/11, but have no personal recollection that it happened.
Some students in high school were born in the post-9/11 'war' time. They don't know anything other than having to take their shoes off at the airport and having to go through security scans before boarding a plane. They see "Friends" and think that it is crazy that Rachel could get to Ross at the gate and not at baggage claim like you can now.
If a student has an old textbook they wouldn't know a world like this existed.
I'm sorry, but look at these books. How is that acceptable? It shouldn't be. It should make parents, teachers, students, and lawmakers mad.
Sure, students can learn with old books, but can they learn to their best? No, they cannot. Education is always changing and evolving. Common Core came into play and math has done a huge turnaround. I graduated high school in 2015 and my brother is graduating high school in 2018. The way we were taught is completely different. He learned math in what I think is a more confusing way than I did.
These new ways are implemented on state testing, which tests kids on what they have learned. If they have outdated math books, however, they won't be equipped with the skills that the new books based on the state assessments would have given them. It's hard to test students on their growth when they are not given the tools they need to learn.
Times have changed, and it is time that the way education is looked at changes, too. It is time teachers and students get the tools they need to thrive.
