I must admit to being surprised. I have never been offended by or disagreed with Walter E. Williams’ commentaries before, but this week’s column is unbelievable.
Basically, he smeared all teachers with a very broad brush of prejudice and stereotyping. ALL teachers must be bad; after all, they have lower average SAT scores. Colleges of Education are the worst of schools. Teachers believe any dreck handed down by the powers that be and cheerfully spout whatever garbage they are told to teach.
Mr. Williams is very blessed to have a job in which he can publish his opinion and get paid for it. Teachers, on the other hand, must be very careful never to say anything that doesn’t toe the party line or show that they don’t march in lockstep with the minds of whoever is in charge. So when I am given a science curriculum to teach, I must teach what it says even if I believe that Darwinism is a complete load of hooey forced upon us by scientific religious fanatics who look for any reason to reject God.
I must teach a curriculum to students that is so far over their heads that I put in a supply request for a pillow to place between my head and the brick wall I am beating it against. I am supposed to teach a lesson in which the stated objective is “Students will view and appreciate fine art.” “Here’s a nice picture. YOU WILL NOW LIKE IT!”
When I try to teach Social Studies, I am supposed to ignore true history and teach that white people came to North America to kill the Native Americans and get rich. I must also use whatever method is now the current fashion in teaching and follow whatever rules the dictator (read: principal) has passed down, even if they show a complete lack of understanding of the children in my class and breaks tradition of every school I have been in since I started Kindergarten at 4 years old.
Luckily, I had a relative who took as her personal motto: “Women who behave don’t make history!” I try to be very discreet when teaching. I have quietly told students truth after reading PC lies from a textbook. I make no secret of the fact that I go to church two times a week, that I have a life outside of the classroom, and I don’t stick entirely to the textbooks but use teachable moments to tell my students about the real world.
Yes, schools stink. I have been in public, private Christian and charter schools. All are saddled with enormous amounts of stupid regulations from state and federal education departments. All have leadership whose goal is not to prepare students for the real world but to please parents who are spoiled and spoil their children. All have teachers who should not be allowed in a classroom. And all have teachers who rejected the idea of being prosperous and comfortable to be in dead-end jobs for their careers solely for the purpose of teaching a new generation of people.
Why do these dedicated people not improve schools? Because we are dedicated to children, not to leaving the classroom and becoming managers. You could not pay most of us enough to be in a job in which we spend our days filling out paperwork, dealing with the worst problems in school and being civil to selfish parents.
Why do teachers have low SAT scores? Maybe because the people with the drive and ambition necessary to ace those tests would refuse to put up with the garbage of being a teacher for such lousy pay. (What other jobs in the world require you to take extra college classes and get a master’s degree at your own expense?)
Still following my calling at tremendous price,
A.L. Reynolds
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