Loser Teachers?

First off: Let's be fair. Donald Trump, Jr., was not calling all teachers losers--just those who disagree with him politically, a characterization which is dingbatty enough because there are myriads of wonderful teachers who disagree with him politically. But name-calling is the new substitute for subtlety and analysis, isn't it? Our political world has become a school playground where bullies reign, where they employ their most egregious (and still effective) weapons.

(Video of his comment is easy to find on Google.)

I'll start with a confession: Early in my teaching career (which began in the fall of 1966), I realize now that I was too overtly political. It was the 60s, man--and I was deeply sympathetic with the Leftist causes of the day--civil rights, women's rights, and on and on. My students had no doubts whatsoever where I stood on such issues. And that, I realized later on, was ... inappropriate. The State of Ohio required those students to be in my room, and it was no more fitting for me to serve them snacks of my political opinions than it would have been to insist they all listen to my ideas about religious beliefs.

The years went on; I changed. I'm sure that my students could easily infer where I stood on political and social issues, but I really did try to refrain from discussing them overtly. My job, I realized, was to engage all students--not just those who shared (or pretended to share) my values. And it's hard to reach someone intellectually/emotionally when you have made it patent that you revile their politics.

In a related way, I still employ this principle on Facebook. Probably 95% of my FB friends are former students, and I have fond memories of all of them. And so I do not engage with any of them politically or religiously on FB because I prefer to maintain our relationships--and some of those go back more than fifty years. And that matters to me as I sail into the sunset.

Still, the "loser" label annoyed me when I heard it. In some particular ways, at the beginning, I was a "loser" in the economic sense. My first year's salary was $5100--that's fifty-one hundred, not thousand. The school offered no health insurance. Few other benefits. By the time I paid my bills each month, I had virtually no "discretionary funds." I was most definitely an economic "loser."

But ... I loved my job. I had colleagues I deeply admired (and tried to emulate); I had wonderful students (seventh graders the first couple of decades) who tried so hard, who helped me survive those early years by treating me as someone worthy--when, in too many ways, I wasn't.

I ended up teaching about forty-five years--and even to the very last days of my career I was trying to learn from my mistakes (and to rue them); I tried hard to engage my students, to listen to them, to learn as much as I possibly could about whatever I was teaching. I realized this: I was a learner among learners. And I loved it.

Now retired, I read about teachers all over the country who are trying to improve their profession--their working conditions. And I feel ... related to them. I know what they're doing--what it's costing them.

I also recognize that in this country we like to talk about the "value" of education--but our communities and our states do not often enough commit to that value. We need to pour financial support into our schools--to attract the best and the brightest into the profession--to lower class sizes--to diminish the number of classes our teachers teach (many years I had six a day)--to provide the best supplies and technology for all kids--to make sure every kid goes to school in a safe, comfortable building--to ...

I could go on and on.

But I fear we won't do all that much. It's far easier to vote NO and call your victims "losers."