Why Public Ed Must Change
A response to Ari Christine’s “Teaching Is A Woman”
The feminist in me has been awakened to the same sentiments as Ari Christine, especially during the pandemic. This is exactly why there is a shortage now of qualified teachers. Everyone is talking about the burn out of medical professionals during the pandemic, but people are forgetting to burn out of public school educators. This will be my 19th year in this profession and in public schools. And it is time for change.
Ari Christine is right. “It wasn’t until the pandemic that I realized the true toxicity that envelopes education. Teaching is a woman. And who are women expected to be in our society?” (Please remember that this profession is majority women.) Those who know me know my awards, my accomplishments in the field, and how much I do for my students above and beyond, so please don’t ask me “What about the children?” My heart is and always will be for them, but the boundaries have been way too blurred over the past decade. Further, as a “business”, many school administrators as a whole have lost the art of interpersonal communication. (Luckily, there still are some great ones in there fighting the good fight). Some do try, like popping in to our classroom the first day of school to say “Are you ok?”, but when you take a minute to truly answer and say “No, not really” and they say they will follow up but they don’t, it’s a sign of a broken system.
We serve at the pleasure of our Admin — they assign our classes, determine our course loads, dictate our duties. Irrelevant to most of them are our academic strengths, our personal needs as humans, our boundaries, and our need for balance with our personal life, especially those with families. Those who speak up are reminded, “You are replaceable”.
We are more than our profession or “our calling” as some like to refer to it. We are living, breathing souls that need both Society and “the system” to understand that we can’t do it all. We can not effectively balance 3 or more preps without sacrificing ourselves, our time with our families without proper support. And even then, it may not be enough. If a conversation is to be had with a 3+ prep, and if they talk to you openly and honestly, they will tell you that there’s at least one class where they are just dialing it in. It’s not for lack of heart or desire, just sheer hours in the day. And kids deserve better than that. But it should not be at the expense of educators’ well-being.
Women’s backs were not designed to be permanent bridges. The arches, the curves are temporary and will sink and collapse when the span bears too much weight. Without supportive scaffolding and proper maintenance, even the most well-constructed bridge will eventually collapse under the weight.
