This Writer’s Obligation
Today, I read another ridiculous anti-educator post, this one by Thomas Friedman, another journalist who has something to say about education. There’s a boatload of people just like him now at the center of the discussion for education, people who didn’t have much of an opinion since the last time they told their teacher that a dog ate their homework. If they can do it, why can’t teachers do that too?
I posit: Educators have an obligation to discuss more than education.
To a few, this might be obvious, but the general populace doesn’t seem to think so. For one, many teachers consider themselves too busy to engage in a heavy dose of public advocacy. Yet, even the ones that do get the generic tag “whiner.” It sucks because it immediately stigmatizes anyone who has an ounce of intellect or perspective on a critical issue. In other cultures, teachers are respected and in some cases, are the cultural equivalent of royalty and government officials. Here, teachers can only voice their opinion if they’ve a) left the profession b) became a PhD or c) did something absurdly outrageous / courageous.
