Putting Your Money Where Your Beliefs Are: Teacher as Politician
There is plenty of commentary out there bemoaning teachers' lack of policy awareness and unwillingness to step up and defend their profession in the political sphere. So it's intriguing to meet an educator--a Career and Technical Ed teacher--who's willing to put his beliefs out there and launch a grueling run for a seat in the MI House of Representatives. Meet Dale Rogers: National Board Certified Teacher, candidate for 42nd District--and a Republican.
So let's talk about the elephant (ha) in the room: you're running as a Republican. What about the widespread belief that all teachers are crazy, liberal Democrats?
It's not easy being a Republican teacher, especially lately, when it seems so many Republican governors and state legislators are intent on criticizing teachers and the public school systems. It's one thing for Republicans to have an ideology that education should be a state/local issue and have the desire to minimize the role of the Federal government. It's an entirely different issue when some Republicans want to strip away local control of schools and mandate non-
So let's talk about the elephant (ha) in the room: you're running as a Republican. What about the widespread belief that all teachers are crazy, liberal Democrats?
It's not easy being a Republican teacher, especially lately, when it seems so many Republican governors and state legislators are intent on criticizing teachers and the public school systems. It's one thing for Republicans to have an ideology that education should be a state/local issue and have the desire to minimize the role of the Federal government. It's an entirely different issue when some Republicans want to strip away local control of schools and mandate non-
