Teacher Tom: Only Compassion Makes Hope Worth Something

Teacher Tom: Only Compassion Makes Hope Worth Something

Only Compassion Makes Hope Worth Something

Seattle's public schools have re-opened for in-person instruction this week, a sign that many are taking as the beginning of our return to "normal." Vaccinations in our state are going to be available for everyone over 16 starting next week, another signal that "normal" is just around the corner. But let's remember some things.

Nearly 40,000 American children lost a parent to the pandemic. Black children were disproportionately impacted.

So far, only one American child has died from influenza during the current flu season. A typical season sees a couple hundred deaths.

More than one in four educators are considering leaving the profession due to the pandemic.

77 percent of US educators are working more today than a year ago.

60 percent enjoy their job less. The same number do not feel their school district's safety precautions were adequate.

The share of schools that found it very difficult to fill a teacher vacancy nearly doubled between 2012 and 2016.

Between 2009 and 2016 there was a 15.4 percent drop in the CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Only Compassion Makes Hope Worth Something

Teacher Tom: Projection, Empathy, Compassion

Teacher Tom: Projection, Empathy, Compassion

Projection, Empathy, Compassion

During my first year as a teacher, I had a student, a two-year-old, who loved her hugs. She would hug me hello in the morning. She would hug her mother and father goodbye. She would hug total strangers if given the chance. It was a charming instinct, one for which she had grown accustomed to receiving praise. "She is such a loving girl!" "Oh, how sweet!" However, her hugging did not always go over particularly well with her peers. Indeed, more often than not, her unsolicited hugs, which were generally quite enthusiastic, bordering on tackling, would frighten other children, often causing tears.

The Golden Rule, most commonly cited as "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you," is one of the underpinning principles of many of the world's major religions and cultures. As a moral guide, it relies on individuals to look inside themselves, to perform the mental experiment of putting themselves into the shoes of others, and to act accordingly. The problem, of course, is that the way I want to be treated isn't necessarily a good guide to how others want to be treated. This little girl enjoyed a good hug, but doing unto others was, in this case, obviously the wrong thing to do.

Over the next couple of years, with the support of the adults CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Projection, Empathy, Compassion