Stop Talking about that

 Stop Talking About That!

 

Teachers pretty much know how to educate and teach kids.   Politicians mainly know how to get re-elected by pandering to the lowest common denominator among us.  Now the two groups are finding an uncomfortable intersection of roles.

On the one hand, many teachers feel a strong responsibility to prepare their students to function in a society that is rapidly becoming more diverse.   Less than half of public school children currently identify as white.  As a citizen, children need to talk about race, gender and sexuality.  We are living in a time when young children are exposed to a great deal of sexuality on social media and on the internet.  There they learn about all of the “pleasures” of sex, but none of the consequences of irresponsible behavior.  Middle school children are talking about having oral sex with each other. 

Many teachers are afraid to address these topics.   For the most part these fears are not reality based; but there are enough instances to scare the faint of heart.

Critical race theory (something that is NOT a curriculum and NOT taught in public schools), educational equity, LGBTQ rights and bans on books and curriculum materials have become grist for the mill of political campaigns.

Large majorities of teachers and school administrators STRONGLY oppose state restrictions on teaching about these topics.  What is frightening is that based on an Education Week survey, roughly 25% of teachers and administrators WANTED state restrictions on teaching about the Holocaust, slavery or race.  And nearly 33% WANTED restrictions on teaching about sex education, gender and sexual orientation.   One of the other reasons teachers are upset is that they see a lack of respect for the profession. 

Of course, they are correct, teachers have lost a great deal of respect and much of that loss is due to their own doing.   When you have 25-33% of teachers ready to abdicate their responsibilities as educational leaders, why would anyone respect them.  They left their backbones at the fish market.

The reality is that only 1% of teachers has experienced any legal action with regard to the curriculum they are teaching.  But the fear goes on.  Teachers see the so-called “parents’ rights” programs as a slap in the face.  “it’s another way to police me and to make sure I’m doing my job and that’s another reason why we are having teacher shortages.  Honestly, we are not a respected profession anymore” reported one elementary school teacher in Virginia in response to the Governor’s emphasis on parental rights.

Pay gaps, censorship, threats of violence and perceptions that teachers are subservient are all keeping teachers out of classrooms.   We probably shouldn’t talk about those things either.