A
Liberal Dose
July
21, 2022
Troy
D. Smith
“Stop
Treating Our Teachers Like Dirt”
I’m going to take a break from chronicling the Trump
investigation saga, at least until the next shoe drops. Instead, this week, let’s talk about teachers.
Throughout the 20th century, teachers were among
the most admired and respected figures in America. These were people who made
real sacrifices (most of them could make more money doing something else) out
of a sense of principle: on the micro level, inspiring and nurturing individual
children to achieve and have a firm basis to go out into the world, and on the
macro level, helping produce good, knowledgeable, capable citizens to help our
republic run more smoothly.
My 1st (and 3rd) grade teacher, Mrs.
Geneva Cotten, passed away this week in her 90s. Until the end, she clipped out
every newspaper article I was mentioned in and mailed it to me, saying how
proud she was. Almost 50 years later. I learned she did that for many of her
former students.
I would never in my wildest dreams have thought I’d see the
day teachers were maligned, cursed, insulted, and mistreated the way they have
been the last 10 or 15 years. It makes me sick.
I’m sure you’ve heard about Governor Lee’s love affair with
Hillsdale schools in Michigan. He wants their private college to be the
template for our state universities, and to start 50 K12 charter schools in
Tennessee through their company that would be privately run, and therefore not
subject to most laws and regulations that apply to public schools, and yet be
taxpayer funded. And I’m sure you heard how he appeared on a stage with that
company’s founder as he said that you don’t need to be smart or have a
particular type of education to teach, that anyone can do it, and that public
teachers are “trained in the dumbest parts of the dumbest colleges.” That they
want nothing but to indoctrinate your children.
And Bill Lee did not say one word -then or since -to defend
Tennessee’s public teachers or to condemn that guy’s insults. He has just
doubled down -because he wants his privatized education, and he wants it
publicly paid for. I hope you all realize that, if that happens, it will be
taking money out of our public schools and giving them even less to work with
than they have now, which is below the bare minimum. And all because of some
conservatives’ paranoia about public education and how the liberals are coming
to get your kids. This is why our own state legislature has passed laws
mandating what public teachers are allowed to talk about, and how they’re
allowed to talk about it. I feel obligated to point out that very few of our
legislators are trained in the field of education, and many barely have one
themselves.
If the public teachers at White County High School are
trying to indoctrinate your kids into leftist guerrillas, they’re doing a darn
poor job of it. The fact is, of course, they are doing no such thing; they are
trying to educate them by teaching basic reality instead of some politicized
version of it. Which is what your kids would get at Governor Lee’s charter
schools.
I can’t even begin to list the White County public school
teachers who had a profound effect on my life, for fear I’d leave someone out
because there are so many. And I can’t begin to list how many colleagues I have
in the TTU college of education, who train teachers, that are tirelessly
dedicated to producing the finest educators possible.
Do you know what would improve education? If you politicians
left teachers alone and let them do their jobs. Stop trying to tell them how to
do it, because you don’t know. Stop taking away their funding. Stop blaming
them for all your imaginary problems.
Our teachers are heroes. And we will remember them longer,
and much more fondly, than we do you.
--Troy D.
Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at
Tennessee Tech. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.
.
You can find all previous entries in this weekly column HERE
A list of other historical essays that have appeared on this blog can be found HERE
Author's website: www.troyduanesmith.com
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