COULD SUCCESSFUL TEACHERS MAKE BETTER POLITICIANS THAN POLITICIANS?
One child, one teacher, one book, and one pen can change the world. (Malala Yousafzai) Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation. (Henry Kissinger)
SCUM: A low, vile or worthless person (Merriam -Webster). Labeling an opponent as scum, accusations of elbowing someone in the back, challenging a witness to settle this by “getting his butt up there” demonstrates politicians’ inability to control their words or actions. Unfortunately there are no consequences for such behavior in our government. If a teacher threatened a colleague or used incendiary language in the classroom, an administrative write up for the unprofessional conduct would immediately follow. This could be used as cause for an immediate dismissal or the very least, probation. And rightfully so. Perhaps it’s time to rethink who should be holding office.
Nikki Haley and VivekRamaswamy tangled in the poorly viewed last Republican debate. In the heat of repartee, Vivek made the point that Ms. Haley had no right to rebuke his joining TikTok while her own daughter was using the platform. The final word of this blame-fest came from Ms. Haley as she uttered the word “scum” under her breath, meant for Mr. Ramaswamy. This headline from the Washington Post: McCarthy accused of elbowing lawmaker, fight nearly breaks out. And a viral YouTube video showing Senator Markwayne Mullin challenging a witness to fight.
Most seasoned and successful teachers have learned the hard way that a wise man once said nothing. Could successful teachers make better politicians? First, let’s define a successful teacher. My four main character traits are based on over 40 years in the field of education:
DEDICATION AND INTEGRITY: I believe today’s successful teachers come from Generation X (born between 1965-1980) and the older Millennials (born between 1981 and 1990). In other words, successful educators are older! A better word? Seasoned. Nearly 50% of new teachers leave the profession within their first five years. (Department of Education)
Through no fault of their own, younger Millennials and Generation Y teachers experienced Teachers’ Colleges imparting new, ineffective ways to teach a subject matter. Just ask any parent how challenging it is to help with their children’s “new” math homework! Then add the secular progressive agenda today’s universities are teaching.
MANAGEMENT AND SELF-DISCIPLINE: is at the core of every successful teacher. It should be the primary focus of Teachers’ Colleges. But it has become less and less so. I mentored student teachers between 1971-1995. Yes, I am an old, seasoned teacher. As each of those 24 years progressed, I experienced student teachers unable to navigate the classroom. The horror stories about today’s American classrooms validate the lack of teacher preparation is still true. This school year, students nationwide have been filmed swearing at teachers, flipping over desks, and committing physical violence. Poor behavior in schools is not new, but educators’ testimony and data confirm that student behavior has deteriorated since the Covid pandemic. (City-Journal)
FOCUS ON THE SUBJECT: is paramount as every state provides teachers with standards they are expected to complete at the end of each school year. Personal bias or ideologies of the radical left have no place in the American classroom. Especially so since American kids have fallen behind in achievement!
COMMUNICATION TRANSPARENCY: with all children, colleagues, parents and administrators is crucial to the tenured, successful educator in our public schools.
To summarize, it is my experience that successful teachers are older, seasoned educators who understand the importance of classroom management. These teachers keep bias and ideologies out of their classrooms. They also implement transparent communication with their sphere of influence. Now let’s compare those attributes with those of politicians.
DEDICATION AND INTEGRITY OF TEACHERS VS THE POLITICIAN
Genuine dedication in teachers is defined as a “calling.” The want, need and devotion to positively affect children’s lives is required year after year of service. Teachers who do not demonstrate integrity can be weeded out at their EOY (End of Year Evaluation).
The American public seems oblivious to the misdeeds of their elected officials, which allows corruption to run rampant. According to Pew Research: Americans express highly negative views of elected officials – and have grown increasingly pessimistic about their congressional representatives over the past several years. In fact, views of Congress, congressional leadership, the current and former president, and the vice president are all underwater. The corruption in the US is at the worst levels in almost a decade (according to foreignpolicy.com)
What about contractual differences which speaks to dedication? Teachers’ average contract is 180 days with a limit of sick day leaves. The average salary of today’s educators is $51,804 per year ($25 per hour). Teachers do not enter the field of education believing they will get rich.
Politicians average 138 days with no limits on sick leave. The average income of politicians is $174,000 according to pressgallery.house.gov. In 2020, the majority of lawmakers in congress were millionaires. So called “dedication” of politicians is amplified in their salaries and power. Love of this country’s founding principles or devotion to their constituents is buried in meaningless rhetoric accompanied with no actions.
MANAGEMENT AND SELF-DISCIPLINE OF TEACHERS VS THE CHAOS OF POLITICS
Discipline to control thoughts and speech is one of the most important teacher traits. Teachers take abuse on a daily basis and on some bad days, hourly. Yet they are expected never to retaliate, use demeaning language, or become defensive. The successful teachers dedicate themselves to provide a learning environment deplete of bias or harsh words. As a teacher of four decades, one of my greatest challenges was to know a parent and their child disliked everything about me and yet I was expected to treat that child no differently. It felt empowering to know I had the self-discipline not to retaliate.
In the heat of discourse, name-calling by politicians is not only acceptable but expected because our bar is set so low for our elected officials. This from conversation.com: Political attacks in campaign advertisements are on the rise. Rep. Paul Gosar shared an anime cartoon video showing him physically attacking Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, and President Joe Biden. That same month, Rep. Ilhan Omar called her Republican colleague Rep. Lauren Boebert a buffoon and a bigot on Twitter. Insults and hypocrisy are not only allowed in political chaos, but expected and many times embraced.
TEACHERS’ FOCUS ON THE SUBJECT AT HAND VS POLITICIANS’ POLARIZING AGENDAS
Every state in the US has standards of learning for their educators to follow. Today’s teachers are evaluated on what their students need to know by the end of each grade level. For almost the past four decades, academic standards have been a defining focus of efforts to improve student achievement. Standards have shaped the teaching and learning landscape in American schools, dictating everything from curriculum content to assessment design.(EducationWeek) If teachers cannot meet those standards, consequences are implemented through bi-yearly evaluations. This can be anything from probation to firing. Of course, America’s public schools currently are experiencing more rogue teachers who try to implement their secular progressive views. But the parents have awakened. This from PBS: School board elections have become a new battleground in American politics, with typically non-partisan races… garnering national attention.
Every election cycle, the American public hopes and even prays they have elected representatives who will vote according to their constituents’ best interests. But many believe congress is incapable of producing much of anything valuable for their electorates. Today, on the eve of a closely fought election that will determine who runs Capitol Hill, that model [of representation] is effectively dead.
It has been replaced by a weakened legislative branch in which debate is strictly curtailed, party leaders dictate the agenda, most elected representatives rarely get a say and government shutdowns are a regular threat due to chronic failures to agree on budgets, according to a new analysis of congressional data and documents by The Washington Post and ProPublica.
This from Rachel Kleinfeld (Carnegieendowment.org) The United States feels roiled by polarization, and the philanthropic world is seized with debates about what to do. Some scholars claim that Americans are so polarized they are on the brink of civil war.
Public trust in the federal government, which has been low for decades, has returned to near record lows following a modest uptick in 2020 and 2021. Currently, fewer than two-in-ten Americans say they trust the government in Washington to do what is right.
TEACHERS’ COMMUNICATION TRANSPARENCY VS POLITICIANS WHO LIE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
Communications in the classroom, with all levels of learning demonstrated by children, is both complicated and challenging. Teachers are expected to make their subject area available to every child. This translates into kids who are at grade level sitting along side special needs children, those students who have accelerated learning, children who have dyslexia, or those who are behaviorally-challenged and may have a federal mandated learning plan. We expect our teachers to provide subject matter to all at the same time, do cross-subject planning with their colleagues, justify any and all teaching strategies to their administrators and at the same time, assure parents that their child is in a safe learning environment.
Abundant evidence exists from the past few decades that many local, national, and international governmental agencies have made serious public communication errors. This from Roger Koopman: We’ve all heard the quip, “how do you know when a politician is lying?”
Answer: His lips are moving. They’re politicians. What more can we expect? Our office holders protect themselves in a blanket of citizen cynicism that they themselves have woven. The blanket remains intact because our standards are so very low. This from the Free Speech Center: Why lying politicians can’t be easily punished? The Supreme Court rejected the government’s argument that lies should not be protected by the First Amendment. The Court concluded that lies are protected by the First Amendment unless there is a legally recognized harm, such as defamation or fraud, associated with the lie.
And this headline from NBC News: The communication breakdown between U.S. and China raises the risk of an unintended crisis
If teachers make better politicians than politicians, should these educators run for public office? Not necessarily. Here’s a thought: What if the American electorate would seek representatives who possess the qualities embodied by today’s successful teachers? What if the American electorate vetted the candidates carefully? What if the American electorate really cared?
Available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.