Those who can, teach.

Recently I was presented with an article released on Huffington Post, you can find this article here.  Teachers always seem to be presented as the bad guys, the ones that cannot do anything. After all, “those who can’t do, teach.” Teachers have been given a bad name from the start, there will always be someone out there who thinks that they can do better, and that is fine. Let them think, let them write, and let them speak. Why? Because who gave these politicians that ability? Oh, that’s right, a teacher. Regardless of that fact, it does not matter. When will it end? How can it end? First it was the students fault and now it is the teachers. There is always going to be someone to blame as long as there is no change.

Change is not something that can happen overnight, it is going to take time and it is going to take effort. However, that is not good enough for the politicians who feel the need to stick their nose into the educational system. How many of them really know how a classroom is run today? The type of managing skills it takes, and how much time and preparation teachers use to get ready for one single lesson? Even more time and preparation is put into preparing teachers as they go into the field. “The NCTQ report quantifies how easy it is for teacher preparation students compared with those other fields of study The NCTQ report quantifies how easy it is for teacher preparation students compared with those other fields of study.”  Again, how do they know this? Because more As are given out than in any other major? What I want to know is how many of these people have talked to the students behind the grades? As an elementary education major I do not recall a single person coming to talk to me about how easy my classes are and how little effort it takes to receive the grades I do. I do not remember them being on the other end of the phone when I call home debating joining the circus because of how stressed I am. I do not recall them comforting me when I am having one of my many breakdowns, much less being around when my peers are having the exact same breakdowns.

When you decide to pursue a college education you are not doing it because it is easy. Hopefully you are doing it because it is something you are passionate about, that is what makes it easy. Ask me, ask any of my peers, when we decided to become teachers we did not do it because we wanted an “MRS.” Degree, we did it because we love teaching, sharing our knowledge, and helping children reach their fullest potential.

So I invite you, mister politician, mister article writer, and anyone reading this, come into our classrooms. The ones we are in now as we prepare to go on our journey, and the ones we will one day teach in. Come see what it is that is so “easy” see what it is that makes us underachievers that are handed grades. Just remember, because of the teachers you had, you are able to speak badly of the future teachers.