Teacher beaten by student in classroom, absolutely nothing happens as a result

No teacher should ever fear for their safety inside the classroom. That is the mark of a school in need of resources, opportunities and a hard line stance. Above all in our school system we must make a shift to respecting and protecting our teachers better. These types of situations truly make me fear for a society where those who try and educate our children are subject to threats and attack. The nature of a good teacher is such an impossible thing to fake, and we’re constantly forcing the absolute brightest from our public schools to the corporate world, where they can make more money consulting or developing curriculum.

I know of at least three teachers who are losing their homes because they dared to live in the neighborhood where they teach. The way banks were pushing it at the time, these people ended up with either adjustable rate mortgages or fixed mortgages they simply couldn’t afford with the cost of inflation, but they will now lose their houses (at least two, the third is most likely in the same boat). These aren’t dumb or irresponsible people, they are teachers in many communities across America who can’t afford to live in the area where they work. Even with some of the tax incentives for teachers, police officers and firefighters people have a lot of trouble owning a home in the area of their work, forget about having a family. People talk about labor workers all the time who want to be able to afford to buy a home, send their kids to college and retire with dignity. Why can’t teachers, police officers and firefighters have that?

Teachers, for the most part, are the only profession not catching up in our major metropolitan areas. It’s not just the pay, it’s the respect of these jobs. Parents aren’t teaching children to respect anyone, let alone teachers and police officers. They see the education system as something akin to an auto shop, where they drop it off in the morning, they fix it up and you pick it up at night. Education simply does not work this way. Parents are responsible for reinforcing cultural education and social respect. Without parents help children are prone to making these types of mistakes where they never quite realize they are mortal. Like the girls who beat the cheerleader in Polk County, FL and the girl who attacks her teacher in this video, and the instances just like it all over this country.

This is a parenting and societal problem, something government can’t directly fix. Funding all public schools, not just those in affluent neighborhoods would be a start. Opponents always say “you can’t just throw money at the problem”, and I argue we’ve never tried to throw money at anything. I’m not for much federal involvement in our schools, but we’re regulating the hell out of school districts at the federal level while not really funding the schools. We’re just stuck feeding the bureaucracy while each state has their own beefy Department of Education so the whole system is redundant. Get rid of the Department of Education, force states to compete with each other and they will rise to the occasion. You know, the American way.

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