The National Praise and Scorn of Teachers in the World of COVID-19

How did teachers go from heroes to being the target of criticism in the span of six months?

At the beginning of the spring when most of the nation began moving into various forms of lockdown and shelter in place orders, the country seemed to truly understand the importance of teachers. News outlets, social media, even memes took to praising teachers and their heroic efforts to shift their instructional practices to a new method in order to keep the nation’s children safe (a refresher if you need it). Now nearing the end of the summer, the emotions surrounding teachers have shifted from praise to ridicule, and we knew that this would happen.

Being a teacher in America is a very interesting task. Ignoring the importance and difficulties related to the job, this country simply does not respect teachers the way it should. Consider the old adage, “those who can’t, teach.” That statement shows a complete lack of respect; the people that have educated us and will educate our children are failures? It goes beyond that, teachers are ridiculed for having summers off, called glorified babysitters, and laughed at for asking for better resources, all while teaching dozens of children every year, having a master’s degree, and dipping into their own wallets to properly stock their classrooms.

Considering all this, it was a wonderful moment when the country began praising teachers for the shift to distance learning, but nothing good lasts. So how did we get to the point that teachers are back in the crosshairs? They want to teach, but they want to do it is a safe environment. This is enough to have those same people who praised them on social media to turn on them. Browsing some of the more vitriolic comments and memes, people feel that teachers are defining themselves as non-essential personnel with their demands to not risk their lives to teach a class.

Let’s take this reaction to teachers and juxtapose it with the reaction to professional athletes opting out of their respective seasons. One group gets praised for putting their families ahead of their careers, while the other gets called weak and selfish. One group also happens to be made up of multi-millionaires while the other is made up people that are largely underpaid. Where is the disconnect? The very same people that are there to educate the future of this country are devalued because they want to be able to teach with freedom from getting sick. Why is that worthy of ridicule?

One theory is that people have realized how difficult the job of educating children is, and want their children back in school. Perusing the internet you will find no shortage of people commenting that they desperately want their children back in school and it seems to be an ongoing joke on morning shows to the same effect. All of that is understandable as teaching is very difficult; knowledge of content has nothing to do with properly motivating a student to learn let alone a few dozen of them at the same time. Again, understandable, but the instinct to attack as opposed to support is not.

This country has always had a difficult relationship with its teachers. Teachers are definitely valued, but rarely publicly praised. The reaction to the coronavirus was been wild to say the least, and the reaction to teachers throughout has run the gamut. Teachers are no less valuable now than they were at the beginning of this pandemic, and they have spent countless hours preparing for a successful year of instruction in the face of great adversity. The desire to do so without risking one’s health is a decision that we should all get behind, not criticize. Once again, it would be an interesting experiment to treat our teachers with the respect that we give our athletes.