(Ms Rautenberg ... If you read this, I hope it was okay to showcase your words)
This week seemed to be an exceptionally frustrating one regarding the teachers strike. It seems exactly what the government wants is happening; time is wearing people down. After seeing a lot of posts this week, I wanted to put this out there.
#1 - Job Comparisons
Comparing your job (or any profession) to teaching (or any other profession) is nonsensical. This isn’t a JOB PIE. Teachers asking for what they want is not taking pieces away allocated to you. Every profession has pros and cons. Every profession has things that are difficult to manage. Nobody is saying that your profession is less worthy of benefits, too.Yes, working in health care is hard.Yes, working in a laborious role is hard. Yes, working outside of a union is hard.No teacher [that I’ve encountered] is saying, “My job is difficult and yours is not.”
If you have an argument for why your job is hard and believe you’re worthy of more, do as the teachers are doing and go fight for it. Against the people that can actually create a change for you. Fighting for it against teachers is legitimately pointless: devoid of effectiveness.
#2 - Understanding teachers are parents too
Understanding that having to find childcare or stay home from work is disruptive, please realize that teachers themselves are not exempt from this. Many teachers are ALSO parents. Are ALSO having to figure out what to do with their children on strike days. Are ALSO not getting paid or outputting more than is comfortable. When you are making complaints about this, you are literally saying: “Hey teachers, I need you to care about my career and my livelihood and my children more than you care about your own.”
I’m sorry but… what?
Having this expectation just shows how disconnected you are from what teachers are actually fighting for and the lengths they are willing to go to get it. As a sidebar, many of the people making these complaints are the same people who love to post on social media about how ‘time needs to stand still’ and ‘these moments are fleeting’, etc. Welp, here’s your chance to squeeze in some of that extra time a few months ago you were longing for. You get to hang out with your humans, while teachers who have their own kiddos are standing outside, in Ontario, in the winter, not getting paid, still paying for childcare.
#3 - Understand BEFORE you criticize
I’m sorry but… what?
Having this expectation just shows how disconnected you are from what teachers are actually fighting for and the lengths they are willing to go to get it. As a sidebar, many of the people making these complaints are the same people who love to post on social media about how ‘time needs to stand still’ and ‘these moments are fleeting’, etc. Welp, here’s your chance to squeeze in some of that extra time a few months ago you were longing for. You get to hang out with your humans, while teachers who have their own kiddos are standing outside, in Ontario, in the winter, not getting paid, still paying for childcare.
#3 - Understand BEFORE you criticize
Many people are looking at teachers as simply the people who just go into the classroom, work off a curriculum, and look after your kids. What you’re not grasping is that teachers are actually the people responsible for executing and operating the EDUCATION SYSTEM. This strike is about being ill-equipped to do so. These are the people on the front lines who literally witness and deal with exactly what happens to children when resources in the Education Sector are not properly allocated.
Maybe it’s not your kid right now who will suffer, or maybe it’s not your kid ever who will suffer. But the chances are, if it is your kid, by the time you figure that out it will be too late and you’ll be wondering why the education system didn’t do enough. Why didn’t they step up to intervene? Why didn’t they see the warning signs? Why didn’t they do enough to prevent it? Why is my kid on a waiting list? Where is all the help?
Given that teachers are the people who do this job day in and day out, can’t we simply trust that these PROFESSIONALS probably know best what is needed to properly execute the system? Just because you’ve flown many times in your life, doesn’t mean you step onto an airplane and declare you know enough to be the pilot, or even a flight attendant. Just because you’ve stayed in a hospital before, doesn’t mean you step into an ER and decide you know what the patients need.
How do you believe that you – a non-teacher – knows what is necessary to support an entire group of students in a classroom (and beyond)? You DON’T. And that’s not your fault. But it’s also not your place to pretend like you do. So stop. If someone came into your office – or where ever - had never done your job before, and started telling you what they think you need and what you are worth, you’d probably be pretty pissed off.
Take two seconds to reflect on that before you jump all over teachers.
Good luck out there, and MARCH ON EDUCATORS.
As the saying goes: “Nobody said it will be easy, but it will be worth it.”
Maybe it’s not your kid right now who will suffer, or maybe it’s not your kid ever who will suffer. But the chances are, if it is your kid, by the time you figure that out it will be too late and you’ll be wondering why the education system didn’t do enough. Why didn’t they step up to intervene? Why didn’t they see the warning signs? Why didn’t they do enough to prevent it? Why is my kid on a waiting list? Where is all the help?
Given that teachers are the people who do this job day in and day out, can’t we simply trust that these PROFESSIONALS probably know best what is needed to properly execute the system? Just because you’ve flown many times in your life, doesn’t mean you step onto an airplane and declare you know enough to be the pilot, or even a flight attendant. Just because you’ve stayed in a hospital before, doesn’t mean you step into an ER and decide you know what the patients need.
How do you believe that you – a non-teacher – knows what is necessary to support an entire group of students in a classroom (and beyond)? You DON’T. And that’s not your fault. But it’s also not your place to pretend like you do. So stop. If someone came into your office – or where ever - had never done your job before, and started telling you what they think you need and what you are worth, you’d probably be pretty pissed off.
Take two seconds to reflect on that before you jump all over teachers.
Good luck out there, and MARCH ON EDUCATORS.
As the saying goes: “Nobody said it will be easy, but it will be worth it.”
You’ve got this!
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