Paul Mucci: Since when did teachers become the bad guys?
Paul Mucci, a fifth-grade teacher at Sebastian Elementary School, has bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Florida.
Monday, May 16, 2011
American culture has always had a love-hate relationship with teachers. On the one hand, there is the sniveling, ruler-slapping Ichabod Crane and the brooding Professor Snape. On the other hand, there is the inspiring Glen Holland from "Mr. Holland's Opus" and the stereotype-busting Mr. Thackeray in "To Sir, with Love."
In many ways, teaching has been a love-hate relationship for me, too. Despite the numerous occasions when I felt like I wanted to give up, I have never considered working in another profession — until this year.
What would cause a 20-year veteran, a national board-certified teacher, a two-time teacher of the year evaluated as exemplary — and dozens of teachers just like me — to consider leaving the profession? The answer is simple. Somewhere along the way, teachers became the bad guys.
This year alone, numerous bills were passed by the Florida Legislature aimed at "improving" education. These bills include the following measures: elimination of teacher tenure, teacher pay based on student performance, increasing teacher contributions to the Florida Retirement System, raising the retirement age/years of service, increasing student testing and reducing the number of "core" classes to name a few.
Politicians made claims such as "teachers have not lost jobs at the same pace as other professions" and "teachers don't pay for benefits like other professionals in the private sector . " What they haven't told the public is that teachers have lost jobs and all teachers have experienced a decline in income due to salary freezes, loss of summer jobs, loss of stipends and increases in health insurance and other benefits.
Teachers have had to make do with less materials (paper, pencils, pens, glue, tape, folders, staples) and resources (resource officers, health assistants, office staff, cafeteria staff), with much of that shortfall coming out of teachers' pockets.
While politicians pound their chests when test scores rise and graduation rates increase, they fail to report to their constituents that teachers have had to take on extra job responsibilities. The bottom line is the general public is misinformed and the politicians who "represent them" have fed off this lack of insight to promote their own personal and political agendas.
To make matters worse, the language and tone directed at teachers by politicians has become vitriolic. During the past session, I met with six state legislators about pending education bills. It was an eye-opening and disheartening experience. Most were courteous (one was not). None of them listened. Their minds were made up. Things had to change and teachers were the bad guys.
These bad guys are not fighting for more money, fewer students or better benefits. They are fighting to keep their collective bargaining rights. They are rallying to prevent more testing for students. They are campaigning to maintain retirement benefits that were promised to them.
Like the teacher in "Mr. Holland's Opus," I see myself slowly and deliberately forced out of the classroom. Not by budget cuts, but through the deterioration of the simple pleasures that pulled me into the classroom more than 20 years ago.
Gone are the days when creativity, cooperative learning, project-based learning and inquiry reigned in classrooms around the state. They have been replaced with a standards-driven, assessment-verified, results-oriented, one-size-fits-all curriculum model.
More important, gone is the respect teachers once had. The steady erosion of respect is palpable in parent conferences, in line at the grocery store and in politicians' statements in the media.
As one legislator said to me, "The public deserves accountability they deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent." In one respect, he is right, but what good are numbers and test results if we lose our integrity, our compassion, our humanity along the way?
In many ways, teaching has been a love-hate relationship for me, too. Despite the numerous occasions when I felt like I wanted to give up, I have never considered working in another profession — until this year.
What would cause a 20-year veteran, a national board-certified teacher, a two-time teacher of the year evaluated as exemplary — and dozens of teachers just like me — to consider leaving the profession? The answer is simple. Somewhere along the way, teachers became the bad guys.
This year alone, numerous bills were passed by the Florida Legislature aimed at "improving" education. These bills include the following measures: elimination of teacher tenure, teacher pay based on student performance, increasing teacher contributions to the Florida Retirement System, raising the retirement age/years of service, increasing student testing and reducing the number of "core" classes to name a few.
Politicians made claims such as "teachers have not lost jobs at the same pace as other professions" and "teachers don't pay for benefits like other professionals in the private sector . " What they haven't told the public is that teachers have lost jobs and all teachers have experienced a decline in income due to salary freezes, loss of summer jobs, loss of stipends and increases in health insurance and other benefits.
Teachers have had to make do with less materials (paper, pencils, pens, glue, tape, folders, staples) and resources (resource officers, health assistants, office staff, cafeteria staff), with much of that shortfall coming out of teachers' pockets.
While politicians pound their chests when test scores rise and graduation rates increase, they fail to report to their constituents that teachers have had to take on extra job responsibilities. The bottom line is the general public is misinformed and the politicians who "represent them" have fed off this lack of insight to promote their own personal and political agendas.
To make matters worse, the language and tone directed at teachers by politicians has become vitriolic. During the past session, I met with six state legislators about pending education bills. It was an eye-opening and disheartening experience. Most were courteous (one was not). None of them listened. Their minds were made up. Things had to change and teachers were the bad guys.
These bad guys are not fighting for more money, fewer students or better benefits. They are fighting to keep their collective bargaining rights. They are rallying to prevent more testing for students. They are campaigning to maintain retirement benefits that were promised to them.
Like the teacher in "Mr. Holland's Opus," I see myself slowly and deliberately forced out of the classroom. Not by budget cuts, but through the deterioration of the simple pleasures that pulled me into the classroom more than 20 years ago.
Gone are the days when creativity, cooperative learning, project-based learning and inquiry reigned in classrooms around the state. They have been replaced with a standards-driven, assessment-verified, results-oriented, one-size-fits-all curriculum model.
More important, gone is the respect teachers once had. The steady erosion of respect is palpable in parent conferences, in line at the grocery store and in politicians' statements in the media.
As one legislator said to me, "The public deserves accountability they deserve to know how their tax dollars are being spent." In one respect, he is right, but what good are numbers and test results if we lose our integrity, our compassion, our humanity along the way?
