Last week, I was reading a couple of blogs I follow regularly. On both blogs, the women who write for them were raising important awareness around standardized testing, accompanied by its pros and cons. Both women supported a parent’s right to choose whether or not their child should be tested, and in the conversation that followed the discussion, many parents applauded the teachers for investing in their children in spite of the pressures placed on them to raise academic bars for financial school gain. Many commenters said that they felt people should be thanking teachers for all they do to care for the children in spite of the stress inherent to a system that is often wrapped up in dollars and cents. Systems are often more concerned with gain and profit than they are with people.
But that descriptor doesn’t accurately define any teacher I know.
With this in mind, I tried to think of the last time I wrote a letter of gratitude from a parent’s perspective to teachers. I write a great deal from a teacher’s perspective, but often don’t allow myself the opportunity to write about educational issues from a parent’s perspective. Perhaps this is due to the often unwritten rule that being a teacher negates me from any form of open criticism of the system (I could lose my job), any type of public comment that would expose (teachers must honor internal allegiances and loyalties) as well as (apparently) offering up any type of applause (that would come across as if I was patting myself on the back).
Case in point. Last week, after reading comments on those two blogs, I decided that because I am a parent, and because I was reading parenting-type blogs- along with the fact that I have a vested interest in my children’s education, that I would assume the identity of a ‘parent’ and thus write a letter to teachers on behalf of parents.
I thought I could do so by virtue of the fact that I am a mother to four children, as well as due to the fact that I buy my four kiddos’ school clothes, book bags, lunch-boxes, sneakers, school supplies, coats and boots ALONG WITH…
* being one who attends meetings on their behalf, attends Parent-Teacher interviews and Back-To-School bar-b-q’s
* being one who listens to them and relays important information to their teachers, principal and guidance counselor; who studies with them for tests; who proofreads their papers; who practices with them their music.
*being one who tries to enhance their academic learning, intellectual work done in school, assist in their emotional development, spiritual understanding and gross motor/fine motor development as a partner with their schools
IN OTHER WORDS, by virtue of the fact that I am a mother to four children, I thought I could write a letter to teachers on behalf of parents commending and encouraging teachers for the good work they do each and every day on behalf of my children (and everyone elses’ for that matter, while I was at it!).
Apparently not.
You see, after I wrote ‘said’ letter and published it on my blog, a letter which I thought a wider audience might enjoy reading and receiving a word of encouragement from, I received a fair bit of backlash. I had taken the blog article and published it on the Huffington Post as an open letter to teachers from parents, and the following comments are some of the feedback I received:
– “interesting. a teacher thanking herself.”
– “teacher thanks herself; now THAT says a lot about what is so wrong…”
– “The source of this “open” letter needs to be told. Otherwise it is just a bit of poorly written propaganda. And plagiarism. Doesn’t that deserve an F?”
– “Lori, how do you feel about the lack of resources for the schools when my taxes are paying for banked sick days so your colleagues can be paid full salary and benefits to stay home, I would say all those volunteer hours are actually paid for whether or not the teacher actually gets it immediately or is simply deferred and paid out under the current system when you cash in.”
– “Lori Gard That’s terrific. However, it (being a teacher who is also a parent?) is not a universal applicable to all teachers.”
So this is what I am thinking. Parents who are teachers are only apparently allowed to be teachers or parents– but seemingly cannot be both simultaneously.
Which is very hard.
This reminds me of my kindergarten students a few years back who found it very hard to believe that I didn’t sleep at school. Are adults also having a hard time imagining teachers living and functioning outside the four square walls in which they do their work? So it seems. I can be a teacher. I can be a mom. But I cannot mix the two. For if I do, there is some kind of perceptual dissonance that seems to occur.
There is a great deal of controversy surrounding teachers who try to pretend that they might have opinions, thoughts, feelings, questions and concerns about education that fall outside their professional milieu and overlap other areas of their being and person-hood. And for some reason, when these thoughts and feelings are expressed in a positive way (so as to promote something good), they are not viewed as a pure form of gratitude but are suspect as being plagarism and propaganda.
I am having a really hard time with this.
Lori, I am also a teacher and a mom and I thought your post was spot on. I “heard” you addressing your children’s teachers and appreciating and loving on them. I did not hear you grandstanding for yourself at all. My perception of your post was that as you have been appreciated, you wanted to do that for other teachers. Period. Propaganda? Seriously? Keep doing your thing and following your heart.
Thank you so much for reading and encouraging me this morning- I value this!!
Wow. So sad that your post was taken that way. I recently found a quote that I hung on my bulletin board: “You can be the ripest, juiciest peach in the world, and there’s still going to be somebody who hates peaches.”― Dita Von Teese. Keep on being “peachy”! 🙂
Pam, that is a good quote to remember- and it is so true. I also have to remember that we all have our reasons for responses to issues- whether those responses be positive or negative. I have to be mindful that there are different people going through different things, and reactions are just that- someone’s response based on their feelings and experience. I cannot take it too personally! Thanks for reading!
It is not even logical to think a teacher thinks only in that role-most teachers I had and know, are also parents. To exempt them from being grateful for their own children’s teachers does not make sense. People who criticize in that manner have some other issue going on. It is good to express thanks for any job well done! Thanks, Lori!!
Would a doctor’s opinion of another doctor who treated his child be so readily tossed aside as “patronizing”? I don’t understand all the teacher-hate. Are we not professionals who can separate our duties as parents and teachers?! So frustrating.