The teacher demonstrations, walk-ins, walkouts and strikes around the country are playing pretty well with the public. That surprises and encourages me. Republicans have led a decades-long onslaught against teachers, beginning in earnest with the “Our schools suck!” rallying cry from the Reagan administration in its 1983 report, “A Nation At Risk.” It was a blatantly political scare screed about how terrible our schools—and by extension, our teachers—are. So terrible, they might as well be a Commie plot to destroy our country. Here’s the money quote:
“If an unfriendly foreign power had attempted to impose on America the mediocre educational performance that exists today, we might well have viewed it as an act of war.”
It’s been wall-to-wall anti-public education, anti-teacher, anti-teachers union grandstanding from Republicans ever since.
And yet, public sentiment over the past month has been generally favorable to teachers’ demands for better pay and increased school funding. If a savvy politician like our own “[not] Education Governor” Ducey is forced to concede that teachers might have a point, that maybe they deserve a pay raise twenty times higher than what he proposed a year earlier, you know Ducey knows the public is siding with teachers.
I guess the Republican onslaught hasn’t been as successful as they hoped. Oh, it’s had an impact. In the late 1980s, I was honestly shocked by the growing level of anger directed against my profession—generally parroting conservative talking points — the likes of which I hadn’t experienced in my previous 20 years of teaching. But in spite of that, teachers still garner a great deal of respect.
A few recent polls tell the tale. A story in Education Week pulls together the numbers.
There’s a Gallup poll from last December where people were asked to “rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in . . . different fields.” Grade schools teachers rank third, behind nurses and military officers, with 66 percent of people giving them a high or very high rating. Doctors are close behind with 65 percent, then pharmacists at 62 and police officers at 56. Far lower: Judges, 43; Clergy, 42; Reporters, 24; Members of Congress, 11. Teachers are still held in high regard by the general public.
A 2017 poll from Education Next tells a similar story. When people are asked to grade the public schools in their community, 54 percent give the schools an A or a B. The number goes up to 62 percent for parents. To my surprise, grades from Democrats and Republicans are nearly equal. Not surprisingly, however, the numbers plummet when people are asked to grade public schools in the nation as a whole. People have always thought their neighborhood schools are better than schools in general. The general public gives an A or B to 23 percent of the nation’s schools, with parents slightly higher at 27. This time, Republicans come in 10 points lower than Democrats.
When it comes to teacher pay, it depends on how you ask the question. A recent Rasmussen Reports poll has 62 percent saying teachers are paid too little, the highest number since 2008. But when the Education Next poll asked if teacher salaries should increase, only 36 percent said yes. It’s easier to sympathize with “poor but honest” teachers than it is to pay them what they deserve. We’ll see how that works out for teachers in the weeks and months ahead.
All this means teacher activism is falling on favorable ears. That gives educators a bit extra leeway to push the envelope with their demands and to inconvenience parents with their walkouts.
This article appears in Apr 12-18, 2018.
One bad apple…..
http://www.kvoa.com/story/37986809/fresno-state-professors-tweets-on-the-late-barbara-bush-triggers-outrage
And the public knows there are for more than one like this. Most schools have some.
“One bad apple…..”
And a basket full of good apples.
I’m so proud of the teachers, and so grateful. This issue has been a major negative splotch on this beautiful state for far too long.And as you point out, David, its been the same for the country, which seems to have lost its bearings completely on what it means to take care of future generations. When our military budgets are so much larger than our educational budgets (https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-… ) you know the government is more interested in using our kids for cannon fodder than educating them. Thats why I’m grateful that the teachers are standing up for themselves and for all of us. In a teaching shortage, they have the power, and as a parent I sincerely hope that they turn the RedforEd walk-ins into walk-OUTS. And then I hope the subs, long treated as second class citizens, will do the same so that Arizona realizes just how necessary ALL of these people are.
The majority of the problem can be laid at the feet of the liberal progressive movement in the country. A nation without borders will soon bankrupt itself. We have coddled the criminals and punished the taxpayers. Our health care system is falling lower every year. The Feds are short changing hospitals so insurance companies are being pillaged to pay the offset. They in turn raise premiums and we take the hit.
Same basic failings of public school and the merry go round with admin payroll and pension plans.
Sorry folks but you can not have it all. What are you willing to destroy to get your way?
Try teaching for a month, a year, a few more; it is not easy at all. It is hard work that requires alertness, intelligence, rules of conduct, policies/procedures, common sense and true compassion for the problems of others who are totally unrelated to you and yours. And, then there can always be the unexpected crisis that can erupt any hour of any day.
There are people who criticize and try to starve the system as a ploitical scheme, but teachers do heavy lifting everyday despite critics who have no clue what strength of character it requires.
There are a lot of tough jobs. How can it be that State Law Enforcement employees have not seen a significant pay raise in 12 years, yet they continue to do their jobs and be professional?
If you don’t like the pay….do something else. The rest of the free world operates that way. Join them.
Don V, lots of teachers have taken your advice. They didn’t like the pay, so they left the state to teach where salaries are higher, or they left the profession entirely.
One of the ideas taught in standard economics classes is, if you pay too little, you won’t have enough people willing to do a job. If you need more workers, you increase wages or other incentives to attract more people. The people have spoken. Teachers aren’t paid enough, and/or the disincentives are high enough, that we have a shortage of qualified people willing to do the job. Apparently, we even have a shortage of unqualified people. The legislature wrote a law saying almost anyone can be hired to teach, yet people without teaching credentials haven’t been flocking to schools asking for a job.
50% of all teachers have always quit by year 5, just when they accumulate the experience necessary to do an above average job. Unfortunately, we have a culture that has been shaped by teachers within a few years of retirement. Thus, those teachers get the lion’s share of pay.
The typical teacher can’t remotely hope to get the average teacher salary in Arizona of $47,218 (National Education Association Rankings and Estimates).
Sorry Mr Safier but your presentation doesn’t add up. If we under paid and lost teachers we would increase wages? Take a look. We have not raised wages.
The general public is still disappointed in your public school results.
Why not promise us something that we would be willing to spend money on?
And then deliver. Anything less and you are losing us.
Arizona Lost Another Amazing Teacher
My wife, an Arizona native, knew that she wanted to be a teacher since she was a kid. When she was a teenager, she received all As in school and worked at a summer camp for people with disabilities. She graduated from Northern Arizona University in 4 years with a 4.0 in elementary and special education. She worked for two years as a special education teacher and for four years as a 5th grade teacher, and still under 30, she is done with teaching. Done because Arizona isnt supporting the youth or the or the highly qualified teachers and staff. Done because Arizona is near last in per pupil funding. Done because class sizes are too big. Done because teachers now have to be human shields.
She put her heart and soul into being a teacher. She was an amazing teacher. Now, she is making more money as a restaurant server, without any training or experience.
Amazing teachers are leaving the profession in droves. And Arizona, all of us, lose.
Teachers are some of the most selfless people I know. For my wife, it wasnt even about low salaries, though the low salaries hugely contribute to Arizona not having the most qualified staff.
It is about the funding for education as a whole – the four demands that Governor Ducey has avoided thus far:
Restoring funding to 2008 levels (a decade ago!)
Competitive Pay for All Education Support Staff (Monitors, Aides, Librarians, individuals that affect the future generation every day!)
Permanent salary structure (to retain the talented teachers)
No new tax cuts until per pupil funding reaches national average (Arizona spent $7,489 per pupil, compared with the national average of $11,392. That is a difference of about 34 percent)
Governor Ducey and the legislature, please stop being beholden to outside interests and stop avoiding the essentials for a strong and prosperous Arizona. This is our patriotic honor: we can afford the best opportunities for our youth, but we cant afford to lose any more amazing teachers! Together, we can fund the next generations education.