A large number of middle school aged children struggle to spell their names correctly each week.
There’s an even larger number of teachers struggling to survive.
America doesn’t value teachers because it doesn’t truly value education.
My check was less than $900 last month!
For the first month at my new school district they paid me as first year teacher.
On payday, I opened my check and were shocked to see less than $900!
So let’s be real!
Underpaid teachers and educators is a clear indicator that we don’t value education.
This experience however reminded me of support staff members in schools.
Bus drivers, school secretaries, parent liaisons, cafeteria workers are such critical part of school.
Yet many of them have to work more than one part-time job to take care of their family.
It is difficult raising a family on a teacher’s salary.
Teachers don’t even truly get the resources needed to perform the art of teaching.
We spend money out of their own pockets to make our classrooms spaces where children can create.
Most times we struggle for the support of administration and parents to engage kids.
Then we wonder why we have adults who act like Trump!
It’s because of the lack of support for education.
There is no support for education if we aren’t paying teachers a quality salary!
Jason has worked in education for over 15 years as a teacher, blogger and community advocate. He speaks and writes primarily about the need to improve education for Black boys, particularly increasing the number of Black male educators in schools. In addition to blogging here at EdLanta, Jason is also a featured writer at Education Post.