Dear members of the North Carolina Senate:
I am a retired teacher, so I no longer have a personal stake in the fallout from your ill-conceived education decisions. However, I do have four adult children, and each has a spouse. Of those eight North Carolina citizens and taxpayers, four are in education: three classroom teachers and one administrator.
When I reviewed the Senate’s proposed budget, my first thought was: “These people are losing their minds.”
Then I just got angry.
The people of this state entrusted both houses of the General Assembly and the Governor’s office to the Republican Party. If the Senate’s mindless assault on teachers continues, then the GOP can be assured it will have control of the General Assembly for only two years.
First, let’s deal with some myths.
Myth 1: Anybody can do what a teacher does.
No, the vast majority of you can’t. Teaching in the real world is not Ben Stein in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.” No matter how much a teacher knows, a teacher must first control student behavior and then engage students … before that teacher can present a single concept.
I challenge any legislator or parent to try to step into a classroom and do a teacher’s job for one to two weeks. Notice, I did not say for a day or two. Kids respond to novelty, so they might give you a couple of days’ grace.
Doing the teacher’s job is more than standing in the classroom, controlling students, engaging students, and presenting information. A teacher must prepare lesson plans – and preparing those plans demands an understanding of curriculum, objectives, and methodology. If you want to do the job, be sure to do the whole job. Oh, don’t forget about grading – tests, quizzes, essays and homework. And remember the meetings.
Myth 2: The North Carolina teachers’ union stifles educational progress.
North Carolina does NOT have a teachers’ union.
I was a member of the North Carolina Association of Educators for nearly all my public school teaching career. We never had union meetings, and we never called for a strike. For those of you who missed this tidbit, North Carolina is a right to work state. Besides, public employees are not allowed to strike. So when you mention the North Carolina’s teachers’ union, I deduct IQ points.
The Senate’s proposed budget included these particulars:
1) No raise for teachers – and other state employees. (Over the past six years, teachers and state employees have received a 1.2 percent increase in pay – an average of 0.2 percent per year.)
2) A ludicrous offer for teachers to surrender their tenure for $500.
3) Eliminating increased pay for teachers who earn certifications at the master’s, sixth year, or doctoral level. (The net effect is to provide a disincentive to teachers to advance their education.)
4) Eliminating pay for teachers who hold National Board certification.
At one time, a teacher could increase his or her meager salary by earning NTBS certification and a master’s degree. The Senate would abolish this incentive for self-improvement. Evidently, the Senate gurus want teachers to stagnate.
In the past few years, the General Assembly has moved average teacher salaries in this state from 21st in the nation to 48th in the nation. The Senate rallying cry seems: “We aim for the bottom.”
People often justify their assaults on teachers by talking about “some teachers.” Are they too naïve to realize they are arguing by exception – not by the rule?
Are some teachers better than others? Sure. But aren’t some lawyers, dentists, doctors, store managers, mechanics, plumbers … better than others?
Teachers understand economic realities. They have worked for six years doing more with less. They give the best they have on any given day to your kids.
Research consistently shows the single most important factor in educating children is the classroom teacher.
Please take time to read Maggie Haberny’s guest column in last Wednesday’s paper. She does not even complain of the issues I have raised. Yet, she is leaving North Carolina to teach in Denver.
Unless things change drastically, she will be only among the first who decide to step out of a North Carolina classroom and into a classroom in another state – or into a new profession.
Mike Parker is a columnist for The Free Press. You can reach him at mparker16@suddenlink.net or in care of this newspaper. To read the guest column referenced above, follow this link: http://www.kinston.com/news/local/guest-column-an-open-letter-to-the-n-c-general-assembly-from-a-teacher-1.153495