Has it been two months already?
Much to the delight of many parents, we’re sure, the kids are heading back to school for new lessons on the path of life.
While the kids have been experiencing what will arguably be the best, most care-free days of their lives outside in the sun with their friends, making memories, in the fleeting last days of their summer vacation, teachers were in the classroom last week, preparing for the coming school year — and every single one of them was doing it off-the-clock, using their own resources to make their classrooms welcome spaces for all children to learn.
Yet there are some out there who don’t think teachers are pulling their weight or that they’re a drain on the system somehow.
“They get two months off every summer,” they say. “They make too much money.”
Maybe it’s barbershop talk, but there are actually people out there who believe they shouldn’t have to pay education taxes because they don’t have kids, or because their kids are grown — like some nameless, faceless cabal is conspiring to educate children so they can lead meaningful and productive lives.
These are the same people who don’t want to pay taxes for nurses and healthcare in general because they never go to the hospital. They just don’t want to pay taxes.
Has anyone ever heard of ... the future?
The thing is, if you stop paying taxes for goods and services, they’re not going to be any good anymore and uneducated time bombs are a very poor investment as a future workforce.
When and how did showing support for teachers become a partisan issue?
It’s a long held belief in certain circles and gained particular momentum when political opponents of Justin Trudeau decided to call him out for his past employment as a drama teacher, as if that was some kind of transgression or type of misconduct disqualifying him from holding public office. They conveniently leave out that he also taught math and French, by the way.
Granted, it’s not everyone. There are definitely those who appreciate what teachers do and how valuable a good one can be, and are happy to pay for them. Raising kids can be a challenge. Now imagine raising 30 or more for 10 months out of the year, then getting a summer job to make ends meet.
Teachers shape the future. Don’t disparage them.
They change lives.
