Teachers: The Struggle for Respect and Remuneration

Knowledge is power. Throughout time people have strived to improve themselves and understand the world. Those who had the knowledge often try their best to spread it. Some are more successful than others, gaining fame and recognition. Even Alexander the Great was taught by Aristotle. Throughout history teachers have been revered or ignored in different ways. They have been responsible for teaching the young everything, from morals to Newton’s Laws. In modern times, teachers are not revered, but many still expect their children to get the very best education for little to no money. The government has its say in what kids should be taught and how. They try to standardize every little thing so that typical adults are formed. Meanwhile,

They had to be of good moral character and often stayed with families of the kids with a small salary. At that time teachers had more knowledge than the lay farmer or worker, so a certain amount of respect was given while some parents did not believe their children needed any formal education. Now, teachers are not respected. Some kids still have the archaic ideas that formal education is not necessary, causing them to be petulant. It is true that each level of school is designed to prepare a kid for the next level of education. Instead of making sure kids have the necessary skills such as balancing check books, Shakespeare is pounded into their heads, but this does not mean that teachers are failing to do their jobs or unnecessary. For having the patience to read old English with kids, they deserve respect. This is simply one example of teachers’ perseverance. While many teachers show up from 7:30 to 3:30, but for all of those teachers that show up at seven and leave at seven consideration should automatically be

Gary Brannon. He retired in 2013, but at the time he mentioned his exasperation over government interference. All of the state mandates made it so he had no control over what he taught kids, or even how much time they spent on things simply because so much content absolutely had to be gone through. This is not the only way governmental interference has negatively impacted teachers. As a student, standardized testing is the worst thing invented since the guillotine. While advocates of standardized tests are right to want proof that students are learning, it is wrong to base teacher salaries off of the results. What the government fails to acknowledge when basing a teacher’s salary off the test is the lack of interest from students. Often pupils take the tests as jokes and teachers show bitterness over losing two weeks of teaching. After being told what they must teach and how a bitter taste has been left in the mouths of many teachers. Students have grown up hating the testing and after hearing their teachers complain about the restrictions, interest in the field has decreased greatly leading to shortages, as stated by Springer and Gardner in their article Teacher Pay for