Recently, students have been standing up for themselves in regard to their safety in schools. This sense of activism has now flowed into teachers. Over the past few days, teachers in multiple states have walked out of their schools as an act of protest. These teachers have flooded the streets of their state Capitol buildings asking for better wages and an end to budget cuts. It is estimated that about 30,000 teachers arrived in Oklahoma City to protest; many teachers are still on their way as they walk more than 100 miles from Tulsa, Okla. to arrive at the Capitol. Up in Kentucky, every public school closed this past Monday while their teachers protested. Then in West Virginia, teachers protested for nine days straight. These states have the highest rates of teacher walkouts so far, and it’s sure to inspire more around the country.
These empowered teachers’ efforts have not gone to waste. This past Tuesday, a bill was passed increasing the base salary for teachers; the average salary for supporting staff in schools, and other public employees; and an increase in funding for textbooks. So, it seems as though the schools have been closed down for a reason.
Although this may seem selfish of teachers to be taking precious days off their students’ education, it’s not a selfish act in the slightest. Teachers are willing to do anything for their students, and by anything I mean walk 110 miles across the state to keep them safe. Teachers want improved school conditions to better the education they are providing.
As far as wages go, it’s clear that teachers do not choose to teach because of the salary. I want to be a teacher because of the endless opportunities I have to change a student’s life, my life, and the future of our society. I want to teach to build relationships with members of my community. I do not want to teach for the money or the summers off. My devotion to spending my life as a teacher is not at all superficial.
However, the wages are still something for which we should be fighting. In my education class this semester, we have greatly discussed how the classroom is becoming political: whether or not we, as teachers, should be armed; how we handle gun violence in the school; and how we tackle working in a school without proper resources for educating. Time and time again, we reach the conclusion by saying these hardships are not what we are signing up for when we commit to teaching. We are not signing up to be the benefactor for our school or the armed protector. We are signing up to be motivators, advice-givers, friends, mediators, disciplinaries, role models and most importantly, we are signing up to be educators. As a future teacher, I personally thank these teachers throwing lesson plans out the window to fight for their students and colleagues, as they are paving for the way for a better education system that I will soon be entering.