"With a Conscience" - "Anger like you have never seen..."

 

     I am terrified.  Completely and totally terrified.  I was born in 1961.  Even then, as I was raised by my parents, in a conservative household by the way...My mother understood the importance of the rights of women.  Granted, she was the epitome of "June Cleaver" of "Leave it to Beaver," but she was determined to get her daughters through high school, college and beyond.  She wanted us to stand on our own two feet and support ourselves with or without a man in our lives. All of that happened much to her pride. She completely understood the position that women had been in prior to the mid-60's.  But here's the rub...

     Now, NOW, all of that influence has gone down the sewer.  With the latest Supreme Court decision on abortion, every woman in this country has been marginalized...Young, old, middle-aged...We have been reduced to nothing more than marginalized voters.  The Supreme Court made us second class, cliche as that sounds.  Women in this country, regardless of their political beliefs, are being reduced to nothing more than whispers of the voices they had 50 years ago.  This is no time to whisper, regardless of your beliefs.

     What is most important here, are the fundamental freedoms we had in this country for decades.  We have been supportive of our troops overseas, supportive of our national tragedies and last week was a complete slap in the face to our history.  We have to remember on important thing..."Our society does NOT flourish without a woman's influence in the home."  Women bare all of the angst and pain of pregnancy to birth.  Sorry men, but that is the truth whether you accept it or not. To negate our rights and to infringe on our privacy is an abomination of our society.  

     I know only too well the importance of childbirth.  I was not able to have that ability.  I found out when at the age of sixteen that it would not be possible.  I understood then, as I understand now, that child-bearing is a "gift."  Undertanding that at such a young age, I would never, EVER, turn my back on those who bring our children in to this world.  However, it is a matter of choice.  My body, my rules, my right to embrace the freedom of choice, even though that choice was not to be for me.  We are nothing without the women in our lives.  Remember that too because, elections are just around the corner.

With a Conscience - "School Haze"

 

     I am tired.  Not just a little tired, but a tired that is indescribable to anyone who has not taught in the classroom over the past three years.  To some, this may seem like whining, but frankly, I do not care.  Many articles have been written about the overwhelming difficulties or hurdles for teachers these past couple of years but one thing remains true...We need to heal.

     We need to heal from the increasing number of students who need more help than we can provide to them. Especially when class sizes can be in excess of 30 students.  Many students who came back to school this year were so emotionally scarred.  They could not handle being back in the crowds, on the buses, in the halls,  cell phones everywhere (even when it clearly states that cell phones are not allowed.)  Trust me, when you hear a student scream out in pain, "I want Ms. King!!!!" You see their pain, their angst and their tears.  This is not the teaching I envisioned when I started my career.  This is not the profession I dreamed of or witnessed as a student back in the 70's.  See, back in the 70's, we listened.  We did our classwork and our homework and there no excuses to be made.  I wonder had we not taken that "No nonsense" approach during the pandemic, if our students would have learned more and done more.  This is not to say that students tried this year, many did.  But I fear for those who did not, particularly those who could have succeeded and chose not to because, they used the excuse of "Whatever."

     Teachers need to heal from endless hours spent covering extra classes, having their prep times taken away due to substitute shortages and the anxiety of not having enough time to do what they needed unless they stayed after hours, which given the "active shooting" scenarios probably was not such a good idea.  You went home.   You had to go home.  You needed to go home.  Home, now more than ever, meant safety.  The endless safety drills do not mean a thing when there is an acutality.  We all know that.  Uvalde, Texas  proved that to all of us.  Teaching has become a dangerous profession.  Who planned on that??  Now before anyone says, "So leave then..." know that there is a teacher shortage.  People do NOT want to teach.  They will choose another profession unlike myself, who chose teaching because I love kids. I genuinely love kids and wanted to show them that the world, although difficult and challenging can be theirs.  Teachers new to the profession are going to face a lot of disrespect, apathy and yes...potential danger.  "Are you prepared to die?"  I would like to see a professor at a teacher's college ask that question during a "methods course" and see what kind of reaction they get.  Or better yet, how about a curriculum meeting?  Are you prepared for your students to turn their backs in the classroom for the sake of "YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter?"

     I went into teaching for no other reason than love.  I had so many teachers in my high school years show me nothing more than love and I learned from them that love means more than any homework assignment.  I am who I am today because I was loved.  We need to love more and judge less and then...THEN perhaps we can get back to the love of teaching,  As of today, I fear that will not happen unless we lick our wounds and put the emphasis back on parenting and the structure of the family.  Nothing matters more than our kids.  Nothing.  My mother taught me that.  My father taught me that.  My father was not a quitter and neither am I.  Having said that, I have worked for the hundreds of kids who walked out of 8th grade into the abyss.  

     If public schools are to do their job, then we need to leave politics out of the equation, and let teachers heal.  We need to let them do their jobs and let them show their students that they can indeed learn if they choose to learn. If they are encouraged to learn.  It's all about choice.  I chose teaching.  My colleagues chose teaching and now that we are in our summer solstice, I can only hope that we all heal and find out joy once again.  Our kids need to find their joy again.

     I will heal. My colleagues will heal, if we are allowed to do what we know is best.   Kids need to understand that the world does not revolve around them.  The world evolves because we a part of the greater good.  We are part of the greater good. Summer is here.  I'm embracing it, no matter what happens in the fall. I need to rest.