Teachers: Madonna And Whore

Huck/Konopacki Labor Cartoons

When people hear that I’m a teacher they routinely make comments like, “Wow, that must be a tough job,” or “Thank you so much for doing this important work,” or “Man, you must be really patient and courageous. I could never do it.” My gut reaction is always to feel a little honored and proud, until I consider that much of this respect and awe stems from an irrational fear of kids, especially teenagers, or from an acknowledgement that most of us are pretty poorly paid for the amount of work and stress the job entails. In other words, teaching is something they cannot imagine doing themselves because it scares, disgusts or intimidates them. Thus, teachers are seen as selfless martyrs or Madonnas, willing to make great personal sacrifices to nurture and care for our most precious resource: children.

Of course, teaching is an incredibly tough job, and always has been, even before the current wave of Ed Deform began. Simply interacting with 150-175 different personalities every day, keeping them motivated and on task, even when they are hungry, depressed, sick or in pain, or suffering from PTSD, is a big challenge that requires considerable patience and empathy. Then there is the reality of having your day controlled by bells, in 50 minute spurts, unable to go to the restroom when you need to because you are legally responsible for your students for that entire 50 minute block. Preparing engaging, exciting, meaningful lessons is fun, but time consuming—even more so when you take the time to predict where your students might falter and develop scaffolding (eduspeak for teaching prerequisite skills) so that they actually understand and can perform the activities you so carefully planned. And, of course, let us not forget the absolute frustration, fear and anxiety that occur each time a student is aggressive or confrontational, or a parent or administrator accuses you of some oversight or misdeed.

With the current attacks on teachers, the Madonna image is being supplanted with that of a greedy, self-serving whore who just wants to get fat on the public’s dime. It’s not enough to be professionally trained or to work 50-60 hour weeks or to compassionately care for other people’s children. Teachers must do so for low wages and without the security that they will ever be able to retire. They are expected to fix the educational deficits that result from growing up in poverty, but ignore the causes of poverty. They are encouraged to jump aboard the latest self-serving “reforms” of the corporate education raiders or be blamed for declining test scores. Anyone who resists or who demands to be treated with respect and dignity and paid a decent wage, is guilty of selling out our children. They are worse than a whore.  They are guilty of child abuse!

Yet, in reality, teachers encourage the Madonna stereotype. They are incredibly hardworking and self-sacrificing. Most care so passionately about their students that they readily take on extra responsibilities to help them. Getting teachers to go on strike or work to rule or even attend a lunchtime union meeting is particularly hard because of their dedication to their students. Teachers don’t want to cause their students to miss even one club meeting, review session or class activity.

In a culture in which teachers are seen as Madonnas, any push back at all will be perceived by some as a betrayal of children, even if it is only to ensure a decent wage or job security. And any attempt to have a decent standard of living will seem greedy and selfish if it can be spun to seem like its coming at someone else’s expense. While it may seem counterintuitive, virtually every attempt by teachers to improve their working conditions or to resist reforms, serves the interests of children. Better pay and benefits help to attract and retain the best qualified teachers. In contrast, attacks on working conditions, pay, benefits, and professional integrity drive many of the best teachers away from the children who need them most. Likewise, most of the reforms that are intended to improve student achievement are costly to school districts and have little or no data to support their efficacy. Furthermore, many are simply scams to benefit private companies. In either case, without compelling evidence that they will work, we are simply throwing away money that schools could use for sure things like books, supplies, safer facilities, and sufficient staffing.

Teachers, especially their unions, are also complicit in the proliferation of the whore stereotype. Each time they resist a reform they are portrayed as villains. However, each time they resist and later compromise or give in, they are seen as impotent. Like the misogynistic fantasy that women are weak and subservient, the ruling elite believe that unions are easily manipulated.  Their cries of “No, no,” really mean “Yes, yes.” Certainly teachers unions have had their minor victories. Yet whenever they are accused of any offense (e.g., being  opposed to parental choice or reform efforts) their immediate reaction is to be defensive and then trip all over themselves to prove that they do indeed support these reforms, even at the expense of compromising their members’ working conditions. Or when they are told that budget crises require concessions by their members, they immediately acquiesce instead of demanding higher taxes on the wealthy.

I am not suggesting that teachers should become callous or cavalier. Compassion, patience and nurturance are all part of the job and required for creating the kind of classroom culture necessary to promote children’s learning and intellectual growth. However, at the same time, teachers do need to speak and act out regularly in defense of their students’ wellbeing by opposing all reforms that lack a solid track record, especially those that sap resources from well-proven existing programs and services like class size reduction. Furthermore, teachers really need to speak out in favor of the one reform that actually has any hope of closing the achievement gap: Closing the wealth gap, reducing poverty, and creating the conditions at home that children need to be academically, socially and physically ready to succeed in school. This will require organizing among teachers, but also organizing among parents and solidarity-building among all workers to improve everyone’s wages, benefits and living standards.

As long as teachers continue to accept the demands of the Ed Deformers and take on more and more work in order to solve social problems that cannot be resolved within the context of schools, they will continue to be seen as Madonnas. And if they continue to complain, while taking impotent stands and then compromising and giving in, they will also continue to be seen as whores. However, if teachers really start to stand up and fight, not only to improve their own working and living conditions, but to improve those of their students and their families, too, they may start to earn the respect they deserve as advocates and fighters for social justice, and shed the stereotype of Madonna and whore. And with a narrowing of the wealth gap, they should also see a rise in student achievement.