This week, I would like to go over the shortage of teachers in Texas and across the nation. First, according to some reports, we are seeing fewer kids choosing an education major in college, which means no future teachers. Now let’s go over the many reasons for this massive shortage that started during the pandemic, which changed how kids learn. Then as the number of COVID cases went down, some school districts required that all teachers, staff, and students wear masks. Next, SAISD and other districts required all teachers to get vaccinated to come back and teach. On top of all that, Texas and other states require that all teachers teach standard testing, which is just another barrier for both teachers and students.
Now, some of our Texas Politicians have come up with a list of books that they would like to ban from all schools. The idea is based on this Critical Race Theory, which came from a book called “Not My Idea,” a book about whiteness. This brings me to the other stressor: now, our teachers have to teach both the good and bad of historical events in Texas. For example, in recent news, a curriculum coordinator for another district explains that they must teach both perspectives, which means somehow a teacher has to find the good and bad about the Holocaust. All the teachers were lost because no good came from the Holocaust. It was a genocide that caused so much pain and suffering for so many people. Then we see caution tape across the bookshelves, which is another way for Texas Politicians to control our teachers. This means that teachers and the school’s libraries can’t be accessed by our teachers or students until TEA makes an approval list. This means that our future generations will never learn the true history of how we became the United States nor the truth about slavery. Our children must learn from our past histories so we don’t repeat our mistakes; it also prepares them with better ideas on how to deal with current issues. Then teachers are given new laws to follow along with new teaching guidelines. Then it seems that some of our schools are dealing with more fights in the hallways
so that is another issue. The list of reasons why we’re losing teachers is now a heavy burden that is felt by many districts. We must ask ourselves how long we could keep up the pace if we had to walk a mile in these teachers’ shoes.
The story that most teachers tell is that they wanted to become a teacher was because, with hard work and determination, they wanted to change the world, and now all that has been taken from them. We must find a way to help our current teachers because, without teachers, our future is doomed. It’s hard to imagine that there’s a possibility that future children will be left without learning the basics of reading and math. We must find a way to help our teachers because they’re doing too much more than teaching in their classrooms. Our teachers are being asked to help by sometimes driving the buses and tutoring after school; they no longer wear one hat. At this point, I am afraid that we will lose more teachers, and then our children will fall further behind academically. We need to find a way to make our Texas politicians see that being a teacher is one of the most challenging jobs in today’s society. So parents, please email your child’s teacher just to let them know that you appreciate them.
