Aaron Herbert. Are you doing OK? What’s goin’ on with you?
Are you a teacher? If not, are you familiar with the concept of empathy? When you reference “the numerous inaccuracies that actually have to do with her job” — what exactly are you going on about? What does that utterance mean?
And why on earth are you educating students using your “own funds.” Are you independently wealthy? Do you not have student loan debt from your master’s program in education? Congrats! (Seriously, what is your position, exactly? You may be involved in an elaborate swindle that has deluded you into thinking teaching is a volunteer effort done from the heart...*sigh*…) Educators are public servants — yes, but that does not equal martyrs. I am a teacher because I am an expert in my content areas and because I believe all children deserve an education. I help kids prep for the ACT. I explain comma splices. I help students create resumes. I recommend books and poems and stories to former and current students. I talk about Syria and Russia and Afghanistan. And I assign articles on how smartphones are changing how we live. Because that’s my job. That’s in my contract and written into the state standards voted on by our legislators. Beyond that? I drive kids home. I bring kids lunch. I take kids to the theater. I hug kids every day and wipe away their tears. I love them. And they love me. We say it. But I will never believe a system that sees me as a do-gooder is a just system.
MS. HYATT, YOU ARE AWESOME. You are honest. You are loving. You are kind. And you are rigorous in your critique of yourself, and our current system. No one could fault for a word you have written here. I guess it’s easier to be angry with you than to find fault with a system that pays me $600/week (I’m 39 and have two master’s degrees, oodles of professional development and workshops and conferences.) Our kids are being let down. Many of their parents are being let down. Teachers are being let down. BUT IT IS NOT OUR FAULT. IT IS NOT. You did what you did so you could stay healthy, so you could survive. Maybe you will return, maybe not. Regardless, you seem like a badass.
P.S. I don’t care to discuss grammatical errors. (And no one wants to hear it. BO-ring!) Why are you — Mr. Herbert — waiting for comments that employ the same critical lens you yourself employ? Are you suggesting this kind of criticism is beside the point? If so, I wonder if you’re familiar with the concept of logical fallacies. You seem to know a lot, so I’m guessing you do. Hence, you are acutely aware that your wife’s teaching career has nothing to do with YOU.
Let’s all take a minute to think about what we are really angry about, upset about, hurt about… and channel that anger into love and positive change — as we each see fit.
