Our Teachers’ Predicament

“my mad teacher” by Ariel Camilo at www.freeimages.com

Another school year is in full swing; teachers are hard at work trying to educate the next generation of America. I appreciate and sympathize with the great task laid before them.  I was once a licensed teacher myself.  I taught for a short time before going full-time into ministry.  My wife is a trained teacher as well, receiving her degree in elementary education.  We have chosen to homeschool our children, which is a tremendous amount of work and challenge for Amanda, but she does a great job.

When thinking about the expectations and pressures of teachers, my mind went back to the book of Exodus.  In Exodus, God’s people were enslaved to Pharaoh.  They were employed in building projects for Pharaoh, which involved the hard labor of making bricks.  After Moses had asked Pharaoh for the people to have the opportunity to go and worship, Pharaoh accused the slaves of being idle.  So, he quit supplying the straw for them to make bricks with and required they gather their own straw.  However, the Israelite slaves were still required to produce the same amount of bricks (Exodus 5:5-13).

Doesn’t this sound similar to what we are doing to our teachers today.  We are asking them to produce a better product, while putting an ever increasing amount of burdens on them.  They are expected to complete graduate degrees, fill out endless paperwork, be involved in different extracurricular activities, and prepare creative, unique ways for teaching.  They have been given more-and-more responsibilities, with less-and-less rewards and incentives.  Teacher pay remains low and many school districts have not been able to give yearly raises.  Federal and state governments complicate the issue by requiring standards and telling the teachers what to teach.  Teachers have less disciplining measures than past generations and less support by parents.  It is no wonder so many teachers burn-out and change careers.  A 2014 study revealed a half-million teachers move or leave each year.  Current turnover rate is about 20%, up from just 9% in 2009.¹

I don’t have an answer to the problem.  I am not even a part of the system.  But, I do know this: we should appreciate our teachers, especially Christian teachers who represent Jesus in the schools!  As a society, our future depends upon the education of our citizenship.  We need good teachers who are not over-burdened and under-payed like slaves making bricks in Egypt.  The slaves became bitter, so have many teachers.  Let’s do our part to appreciate, support, and encourage teachers.  

Will you join me in praying for teachers this week?  

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¹  Article – http://indianapublicmedia.org/stateimpact/2014/07/17/study-teacher-turnover-higher/