Some people think that stress is productive, that it is “fertilizer for creativity” but I liked to call bull$*&# on that. When you are concerned about your basic needs being met, how you can the bills, it takes ninja skills to keep your mind focused.

In 2007, my husband and I packed up our things from beautiful Arizona and decided to move to another state, a more progressive state, to try my luck in the educational system there. It was a gamble, but I felt confident that Washington state invested in their education system and would allow me to be the teacher that I wanted to be without having to worry about layoffs and pay cuts. This Facebook post summarizes the trajectory of what I left behind years ago.

 

 

If I knew about the crumbling economy perhaps we wouldn’t have moved, but who could have predicted the housing market bubble bursting, coupled with intense competition for teaching jobs (because apparently those who cannot do, teach–ARGH!). This made for one of the worst decisions ever and by the spring of 2008, we were back in Arizona, living in the good graces of my loving family. I cringe to think what would have happened without their support.

So, although my career as an international teacher was more of a push due to economic circumstances rather than a pull for adventure, there is never a moment of regret and there is certainly no longing to go back into the American public school system. But how can we not address the elephant in the room? America is not the only country–this is a global issue! Teacher pay and job security is a huge factor in our performance. You give a pay cut to professional baseball players or basketball players and see how well they play?

So how can we talk about innovation in education without addressing this most fundamental issue? Do politicians really think that robots are going to replace us? You cannot automate the heart and emotion that goes into the care of students! —I don’t care how crafty an AI algorithm can be! Watson and Siri are not going to create the citizens of tomorrow.

I acknowledge that this post is more of a rant, but so often educators are made into martyrs which is incredibly unfair given the weight of our position. We are shapers of the future and not cogs in the wheel of the industrial complex. This sort of thinking and culture needs to be disrupted.

Don’t you agree?