Call me old-school. I’ve been called worse.
As a former teacher, certain things pedagogical still resonate like nails defiling a blackboard. Teaching to a test. Money rewards for “high-achieving” schools, no matter how much affluence influenced the achievement. Overuse and misuse of AP courses.
There are others, but I’ll just note one more. The well-intentioned practice of honoring teachers, who increasingly struggle for professional respect in this society, in ways that, ironically, underscore the challenge and undermine efforts to address it. Case in point: the dedicated Greco Middle School teacher who earned this year’s Hillsborough County We Deliver award for employees who exceed expectations.
She was presented with a $10,000 check–after being sprayed with silly string by students. Of course it was in celebratory, congratulatory fun. But you know what the media chose to depict in the photo. The image, context notwithstanding, was not helpful to those typically underpaid, underappreciated and under scrutiny.