Educators, the shortage is REAL
According to the NEA, National Education Association, schools across the country are experiencing a shortage of 300,000 teachers and staff. A shortage like nothing we have seen or experienced before.
Here’s a few lowlights from a recent Washington Post article about this topic:
- Rural school districts in Texas are switching to a four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff
- Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms
- Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children
- The Nevada State Education Association estimated that roughly 3,000 teaching jobs remain unfilled across the state
- Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents report 88% of school districts statewide are having “problems with teacher shortages”
- In the Houston area, the largest five school districts are all reporting between 200 and 1,000 teaching positions remain open
The article not only lists these alarming facts about the teacher shortage, but also offers some potential reasons WHY, assuming some of these won’t surprise you… might I say, shouldn’t surprise you.
Pay is most definitely a factor, but it’s when you combine low pay with the educators’ feeling politicians and parents, and sometimes school board members, have little to no respect for their profession, is when it gets the most challenging.
Wherever you stand on education, teachers or both, I’m pretty confident we can all agree we NEED teachers, GREAT TEACHERS, right?
It’s not too much to ask to show our hard-working teachers a little more respect and appreciation, is it?
And that’s why our “Elevate an Educator” campaign is so important to us.
Join FREADOM’S ELEVATION NATION by showing an educator(s), past and/or present a little love!
Click Here to Elevate an Educator (or two or three or…)
WOTW
There’s a chasm of difference between affiliation & participation.
We love to tell people about our affiliations, what groups we belong to or with which we associate.
It could be a non-profit, a golf club, a political party, environmental movement, religious organization etc. etc.
However, affiliation DOES NOT equal, participation.
Affiliation, “costs” us nothing, requires ZERO sacrifice.
But participation, participation comes at a cost, you must give something up to participate – your time, your emotions, your resources, your comfort, your convenience and maybe even your friendships, maybe all of these, and more.
Affiliation is talk – participation is when talking the talk becomes walking the walk.
So, are you a participator or an affiliator?
Do you participate meaningfully where you are affiliated?
If not, it’s never too late to participate, start today!
Quotes worth a ponder
“Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” – Benjamin Franklin
“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.” – Chinese Proverb
“What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to a human soul.” – Joseph Addison
“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” – Margaret Mead
“If kids come to us from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come to us from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job more important.” – Barbara Colorose
“Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” – Anonymous