Letters to the Editor – September 27, 2017
Who is fighting for them? Who is listening? Why do they have to go through these horrific trials? Why is this system so screwed up?
Everyday I struggle to answer those questions when I think about the students I teach and the students I come in contact with. When I decided I would become a teacher, I thought I was entering a profession that educated and prepared children to enter the world as a productive citizen. I thought I might be able to change a student’s life. I was wrong.
Instead they have changed mine.
I struggle daily with trying to understand the black cloud that is over many of students. As a teacher, I am flabbergasted at the past that many of my students have been through. I struggle knowing that many of them are helpless in the hand they have been dealt. Many students do not know where their next meal is coming from, or if they even have a bed to lay their heads on night. There are students who witness situations that many of us cannot wrap our heads around.
Who is fighting for them? Who is giving them a voice? When I think about this I feel my blood pressure rise. It seems that the ones making decisions about education are the one that are oblivious to the what education really is. Education is no longer just about teaching. Education is about being a friend, a mom, a dad, a nurse, a counselor, a protector, and a listening ear. Education is about being what each student needs, when they need it. Education is about being…
I write this not to seek sympathy for our students, but to seek awareness especially from our elected officials. Before you make decisions that affect our students, listen to their stories. Get to know them and understand where they come from and the adversity they face. Do not get caught up in the bureaucracy education without seeing how your decisions affect the lives of our students.
This generation needs a hero. They need someone to fight for them. To put them first for a change, regardless of special interest or lobbyist that fight against education. It’s time to stand up and do something or it’s time for you to get out of the way.
I write this as an open invitation to every state and US elected official to visit my classroom. Come and see firsthand how your decisions on education affect our students. Come hear their stories. Come and let them see that you might actually care. Come and be…
Respectfully written for the Education of every student,
Jeffery Tadlock, Teacher
Darlington
