My Comment to a Controversial Blog Post

I read a blog post this morning that really got me thinking.  I read about an educator who used to feel hopeless in the field of education. He became very negative and cynical regarding our education system today.  Toward the end of the blog post I was refreshed to read that he persevered and re-instilled hope and faith, both in himself and the field of education. However, there was once particular section of the blog post that I found to be very controversial, and I realized that many educators share the author's same frustration.  I decided to put a positive spin on the issue to help remind educators that we need to continue to be resilient by motivating and inspiring our colleagues, future teachers, and our students to be the best that they can possibly be, especially when times are tough!

Below is an excerpt from the blog post, "Why I Continue Teaching"

As the weight of proposals such as these and standardized testing crushes my innovation, imagination, and creativity, I can no longer look anyone in the eyes and recommend that they become a teacher. It breaks my heart when my daughter says that she wants to become a reading teacher and the only thing I can think of deep down in my heart is “please don’t let it happen.” I have been passionate about working with college students both as interns and student teachers. It has been one of the greatest benefits of my profession over the last 22 years. But this year I turned down a placement with me, and plan to continue to do so into the future. I can no longer assist people to become a part of a system that is hell bent on creating an educational genocide.

My comment that I posted on the blog

"As a fellow educator, I share your frustration during these times of education reform. However, I believe that we should not give up hope on teaching. I believe that it is more important now than ever to become a teacher in this demanding and rapidly evolving world. We need passionate, creative teachers who will lead our nation in education and challenge the minds of our students who will be running the world in the 21st century."

"We need to remain positive in education and know that each teacher can make a significant impact on our students. Teachers today can still find creative ways to successfully prepare students for their future AND meet state and national standards. We need to establish a healthy school culture by collaborating together to solve today’s problems in education. Negativity is contagious and creates a toxic environment to all of those exposed. Let’s stop complaining and start positively working together to collectively inspire new teachers and current teachers to be the change they wish to see in education! I have faith that if every teacher does his or her part, then we will have successfully reformed education. Let’s focus on the factors that we can control as teachers and make our best effort to positively improve those factors! Thank you for sharing your frustration, your vision and your commitment to the field of education!"

For your consideration

What might you have posted as a comment in response to Why I Continue Teaching?


Reference

http://blogush.edublogs.org/2012/10/29/why-i-continue-teaching/