I am a licensed teacher in two states, Kansas and New Mexico. I'm not currently teaching, but I wouldn't be opposed to reentering the field if a good opportunity arose. But I taught for a year at a fairly tough school in Albuquerque's South Valley, so I have a fairly good idea of what I'm talking about. More so, I dare say, than the majority of conservative politicians and media figures.
Prior to December 14 they rarely had a kind word for teachers. They're overglorified babysitters. They're lazy - they don't even work in summer! They're union thugs. They care about their pension, not kids. They're paid way too much. They teach our kids godless liberal propaganda like safe sex and evolution. If you doubt me, just do a simple search for comments uttered during the 2011 Wisconsin protests or 2012 Chicago teachers' strike. That all changed when teachers gave their lives in defense of their students in Newtown, Connecticut.
Before I get into that, I want to paint a clearer picture of what teaching is all about, from one who's been in the trenches. Besides teaching a full courseload, they are expected to: grade hundreds of assignments and tests, contact parents as necessary, attend staff meetings and training days, monitor the cafeteria and school grounds, identify students with special needs and participate in development of their Individualized Education Plans, write lesson plans, gather materials and prepare documents for evaluation, and attend parent-teacher conferences and other school-sponsored events. They must prepare students for rigorous standardized tests and are often held accountable for their performance. Depending on their duties and age of their students, in addition to teacher, they may serve as nanny, nurse, psychologist, coach, mentor, or confidant. They can be held criminally negligent if harm comes to students or criminally liable if they fail to report suspected abuse. They are trained to respond to all manner of different crises. They may have classrooms with more than 30 students, many of whom may not speak English that well or at all be used to a controlled, organized environment. They may have more meaningful contact with the students than the students have with their parents. And some have to pay for school supplies out of their own pocket.
So how much do these union thugs on Easy Street get paid? In New Mexico a newly licensed public school teacher with a BA and on a contract starts at $30,000 per year. A starting teacher with a Master's degree - requiring at least 2 more years of additional coursework and tuition - can command a salary of ... $30,002. I'm not joking. It's only after several years of experience (minimum) and two rigorous rounds of evaluation that a teacher can hope to make as much as $50,000. If you divided their salary by the number of hours they spend doing job-related duties and further subtract their own money they spend on their classrooms, many teachers would make minimum wage or less. And that's only if they're contracted - sometimes the best a teacher can hope for is a permanent substitute position, which generally carries no benefits whatsoever. Teachers don't do it for the money. Just ask Bill O'Reilly. But that's how we compensate these babysitters who also happen to be responsible for educating our country's most valuable resource. And now, apparently, we'll expect them to be expert marksmen as well.
In the wake of Newtown the calls for teachers and other school personnel to be armed has been truly disturbing, but it seemed mostly limited to Facebook posts and radical gun groups. Not anymore. A Tennessee state senator plans to introduce legislation that would arm certain school officials such as security guards and "secret" teachers. At least one would be required in every school. The proposal has the governor's interest. The governors of Virginia and Texas (Rick "oops" Perry) also want to consider it. Let me state this clearly: This. Is. Insane.
If guns had been allowed - required - at the school I taught at last year, it is rather likely somebody would have died. Maybe me. Many of our students had been kicked out of other Albuquerque schools; some had served time; some had probation officers. They could be disturbingly creative and enterprising in their malfeasance. Sometimes I felt like their only purpose in life, if they had to be at school, was to come up with new and creative ways to deceive me. They also had remarkably short tempers. One of my students responded to accidentally being kicked by punching a hole in a door. Fights were a common occurrence; one broke out in my room over a cell phone charger. Students were expelled for bringing switchblades and brass knuckles to campus. Perhaps worst of all, the administration was often MIA. On some days with fights there were zero administrators present to deal with the offending students. Purposely introducing guns into this environment would not make me feel safer. It would scare me shitless.
I would never serve in a school that required guns on campus, even if I didn't have to have one (and I don't see well enough to pass muster anyway - at least, I hope I don't). I don't care how secure the guns are or how well-trained the personnel are. Bringing guns within feet of students - or staff - who may snap at a moment's notice is BAD NEWS. Limited funding and the principle of inclusion means that students with rather severe mental health issues might be placed in a regular classroom right alongside other students. Some of these students could easily overpower a teacher; I taught several last year. Is an armed teacher supposed to draw and fire at the first sign of trouble? Rules of engagement are for law enforcement and battlefields. Not schools. The possibility of things that could go wrong is incalculable. Look, every school shooting is a tragedy and one too many. But the number of kids who die in school shootings each year is far less than the number that die at the hands of their own family members by one method or another. Are we going to send armed guards into children's homes? If the answer is no, then arming school staff is a "solution" far out of proportion to the problem that just opens the door for all sorts of new problems.
Forcing guns into schools would have a disastrous effect on an educational system that already lags behind most advanced countries. I know I am far from the only teacher who would refuse to serve in an environment filled with guns and unstable personalities. Teachers are willing to put up with low pay, long hours, hostile students and parents, and ineffective administration to do their job, because they love teaching. Don't ask them to put their own safety at unnecessary risk. We need good teachers, and our students desperately need them - perhaps now more than ever.
A note to responsible gun owners: I want to protect your rights, but you have to do your part. You need to stand up to those who can only think of the solution to these problems as being MOAR GUNZ! Trust me, the bigger the platform these people have, the harder it will be for you to make arguments for responsible gun ownership. They add nothing to the conversation. Silence them.
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