Parody At Its Best - John Stewart Show on Teacher Cribs (Ballin') - Sarcasm - Teachers Make Too Much (yeah, right)

Yesterday at the Invitational Summer Institute, CWP-Fairfield, teachers shared a clip of the John Stewart Show from 2011 when Wisconsin's state government went full throttle in their successful attempt to tear apart teachers, tenure, and the full-time wages they make for 'part-time' work ( sadly, they won...and their mythologies spread across the nation). I was knee-deep in dissertating in 2011 and didn't have  free periods in my life for watching television, so I totally missed this, but it is fodder worth revisiting today. I wish I could embed the video here, but all I could do is find a link (and I highly recommend taking seven minutes of your life to view it).

Teachers Are Ballin' Outta Control - a spoof on MTV's Cribs

Several of the outstanding Connecticut teachers have been writing Op-Eds this summer in an effort to communicate to non-teaching professionals the reality of being in the classroom. They are countering the folktales that exist about what it is we do. Although meant to be funny, Stewart's humor is a direct punch in the stomach of reality. Being an educator does not foster High Society and our politicians should, perhaps, find others to bully. Their anti-educator rhetoric is downright silly, if not criminal - evidence of how out-of-touch they are with schools in the 21st century and the laborers who tirelessly work within them. Teachers are not the enemy - I'm beginning to think they are.

Yes, teachers get by and do well compared to a vast number of occupations across the United States, but they live a life that is far from that of the rich and ridiculous I couldn't help but laugh as I watched this - but in truth, I thought, "This is a sad commentary. It actually hurts."

And so we must educate others. Educate them again. And continue to educate them some more.