American Teacher was definitely an eye-opening film for me, but I have to also add that my eyes have been open from the get-go. Hearing about low salaries and how teachers buy materials out of pocket came as no surprise to me. I knew, going into this field of study, that I was not going to be a millionaire, nor was I going to be appreciated. Nonetheless, here I am.
I think the movie was a skewed perception of schools. Don’t get me wrong: what we saw does go on and is an unfortunate reality, but it’s not ubiquitous. There are plenty of districts that pay their teachers well and offer good teaching conditions. Regardless, what we was is a reality. The movie shocked me with some of the statistics, such as:
-62% of teachers have a 2nd job
-46% of teachers quit before their 5th year
The 46% really got to me! That means that about half of our class, potentially, will no longer be teaching by the time we hit 30 years old. The movie mentioned that schools often give new teachers the most difficult classes. Perhaps this is why teachers quit! I don’t think teachers should never have to teach the difficult classes, but I think first-year teachers should be “eased in,” as their first year is rough enough. Once they’ve learned how to fly and have had some experience, then the more difficult classes can be thrown their way.
Rhena Jasey’s comment about how people asked her, “Why would you teach…You could do anything in the world, and you want to be a teacher?” really struck me. People ask me all the time why I would choose to be a teacher, when I could do so many other things and make so much more money. My response has always been that I like kids and I like teaching, so that’s how I want to spend my life. Never did I think about the negative connotation given to teachers. It implies that teachers are the ones who couldn’t be doctors and lawyers, so they settled. As Rhena said, who wouldn’t want someone with such great potential to be teaching their children? If teachers were given a little bit more respect, maybe those great minds (who ordinarily are drawn to law or medicine) would be more drawn to teaching.
It was interesting to hear how effective teachers can teach 1 ½ years of content in one year! The premise of the charter school was to reward teachers for their excellence, and to me, teaching 1 ½ years of content in one year is excellence. Teachers like that should get paid $125,000! I talked with a few other education majors on the walk back from the movie, and we discussed the implications of $125,000. My thought is that with that sort of money (versus $40,000), a teacher can be a little looser with her money. She can order out more, doesn’t have to spend so much time looking for deals or clipping coupons, and that allows her to spend the time needed to be a great teacher. A greater salary just gives somewhat of a cushion.
One teacher in the audience made a great comment during the discussion. She kept reiterating how teachers need to be life-long learners. It’s not like we can ever coast. We need to do research and work to deliver the best practices out there to our students. To be honest, I’ve had placements with some teachers who don’t research and don’t use the best practices, so hearing someone emphasize the importance of that kind of brought me back to reality, since I haven’t seen such practices in the field.
Was the movie biased? Absolutely. Did it get the point across? I’d say so. Will I change my major? Absolutely not. We discussed the movie in another class, and people were saying how first-year students may be scared away and want to change their majors. My thought: if that’s enough to scare someone away from the field, hearing about the salary, then good riddance; they’re not in the profession for the right reason. The best teachers out there do what they do because they love it.
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