Elementary School Teacher Says She’s Sick Of Our Education System Being Used As A 'Band-Aid' For Society's Problems
"Teachers will cry and sometimes crumble at the thought of not being able to do more for the innocent children in their care."
PeopleImages.com - Yuri A | Shutterstock We're all aware that the public school education system in this country is deeply flawed. Too much unnecessary pressure and burden is placed on teachers to carry the world's issues on their backs, especially when it comes to the kids in their classrooms. It's especially unfair when you realize how little teachers are paid and how little they're respected as well.
In 2020, an Iowa elementary school teacher named Alison Hoeman penned a beautiful explanation about how society tends to dump all of its problems and issues onto teachers as if they can just be the quick fix when, in reality, we should be demanding more from lawmakers and politicians.
Teachers are, frankly, quite tired of having to be the saving grace, as Hoeman put it.
The teacher explained how the education system is being used as a band-aid for society's problems.
"Society: In one of the richest countries in the world, between 11 and 13 million children live in food-insecure homes. Schools: We can help ... Kids can eat breakfast and lunch at school, and in many places, teachers will spend their own money on snacks. For the most needy, we will send food home for dinner and weekends," Hoeman began in her Facebook post.
She pointed out that a lot of unfortunate circumstances that kids and families find themselves in, from not being able to put food on the table to not having adequate or any healthcare at all, end up falling on teachers and schools to provide a short-term fix.
In schools, administrators bring in doctors to perform free physicals, eye exams, and dental treatments. In some places, nurses even spend their own money to supply pads, tampons, and other sanitary products for the little girls in the building.
For other issues, as Hoeman observed, like children living without basic necessities or having parents who work past school hours, the burden on teachers to pick up the slack becomes quite high.
Hoeman explained that to combat some of these issues, schools bring in counselors, but they're never enough, or teachers will have to spend more time with their students than their own children at home.
"Teachers will cry and sometimes crumble at the thought of not being able to do more for the innocent children in their care," she continued. "For decades, schools and teachers have been the band-aid on society’s failings, because we care about children.... because we know that in society’s failings, it is almost always the children that suffer the most."
Drazen Zigic | Shutterstock
Teachers across the country have admitted that they're seeing real issues impact their students and their ability to learn.
According to the Pew Research Center report, "What's It Like to Be a Teacher in America Today," which was an online survey of 2,531 U.S. public K-12 teachers in late 2023, more than 90% of teachers said poverty, chronic absenteeism, and anxiety and depression were problems in their schools, with about half citing these issues as major problems.
Almost half of the teachers surveyed said students show little to no interest in learning, and the numbers were worse in high school.
Almost 60% of teachers said they have to deal with students' behavioral issues every day, and the numbers rise as the neighborhood around the school gets poorer.
The teacher acknowledged that educators shouldn't be responsible for repairing this broken country.
"Make no mistake that the push to go back to school has very little to do with education and much more to do with the other social services that schools provide... we need children to return to school so that they are fed, cared for, and supervised... so that their parents can go back to work and participate in the economy," she wrote.
Hoeman admitted that it breaks her heart, and other teachers also feel the same way when it comes to children not having the necessities they need, whether that's food, a place to sleep at night, or active parents in their lives. But teachers shouldn't have to be everything for kids and families that are struggling. They shouldn't have to take the clothes off their backs to fix problems that aren't theirs to fix in the first place.
The public school education system in this country is deeply flawed, but the last thing teachers need is to be responsible for carrying the world's problems on their backs.
The education system isn't enough to fix these issues, and Hoeman was right. It's like putting a band-aid on a crack. It might make the crack invisible at first glance, but it's still there.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.