So a year later where are we, collectively, on the whole teacher appreciation thing?
I ask because as classrooms countywide swing into full operation, I’ve noticed there are a number of parents, concerned citizens and paid actors still railing against face coverings in school and vaccine requirements.
It doesn’t seem to be a majority of parents, but enough of a loud contingent to let you know they are there—like a murder of crows squawking outside your window at first light.
It wasn’t long ago when parents everywhere, forced to instruct their own little darlings amidst campus closures and stay-at-home orders, professed their love and appreciation for teachers. A new found respect was discovered: pay them whatever they want. Give them all they ask. Teaching is hard!
Now, however, as people have become reacquainted with the taste of life before COVID on campus, educators aren’t so much miracle workers as they are the help.
One of the least expensive ways we can show our appreciation and consideration for the teachers among is by having our students wear masks in classrooms. And while the state has seen to mandating that condition of in-person learning, it has done so among a chorus of no’s, not my kids, and my-freedom trumps-your-fears refrains.
Never mind that some instructors may not be able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine for legitimate health concerns, or that a fully vaccinated teacher might have someone at home who is at risk of serious complications: we seem to love our teachers until it’s inconvenient.
Yes, there are teachers who are as anti-mask and anti-vaccine as the parents who scream and bellow at their colleagues. While they may not have concerns for their own health and safety, I can’t help but wonder if all the parents of the students in that classroom have a similar disregard for their children’s well being.
A year-plus into this mess of a pandemic and the simplest way to show concern and regard for teachers—and children— is to have everyone on campus wear face coverings. And yet, people still protest.
Will we ever learn?
