By Amanda and Jesse
School’s out for summer early this year, but for all the wrong reasons. Students may be celebrating now, but the controversy will eventually come to affect all students adversely. As if lost class time isn’t enough, teachers will be less inclined to put effort into their work if they know that they may not be sufficiently compensated for it.
Motivation to succeed in school is rarely a product of solely one student. It is a teacher’s job not only to teach, but to drive and support their students in every way. However, it is unfortunately too often that we hear teachers complaining about their pay. Although most teachers willingly and happily go into roughly $38,000-a-year jobs, the district is undeniably pushing the envelope by asking them to accept even less pay than they already do.
This puts everyone in an uncomfortable situation — and while teachers bitterly continue to show up for work, students suffer under their resentful and unwilling lessons. Everyone has a limit, and teachers have mouths to feed.
A school system cannot run on false contracts and promises. It affects teachers and administration, of course, but it affects students equally and deeply. Because the children of today are the leaders of tomorrow, as long as the teachers feel apathetic and underappreciated, tomorrow’s leaders will go undereducated.
