The Plight of Sudents and Teachers in America

The education system in the US has long been plagued with problems.  This seems to only have gotten worse over the recent years.  This is due to a myriad of factors.

These issues include the proliferation of guns, especially into the hands of individuals who should never own a weapon, watering down of curriculum, dwindling funds for school districts around the country (this is due to the expansion of charter and private schools, the cutting of taxes, and the list goes on), dropping or stagnating salaries for teachers, and many more factors.  Though it seems that people are starting to push back against these issues.

Most obvious of these is probably the gun issue.  Many students, especially those from Stoneman Douglas High School, have been protesting to reform gun laws in America.

Many people have been making suggestions to combat this issue of mass shootings, both in schools and out.  Some of these are more intelligent than others.

Recently one suggestion is that we should arm teachers.  While I haven’t heard that many people that I know who actually support this policy, there does seem to be some modicum of support for it.  According to a recent Washington Post poll all age groups are majority apposed to arming teachers, and with good reason.

Even since the recent Florida school shooting, there have been multiple cases of teachers either purposely or accidentally discharging firearms in their classrooms.  One of these teachers was chosen ‘teacher of the year’.

In regards to teachers’ salaries, this is an incredibly important issue.  The recent protests in West Virginia have highlighted this.  Thankfully they achieved their goal of getting a 5% raise.  Though this is only a drop in the bucket as the vast majority of American teachers are still severely underpaid.  This underlines the need for a strengthening of the teachers’ union and the impetus of teachers to strike and for citizens to support this effort.

This has also been emphasized by the recent events in Oklahoma.  The main issue of this is that some school districts are moving to a 4 day school week.  This could be something that you might get me to argue for, however, it is for the worst reason.  The majority of these teachers are working at the local WalMart to meet ends meet.

This is absolutely abhorrent.  Teachers contribute an amazing amount to society.  Not only do they provide education to students, they also commonly act as a role model for students to follow.

The most recent development in all of this is students all over the country are walking out of school.  This is going on currently.  I have heard many people saying that students should talk to other students instead of walking out of class.  I think that there is no reason that students can’t do both.  Bring a new friend to the protest.  I don’t think that people should stifle political protest, in fact they should encourage it, as it is one of the highest forms of patriotism.

We need to support teachers and students in America.  We should push for teachers to make more money and give them more government support so they don’t need to pay for supplies out of their own pockets.  In addition, if they did pay for these out of pocket, it should not threaten their livelihood.  Also students and teachers should not fear for their lives because a person could walk into their school with a military grade weapon.

We need common sense gun reform in America.  This includes background checks and waiting periods for guns.  I am on the fence on a lot of gun reform, as I love guns.  However, also as a sane person, I am willing to give up some of my privileges in order for innocent people not to get murdered in cold blood.  I hope that the American people wake up and start having serious and educated discussions about guns and educational reform.  We need to get away from partisanship this field and instead move towards creating an environment that stimulates true education development of citizens.  This is one true way to inform and develop our society for the future.