Educators are Hurting, Why Should We Care?

This may be the most personal piece that I may have ever written on the topic of education. It is 2 PM in the afternoon and I am very tempted to pour a glass of wine, don’t judge me until after read what I have to say.

Many people talk about learning loss like it’s a new thing that was caused by the pandemic. Honestly, I am not even sure if learning loss is an actual thing. In my mind it is another term coined by someone outside of the profession who has never taught in an inner-city classroom. The truth of the matter is this, students of color have been treated as second class citizens in a biased educational system rigged for failure. The pandemic is not the culprit here. It only intensified the inequities that already existed in schools across the country. For once, almost all students were affected, severity levels varied.

I am a member of several educator Facebook groups. I see posts everyday about how educators are barely holding on. You see, despite how important our jobs are we’re always ranked at the bottom of the food chain. Held to professional standards but not treated as professionals. Expected to rise to the occasion every single time even if it means sacrificing our time off the clock or not prioritizing our own mental wellness. You have sick time, but you’re made to feel like you don’t care when you take it. The possibility of taking a mental health day is accepted more than it actually becoming a reality.

I’ve been an educator for over twenty years, and I often feel like I am in a toxic relationship with my profession. If education was my ex, I would ask what I did wrong? I would want to reiterate that I gave my all, I would want to know what more does it want. But I am still here, like many others trying to pave a path that will lead to a difference in a broken system that has no love for those who try to be the best educators that they can be.

Education is not for the faint-hearted. I have a PhD as well as multiple certifications and I still feel like experience was my best teacher. But I digress. I need to stay focused. This blog post is about mental wellness. The fact that we want educators to teach social emotional learning but not experience it themselves is ludicrous. We knew a teacher shortage was coming, we just didn’t expect a pandemic to come first. I guess my thought process is different. We knew it was coming, there were articles written about it years in advance, yet there was little effort to try to thwart it. Those who are still in the game are so short staffed that they have no one else to tag in and say, “you’re it.” I am not just speaking on behalf of just teachers, I am speaking on behalf of everyone in the profession. Shit rolls down hill and education is not exempt from it.

Education is one of those professions where non educators usually have the final word and common sense goes out of the window. Politics guide education law and the media publicizes the hardships. It’s easier to point the finger than it is to discuss how we got here. Teachers are packing their things and leaving their classrooms behind, and principals are drowning in the aftermath. Students are having difficulty adapting to in school instruction after learning remotely for so long. If there has ever been a need to implement social emotional learning into everyday instructional practices now is the time. Educators across the country are quietly suffering while they fight mental battles that only people in the profession can understand. Be kind. They have feelings too.

My point is this, maybe it’s not a bad idea to take a break from the norm to address mental wellness. Telling teachers to practice self-care while their working in an environment that causes them to have mental breakdowns forty plus hours a week is not helping the situation. We will continue to experience a shortage and lose caring educators who were forced to choose between their mental stability and their profession. Expecting students to simply walk back into schools and behave as if they are not also suffering is ridiculous. They lost family members, they were isolated from their friends, some were forced to constantly be in an unhealthy environment for months. Child abuse cases were down during the pandemic not because it wasn’t happening but because it was not being reported. School for a lot of children is a safe haven. Educators have responsibilities that go above and beyond those originally included in their job descriptions.

I started Peay & Associates Consultant Group LLC because I wanted to serve students in a different capacity. There is so much red time and politics in schools that it became overwhelming. I’ve asked myself multiple times what else could I do? I love teaching, I love students, I love learning, I love being in a position that allows me to inspire others. I hate the egos, I hate the low expectations that are placed on students of color, I hate the one size fits all approach to learning. Above all, I hate then when decisions are being made about education students are rarely in the equation.

If you are offended by what I have to say, I apologize for making you feel that way, but I whole-heartedly meant every single word. Years of experience have taught me to follow my heart. I will not dim my light because it’s too bright for you. My gray hair gives me that right. Shout out to all of the educators who are still in the ring. I admire you, I appreciate you, and I see you.