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I see a lot of rhetoric calling teachers heroes. Although it's well-intentioned, here's why I don't use this rhetoric: (Thread)
1. As a white person working with students of color, it can be really easy to want to "save" my kids. Growing up in white culture, I have internalized many narratives of white Saviors (Think of movies like The Blindside, Freedom Writers, The Help...)
It's natural to see the pain that my students experience and want better for them. But it's harmful to children of color to try to "save" them because they will in turn internalize ideas of white supremacy which they will carry for the rest of their lives
It's additionally very tone deaf because the majority of issues that my students of color face are due to systemic failures, so any attempts I make to help them that don't recognize this are misdirected
2. When we are painted as heroes, it excuses policymakers from making laws to increase our pay and improve our working conditions because obviously we're self-sacrificing heroes that do an amazing job in spite of all this.
So we are held complacent to our own mistreatment by the very same rhetoric that claims to praise us.
To conclude-
Policymakers: teaching is a profession–we deserve the same rights as any other profession.
Teachers: stop trying to save your students
Policymakers: teaching is a profession–we deserve the same rights as any other profession.
Teachers: stop trying to save your students
