At the beginning of this school year, West Wilson Tennessee had exactly 1 opening for an 8th grade teacher. They had 24 teachers on staff. By the end of the school year, they had 13. Now, after 4 more have gone elsewhere, they have 9. That means about 62.5 percent of their teachers have walked away from the district. According to a district teacher, that number is similar in the other grades in the school.
On Monday evening, a teacher showed up to a school board meaning to tell the board exactly why this mass exodus is happening and give them her resignation. Check out the video below:
WATCH: “I’M RESIGNING.”
A WILSON COUNTY teacher resigns at the school board meeting, saying only 9 of 24 West Wilson 8th Grade teachers are returning due to student behavior, low pay, teachers portrayed as “indoctrinators” & “villains”
The squeeze on public schools continues pic.twitter.com/SpkOgF95x6
— The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) June 7, 2023
She explained that while things like low pay were an issue, it really comes down to other factors.
Student behavior is a big cause. According to the teacher in the above video, things are out of control and the administration consistently taking sides against the teachers.
But there is a bigger issue. They are simply sick and tired of being called “indoctrinators” and “villains” at board meetings with no pushback. Book bans and other measures by state legislators and the school board play into these decisions. Teachers there seem to feel that everything they do is questioned and ridiculed, often by people who have no skin in the game or simply don’t understand what they do and what their lesson plans are designed to teach.
That sentiment isn’t unique in America. In many areas around the nation, people, sometimes people who don’t even have kids in the school, are trying to tell the teachers how to teach. Often, their “demands” for the teachers are more politically based than based in anything to do with education.
The teacher also pointed out that “more and more” is added to their plate, and “nothing is ever taken off.”
As one popular social media meme says, “we trust teachers to fight madmen armed with AR-15s, and to die to protect our children. But we don’t trust them to know what curriculum to teach?
Our education system has many problems. But solving some of those problems is easy and free. We need to put some trust in our teachers. Trust them to teach. How teachers are paid and dealing with some other problems will still need to be addressed. But we need to let teachers focus on teaching our children first and foremost.
If we don’t, this scene in West Wilson, Tennessee will be common everywhere.
