My daughter is one of the walking wounded in the brutal game of tug and war going on between government budgets and public opinion regarding the public schools. She is dedicated, intelligent, creative, relates well to children and parents, and wants to do good in the world. She has two college degrees and another on the way. She slam dunks her professional exams. All she wants to do is teach.

You’d think somebody would want to hire her.

Isn’t the hue and cry all about accountability? How else do you ensure accountability in schools except to hire intelligent, well educated, dedicated teachers? And once you’ve got them, you do your level best to keep them, right? Wrong. We’ve now seen an entire generation of students endure the high stakes joke of high stakes testing while the individuals who work (and work hard!) to teach them are marginalized and even vilified. And what do we have to show for it? Our schools are inside out and upside down. The flea is wagging the tail and the tail is wagging the dog.

Where does that leave people like my daughter? She’s hired to sub, to work as an aid, and she tutors on the side. But the pay is low, the benefits non-existent, and there are no opportunities for her to really stretch her wings, shine, and make what she feels is substantive impact. As a result, she questions herself. She questions her career choice. Why commit so much of her time, money, body, and spirit to a profession that doesn’t value her gifts? Worst of all, she questions if she even has these God-given gifts. She questions her intelligence and her abilities and her desire to do good.

As her mother, as a career teacher with 30+ years in the classroom, my heart is broken by her disillusionment and discouragement.  I pray a lot. I pray for her, I pray for our broken system, I pray for all the children who are falling through the cracks, and I pray for the teachers with long, proven careers whose livelihoods are yanked out from under them like so many dirty rugs. I pray for the angry people who don’t understand the crucial role that teachers play in a civilized society. I pray for myself to control my own anger and outrage. If I weren’t praying right now, I would probably set my laptop on fire. That’s how frustrated I get. For the life of me I cannot understand the vitriol that has been unleashed on teachers, how they have become seen as disposable and contemptible. And how can people who call themselves Christian forget that the Gospels chronicle the life and works of a man his followers called “Teacher”?

And then there is a moment of grace. I just received a text message from my daughter. She recently took a (very expensive) professional exam to add another credential to her resume in the hopes of becoming more employable. It was a hard test and she was fearful of failing. She found out today that not only did she pass,  she tipped the scale.

Will the test results get her hired? Hard to say. Will it give her bargaining room for a salary if she is hired? Of course not. Teachers are not rewarded for professional success and ability. But what this score did for her was restore her confidence in herself.

You see, overwhelmed by the political and economical trash talk that surrounds us, by the discouragement of underemployment and the continual threat of unemployment, by her fear that she had made bad career decisions, she simply forgot how smart she really was. She had begun to believe that she was no more than what “the system” allotted her.

For me, it was the answer to a mother’s prayer, a bit of oh-so-needed encouragement. I will continue to pray that she can parlay this into a job, or if nothing more, the drive to hang in there and continue to desire to do good in the world. This can’t last forever, I keep telling myself. The scale will tip, the pendulum will swing, and America will begin to put our children first and to value and trust the people we employ to educate them.

You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker that says, “If You Can Read This, Thank A Teacher.” It’s a little simplistic. If you can think critically, if you can write a complete sentence, if you appreciate poetry or music or art, if you can do higher math, if you understand the significance of the American Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement (and know the difference!), there was probably a teacher in the picture. And if you can do even just these things, you’re well on your way to having the skills you need to be a productive, engaged, compassionate citizen. Teachers create good citizens.

Have you thanked a teacher today? You have no idea how much it would mean to another good citizen who’s working hard to do good in the world. You might just provide them with a moment of grace.

Wishing you a space for grace in your life today,
Kate