A recent protest in Seattle called attention to the increasing trend of viewing teachers as expendable resources that can be cut any time the budget gets tight. The Half-Baked Bake Sale was a tounge-in-cheek way to point out the absurdity of expecting to fund basic education through car washes and bake sales. Treats like Bum Deal Brownies and Chopping Block Chocolate Chip Cookies were priced at 0.5 FTE. Cupcakes were sold at $18 a piece, the equivalent of one hour of an instructional aide.
While the situation is bad in Washington State (currently the state is paying $100,000.00 a day in court fines for failing to adequately fund basic education needs), teacher cuts, cramped classrooms and limited resources plague districts around the country. These cuts have devastating effects on children and the community. As parent Shawna Murphy, one of the bake sale organizers, said, “Teachers are children’s lifeline and path out of poverty”.
Teachers suffer at a personal level in this climate as well. Fellow bake sale organizer Carolyn Leith points out that ‘the humanity of our teachers and their students is stripped away’ when funding decisions favor bottom line, test result-driven funding decisions. When teachers feel their self-worth devalued, when they internalize the belief that they are replaceable resources, it is difficult to form the kinds of relationships with children that research shows is necessary to connect with children and inspire them to learn.
The tendency, when resources are scarce, is to isolate and protect one’s self. Teachers stay in their classrooms, ‘just do their jobs’ and hope to stay off the radars for the next wave of cuts. When teachers lose the human connection to their work, they are at risk of burnout, depression and stress related illnesses. Increased absences and complaints, a lack of enthusiasm at work and a resistance to sharing and collaborating might be signs that you or a colleague is approaching dangerous levels of stress at work.
Parents know that their children’s well-being depends on the health of their teachers. Well teachers teach well. The Seattle protest highlights the need for teachers and parents to join together to demand that teachers be recognized as more than deliverers of content but as creators of connections between children and their world. Please visit our website here to learn more about how maintain wholeness in a system that is becoming increasingly fractured.
A final note about Seattle’s bake sale. Parents raised a grand total of $329 which they split among three high-needs schools and a Special Education PTA. The proposed cuts are still being made.