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Teachers in the Media

What you see in the news is rarely the whole story

In film media, teachers are portrayed in a variety of extremes. Teachers are seen as addlepated old fools like the teachers seen in Grease, bullies on a power trip like Mr. Woodcock or Mr. Strickland, or hero workers who are able to turn their students around and set them on the path to maturity and success like Ann Sullivan did in The Miracle Worker. These extremes provide a warped definition for the meaning of teacher, and do little to depict the reality a teacher faces in the classroom everyday.

In the news, teachers are often portrayed as sexual predators who are out to corrupt their students both physically and morally. Teachers are also often portrayed as incompetent educators who are unable to pass on even the barest of academic achievement. It is the teacher’s fault if students do not meet Annual Yearly Progress goals, and it is the teachers fault if a high-school student hides in a corner and allows his friends to put jumper cables on him. I was appalled when I heard this story. The “friends” attached the other end of the cable to a battery, which caused the student, whose heart actually stopped for a moment, severe burns. The teacher was forced to resign because he had not come right out and told these high-school students that putting jumper cables on their bodies was dangerous. Good grief!

What we don’t see in the media is perhaps as important as what we do see. We rarely see teachers portrayed as hard workers who truly care about the success of their students. We don’t hear about the teacher who goes out and spends hundreds of dollars of her own money because budget cuts have left her with a classroom that is underequipped. We don’t hear about the teachers who everyday struggle to get through to a generation of ‘give it to me children’, hoping and praying that something they say or do will make a difference. These teachers, who likely make up a large portion of educators in this country, are skipped over by the media, and left to struggle without solid support or recognition.

Before I became a teacher, I largely believed the portrayal of teachers in the media. I laughed at Principal McGee and bristled at Mr. Woodcock’s bullying tactics. I had seen teachers like these in my own life. I hoped that students everywhere were being inspired to greatness by an Ann Sullivan or a Mr. Keating, but now that I’m actually in the classroom, I know these extremes are rarely the case. Teacher’s in the media, whether they are portrayed as miracle workers, bullies, sexual predators, or incompetent fools, do little to portray the realities of teaching. I can only hope that someday, media will begin to show teachers for what they really are: hard-working individuals who care deeply for the success and well-being of future generations.