Ah, teachers. Those lazy, overpaid, glorified babysitters who spend their summers lounging by the pool, sipping margaritas while the rest of us suffer in the “real world.” At least, that’s the narrative some folks would have you believe. But let’s be honest—this whole “teachers are the root of all evil” rhetoric has a lot less to do with actual classroom performance and a lot more to do with some good ol’ fashioned misogyny.
Teaching: Women’s Work We Love to Hate
Let’s take a little stroll down history lane, shall we? Teaching, particularly at the K-12 level, has long been seen as women’s work. You know, because women are just so nurturing and patient, making them perfect for dealing with a room full of snot-nosed kids. But here’s the kicker: when work is associated with women, society tends to slap a “less valuable” sticker on it. Enter teaching—underpaid, undervalued, and consistently disrespected. Coincidence? I think not.
Even today, despite the growing complexities of the job (like, you know, teaching through a deadly global pandemic), teachers are still treated like they’re just there to keep kids busy filling in worksheets until they’re old enough to do something that actually matters. And by “matters,” I mean something traditionally male-dominated, naturally. Want to be a hairdresser when you grow up, Janie? Good for you. I hope your husband’s job has dental insurance. Oh. And good for you, sweetie, for choosing a job that’ll give you flexible hours so you can spend more time with your kids!
Hate Public Education? You Might Actually Hate Women
So, why all the teacher-bashing? It’s not just because of some misguided notion that teachers are the reason kids are failing at life. The real culprit? Misogyny. This is old news. Ever since women began to make up the majority of teachers back around 1900, this has been the case. Because of their close work with children, teachers have long been the scapegoats when a generation of young people seem to be headed to hell in a hand basket. I think it’s because it’s so easy for people to conflate teaching with mothering, when these two jobs are, in fact, not one and the same. I took plenty of coursework in my teacher education studies about how to best assist adolescents improve their reading and writing skills; I did not take ANY coursework that prepared me to explain to a sixteen-year-old why we do not refer to women as “hos.”
Nurses, we feel your pain.
Look at the language people use when talking about teachers: “lazy,” “incompetent,” “indoctrinating our kids with their liberal agenda.” Sound familiar? It’s like, every time a new, distressing buzzword hits the media—critical race theory was a biggie—it somehow slithers its way into public discourse about education. It’s the same tired rhetoric used to undermine women in a lot of professions. It’s like people can’t fathom that women might actually know how to do their jobs well—so instead, they turn into angry badgers, hissing and biting until their victims back down.
And don’t even get me started on the BS myth that teachers should be grateful to have a job at all…especially one that includes such a generous “vacation” package. I mean, shouldn’t the joy of spending our days with the nation’s children be compensation enough? After all, their parents find them a delight, so we should, too. No need to acknowledge the burnout, the low pay, or the lack of respect. Remember, we’re supposed to be in it for the outcome, not the income! Teachers, especially female teachers, are expected to buy into the notion that their profession is a calling and not a job for which they deserve to be fairly compensated. And if they voice these concerns? Well, they’re obviously don’t care about the kids. If they remind the powers that be that they don’t take on extra duties without extra pay? Greedy bitches.
Major Social Trickledown
Here’s the thing—this backlash against teachers is about more than just teachers. It’s about the way we, as a society, continue to devalue work that’s traditionally done by women. It’s about how we undermine the importance of education itself by treating the people who provide it like greedy pariahs And if we keep going down this path, the consequences are going to be a lot more serious than just a few disgruntled teachers.
By allowing systemic disrespect of women to continue festering, we’re sending a message that schools aren’t worth fighting for. If public education crumbles under the weight of misogyny, it isn’t men who will suffer the most: it will, naturally, be women. The domino effect of a lack of access to free and appropriate public education will fall disproportinately onto the backs of women. It will be women who will be expected to fill in the educational and childcare gaps, and it will be their professional lives and personal fulfillment that will be eroded. It’s an insidious attack on social progress that makes Margaret Atwood’s writing look like a bedtime story.
I’ve got a theory about the uptick in behaviors we’re seeing in the classroom. And part of that theory boils down to about misogyny. You see, if female voices are marginalized, students internalize that social construct and bring it with them into the classroom. If women are stupid, inferior, and incompetent, they can’t possibly have anything of value to teach you. And if they have nothing of value to teach you, you feel angry and resentful that you are being forced to take their class. And if you feel angry and resentful long enough, you begin to act out. And who, pray tell, gets to bear the brunt of that acting out? You guessed it: teachers.
It’s an unspoken truth in schools: male teachers are viewed as heroes and leaders…even when there are female teachers with far better qualifications, experience, methodology, and efficacy. Don’t shoot the messenger, and don’t twist the message. I have some really awesome male colleagues. But we need to ask ourselves why men continue to far outnumber women in school administration at the secondary level. It’s not for lack of qualified applicants. And, if our secondary leadership continues to be predominantly male, what message does this send to students about who deserves to hold positions of authority and leadership? When you really start to break it down, it looks bad. Really bad.
Kamala Harris, as you run for a position of national office…thoughts and prayers, girl. Thoughts and prayers. You’d probably never get to be a high school principal.
Get Your Sh*t Together, Society
The backlash against teachers isn’t just about education policy or budget cuts—it’s a symptom of a much larger problem. Until we start valuing the work that women do, both in and out of the classroom, we’re going to keep running into the same old issues. So, the next time someone tries to tell you that teachers are the problem, maybe it’s time to ask them what’s really going on. Because chances are, it’s got a lot less to do with teaching and a lot more to do with some deep-seated misogyny that we should’ve left in the past a long time ago.
Tags: misogyny in education, backlash against teachers, gender bias in teaching, devaluation of teachers, women in teaching profession, teacher scapegoating, societal attitudes toward teachers, teaching as women’s work, education and gender inequality, teacher burnout, gender and professional respect, undervaluation of teaching, feminism in education, teacher pay disparity, misogyny in the workplace, challenges facing female teachers, societal views on education, importance of teaching profession, teacher respect and value, gender stereotypes in education
