Headlines

It's amazing all of the wonderful headlines that us teachers get in the press. The most recent one Teacher Accused of Having Heroin Delivered from ABCnews.com represents what I'm talking about. I understand that in news the terrible and the shocking sells. A story about an amazing 3rd grade teacher won't get the clicks that we all would hope! But can we just for a minute try to stop the beating that the rest of us teachers experience when one of us does something completely inhumaine? 

Don't get me wrong. I understand that as a society we tend to equate the actions of one to the doings of anyone similar to them. All football players are not suspected murders like Mr. Hernandez, formerly of the New England Patriots, for example. Much like all teachers aren't into herion, abusing kids, or simply hateful people with liberal agendas.

That said, football players aren't expected to be to children what teachers are, so with every negative news story that makes the media's headlines the perception of what teachers are is severely impacted. Let's be honest here. Educators are not seen in the best light lately. As a society, we are continually placed in positions that make us look pretty awful. If you read the ABCnew story you'll learn that the person in question was a 20 year old aide, and not even a teacher!  Yet, the youth of America are still coming to school and we are still asked to be the best teachers we can.

So, I'd like to suggest that from here on out, for every 1 bad headline out there, 5 stories need to be written about the victories that the rest of us amazing teachers are having. And not just in the local back page of the news paper that the 65+ year olds read at their favorite diner or each morning. I'm talking mainstream, big time media outlets. Can we get the NEA PR peeps on this already? It shouldn't be hard to find several wonderful teacher stories out there. Sell that to the media! Be on the phones daily pushing the great stories. All the victories. Help us out... PLEASE! 

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ABCnews.com headline the next day Teacher Who Allegedly Bore Student's Child Facing 2nd Accuser. Okay, now you owe me 10!! Seriously!