Schools: Society's Crutch

I am a teacher. I am a parent. I work 40+ hours a week teaching other people’s children. I supplement a lot of learning for my own child. I never seek to diminish the work of parents. That would be counterproductive. But I need you to hear these things: •Teachers are called on by society to be so many things for students. However, teachers are also parents and are not the enemy. We get it. Trust us. We work from home now and are sometimes at the end of our rope with juggling both jobs. •Schools are the crutch that the government uses to prop up its people because it fails to provide funding to underserved communities. •Sending your children to school in the fall because they need services further exploits the previous point. Why don’t we have substantial existing programs outside of schools to alleviate hunger, social emotional heath, speech disorders, and violence? The answer is very simple and clear: these programs (like public education) would benefit mostly minority communities. The programs would have to be accessible to those not in school, to those in marginalized communities who don’t or can’t subscribe to the normalized straight and narrow path that is currently the only place of acceptance for Black and Brown people. The same path that we White people constantly exclude them from. •I have seen people saying that they have to send their children back to school for the programs listed above—people who I know have the means to pay for these services or are already receiving them at zero cost outside of school. •Here’s what I’m asking you (people of means) to consider: Do you have access to a place other than school for your child to receive services? What do your local government officials do to create these programs outside of school? Is there some way you can support your own child’s learning at home that would be within reason for you? Have you considered a friend learning network? Have you reached out to family to see if they can help? Have you exhausted every resource before putting your undue burden on the school system?