‘Controversial Plan for Teaching Hours’
Did journalism die with the end of print media?
Over the last few decades, the news cycle has changed. Clickbait headlines and the constant hysteria to get likes have replaced anything that once resembled journalistic integrity. Frenzied headlines with hysterical quotes from random Twitter commentators. Gutter, bottom-feeding journalism that cares little for the truth. A nonsense headline that feeds an algorithm and suddenly there are thousands of comments. A day later it is gone. Never mind the damage. It got the likes. It flamed the outrage. It will be rolled out a month later, slightly different, but the same trash. The same result.
Education and Teachers are not immune.
Teachers and Education are easy targets. On a slow news week, roll out a random article on teacher’s wages and you can bank on the outrage. Sport aside, nothing generates anger like teachers. Maybe Politicians. If anger is the algorithm, teachers are a guarantee.
Media and journalism care little for the truth, it is all about clicks, likes, and comments. They market outrage and sell hate without consequences. Truth, facts, and integrity matter for nothing. Only this week a headline stating ‘Controversial Plan For Teaching Hours’ was spewed forward. A radical plan is to force teachers to work from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm and work on holidays. Certainly radical. Who came up with this plan? Not the current Minister for Education. Not even a sitting member of Parliament. Not a consultant to the Education portfolio, nor a consultant to anything. Yet somehow, this person with no connection to policy or Government has a controversial plan, and it makes the paper. Why not ask the guy at the bar?
The comments are predictable. Teachers work 9.00 am – 3.00 pm. How can you complain about all the holidays you get? These can be pushed aside, I doubt anyone seriously believes it is a six-hour day. Anyone who knows Teacher has met the shell of a human that staggers into the first week of a term break. The real damage comes when they question the quality of teachers. Out comes the blame game. If a child is failing in any aspect of life, it is the teacher’s fault. Say it often enough, which the media insists on doing, and it becomes a fact.
Teachers are to blame. Forget the fact that most research suggests that up to 60% of student outcomes are a result of what happens outside of schools. It is easier to simply blame the teachers than look at what you are doing to make your child better.
A good place to start? Respect teachers. The data is clear; in those countries where the community widely respects education and teachers, academic outcomes are at their best. In Scandinavian countries, when the media trashes teachers, the community supports rather than ridicules them. If parents want results, show some respect for teachers and value education. Support rather than criticize and see what happens. Value education and see what happens.
If you have a problem with your educator, talk to them. It takes much more courage. I know it is so much easier to post a comment on a news article you have not read. Maybe get off Facebook and read to your kid? Your teacher probably isn’t doing it, they are tying shoelaces, teaching stranger danger, how to brush teeth and what healthy eating looks like. Doing the parenting job you are failing at.
Make sure to click on the next headline and throw some support behind teachers. Push back at this gutter journalism. Change the algorithm. Don’t give this trash journalism your hate. This is what feeds the garbage.
Show some respect.
You are better than that.