Don't Let Memes Determine Your Value

As I scroll through Facebook, I often see memes or cartoons like this one. They make me giggle a little because, I mean just look at it, it IS funny. Like - on a fist to five with a fist being 0 (not funny at all), it’s at least 3 fingers.

 But these images also worry me. Every year I see more and more jokes on social media about how much it stinks to be a teacher. And I see educators numbering in the thousands “liking” and “ROTFL”ing.

It’s important to find humor in our day-to-day lives. Sometimes we find ourselves in situations where it’s either laugh or cry – and teaching can drive you to both on a daily basis! Most of us embrace the good with the bad, refocus on our purpose, and charge onward. Look y’all, there’s nothing wrong with a little levity. But I think we need to proceed with caution when we start belittling our profession in the name of humor.        

As educators, we are taught the importance and the power of the words we use with our students. If you tell a child he is incapable of learning, he will probably prove you right. But isn’t the same true of the power of thoughts? Aren’t we cautioned that if we think a child incapable of learning, he will also prove us right? Or more likely, we will prove ourselves right.

I believe the same can be true of the words and thoughts we internalize regarding the profession of education. I think there is a danger in focusing on the negative aspects of education. Just like the hypothetical student in the paragraph above, if you are told often enough how bad your job is, you will start to believe it. Likewise, if you tell yourself often enough how bad your job is, you will start to believe it. When that happens, it must then become more difficult to continually refocus and charge onward. When educators lose focus on the value of what they do, we all lose. Some stay in the classroom and make themselves and everyone else miserable. Some leave the profession altogether. Either way, the educational community has lost a valuable resource. As much of a tragedy as this is, the fallout of denigrating the art of education has much more widespread consequences. Think of the new teacher who is already struggling with understanding the butterfly effect of her touch in the classroom. Think of the parents, students, and sadly, politicians, who already think educators are a joke – little more than over-paid babysitters. 

If we, the educators of the world, do not have and show pride in our life work, why would anyone else place value upon it? For most of us, this is our calling, our passion, and our lasting contribution to society. Mark Twain said, “It is noble to teach oneself, but still nobler to teach others.” 

Perhaps if we start treating our profession with the respect and admiration it deserves, other will begin to do the same. When that happens, images like this one may cease to exist.