Fox News Bashes Teachers, and One Teacher Responds

“We got blackboard, here it is, Wisconsin teachers make a salary of $51,000…Benefits $38,000 per year, that comes to a whopping 89,000 bucks, while the rest of us, all workers in the United States, union, non-union, etc., $38,000 is your average salary…there, $10,000 in benefits, a quarter of what you make, that you would make if you were a Wisconsin teacher, to 48 grand, almost half the amount. Yet collective bargaining says that is OK. That’s not anti-free market?” - Eric Bolling

“For years teachers unions have been clamoring to get parents and community members to reach into their pockets and pony up more cash to improve their children’s education.”- Steve Doocy

"Unions are convenient scapegoats whenever the economy goes into a tailspin. Republicans and corporate media have been so successful at demonizing unions, that only about 10 percent of Americans now belong to one, down from a third of the workforce in the 1950s. By focusing on unions, Republicans and the media shift attention away from how corporations run America, which is the real problem." - The Bend

Dear FOX News,

I am proud to say “I am a teacher.”  Despite all the bad press we teachers get I am proud of what I do.  Frankly,  I would do this job for peanuts.  You have portrayed us as selfish, greedy, part-time employees who whine about our job and make too much money, because after all we only work 9 months out of the year, and have great benefits.   I, with a Masters degree, make $48,000 a year.  I have three children that I pay over $1300 a month for their child care and I pay out of my salary over $600 per month for all those “free” benefits that you think I am getting.  So far this year my children have had two double ear infections, bronchitis, kidney problems with one of my twins that included an ER visit, CT scan and several other doctor visits.  It is only March and even with all my “free” benefits I have paid over $1000 in medical care, but hey, my benefits are free. Forget that last year my husband was struck with an illness that ran us over $3000 in medical bills.

Because we live in Las Vegas we have been hit hard by this recession and my husband lost his job and took a 35% pay cut to get working again.  When we bought our home we did not have twins, not something you can predict, and we were making a comfortable salary.  Now we face losing our home, so I have been forced to take on extra work.  I run student council, took on an Early Bird class and sold my prep period to add to my salary.  I leave for work at 6:45am and pick up my kids at 3:30pm.  There are many days that I come home, feed my kids, take them to swim and dance classes,  prepare their lunches, help with homework, bathe them, get them to bed, only to sit down to grade papers and prepare my lessons for my students.  I give up one full night a week away from my family to go to my classroom to get caught up because the only time I have during the day is lunch for 35 minutes, which I often spend with my student council kids.   My students have my phone number and I answer text messages and emails daily.  My summers are for my family, but I do work for the next school year almost daily.  I have thought of taking an extra job in the summer, but would have to pay $3900 or more in daycare so that I can work.   I would only make $2600 teaching summer school and even less for a part-time retail job.  You do the math.

I could continue with all I do as a teacher, but I am sure it will fall on deaf ears.  However, I would like to offer you this challenge.  Quit your job, go back to school and become a teacher for two years.  Give up all of your possessions and live comfortably for two years on a teacher’s  salary for you and your family, this does include giving up all of your benefits and living on mine.   Instead of spending all your time talking about how spoiled we teachers are, give up your million dollar salaries and join us for a while (remember what some of you make in 6 months or a year I can only hope to make in a lifetime of teaching).   Get rid of all your interns and teams of people to prepare your job for you and do all the work yourself, but remember you will need to work more than just your one hour news show, you will have to entertain, nurture, babysit, deal with unhappy parents, deal with puberty, feed students that are hungry, answer phone calls and email yourself, ensure that every student passes a test, tell the truth, try to do away with ignorance, not promote it…. Shall I go on?  Without teachers none of you would be where you are today.  Do this for two years, and then you can go back to your news room and complain about us all you want.  Until then stop giving us a bad name, you have no idea how committed to this job most of us are and for you to call us “part-time overpaid” employees is outrageous!  Leave us alone and let us deal with all the kids whose parents have no idea what to do with them.  We do not need your criticism and unfortunately the majority of your viewers rely on people like you for their information, which is in fact inaccurate 90% of the time.  You rely on ignorance for your ratings while   

I, as a teacher, am  doing my best to stop ignorance, so again leave us alone so that we can help raise a nation of free thinkers, not FOX news watchers!

By the way, why are you not complaining about the possible NFL Strike?  Is it because it poses a significant monetary loss for your network?  Which in turn may mean you only make two or three million instead of 5 or 6 million?  Aren’t NFL player only part-time employees and really what benefit do they offer society?

-Chantelle