Money not sole reason for teacher shortage

Money isn't the only reason there is a teacher shortage. It's also due to the lack of respect by the students, parents, administrators and the community.

Students come to school drunk, stoned, emotionally or physically abused, unfed, physically or mentally handicapped, on probation, homeless, and/or unkempt, or don't come to school at all, and yet the teacher is expected to make sure that each student meets certain standards. When a student doesn't meet expected standards, it's the teacher that's to blame, be punished and reprimanded.

Students and parents alike find it acceptable to physically and verbally abuse and belittle a teacher without little or no repercussions. Many of the behaviors are behaviors seen by parents who allow their children to behave the same way at home. And, then there are the parents who drink and do drugs with their children and then send them off to school.

After a long day at work, the teacher goes home to spend time with their family, only to spend the next three hours, sometimes many more, correcting papers, developing lesson plans, shopping for supplies, and/or attending classes or workshops themselves for recertification. Yet the public's perception and belief is that teachers are paid too much because they have holidays and summers off.

My father worked for Kaiser Aluminum, and before he retired over 20 years ago, he was receiving 3 months paid vacation, and there were men in that plant that had less than a high school diploma and made more money than a teacher.

Teachers spend their own money on school supplies because the district refuses or doesn't have the funds, yet they are paid too much. My husband and I, as did many of our colleagues, went through garbage cans at the end of the year to salvage discarded folders, binders, pens and pencils to provide students the following year with the necessary supplies.

Finally, let's not forget the political aspect of education. Teachers are constantly spending their time fighting to make education better for students. They have to fight for acceptable working conditions that impact the classroom, such as smaller classes, money for supplies, computers, and salaries/benefits. Yes, salary and benefits do affect the classroom; you cannot attract the best and the brightest candidates without a respectable salary. I went into education, as many do, with the ideology that I was going to have a positive impact on the future, I was going to better the lives of my students; however, politics was my biggest obstacle.

There is a teacher shortage because many teachers no longer encourage their own children and grandchildren to become teachers, it's not respected as a profession, and a person cannot make a living wage.

Lyndon and Peggy Harriman of Post Falls are retired teachers with over 55 years experience.