Reality Check: Teaching is Political

“I don’t really like politics. I try to stay out of it all as much as I can. I just focus on my classroom.”

We hear some variation of this comment frequently when we are working with K-12 teachers, paraprofessionals and other educators.

And on the surface, the comment is one that is tempting to write off as wise.

After all, politics, with all of its distortions and backroom deals, can seem like a sleazy business – something that we as educators with a strong sense of integrity want to avoid at all costs.

But the events that have been unfolding in Wisconsin over the past several days serve to remind us that, whatever our personal political convictions, we as educators can never fully remove ourselves from politics.

Because the daily decisions that are made in schools are driven primarily by politics – by the highly partisan decisions of lawmakers at the local, state and, increasingly, federal levels.

Lawmakers, often with the input of public policy analysts, shape what children learn and how frequently they are tested, how much teachers are paid, whether teachers have the right to form unions and engage in collective bargaining, whether public preschool programs are made available to families, and, in some cases, how children are taught to read.

How do we respond to this reality – that politics, ugly or not – shapes the work that we do each day to serve students?

The first step is to make ourselves aware. As educators, we should make a habit of staying informed – and then doing our part to help build awareness in others, too. We should be reading about education in the local and regional newspapers, on blogs, on the nightly news, and from other sources.

When we collect this information, we should do all that we can to think critically, and to consider any biases that exist in the news.

From there, we can decide how we want to be involved. Do we want to advocate for children through a non-profit organization? Encourage voters to support a specific measure? Help to elect school board members that we believe will make decisions that are good for students – and teachers?

Opting out of politics is not an option for today’s educators.

How will you get involved?