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bigtree

(85,919 posts)
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 12:02 PM Jul 2020

Dave Grohl: 'We Shouldn't Sacrifice the Health of Our Teachers'

The Rude Pundit @rudepundit 8m
Fuck, yeah. Dave Grohl ftw

twitter.com/rudepundit/status/1285603754084118530

When it comes to the daunting question of reopening schools, America’s educators deserve a plan, not a trap.

I hate to break it to you, but I was a terrible student.

Each day, I desperately waited for the final bell to ring so that I could be released from the confines of my stuffy, windowless classroom and run home to my guitar. It was no fault of the Fairfax County Public Schools system, mind you; it did the best it could. I was just stubbornly disengaged, impeded by a raging case of ADD and an insatiable desire to play music. Far from being a model student, I tried my best to maintain focus, but eventually left school halfway through 11th grade to follow my dreams of becoming a professional touring musician (not advised). I left behind countless missed opportunities. To this day, I’m haunted by a recurring dream that I’m back in those crowded hallways, now struggling to graduate as a 51-year-old man, and anxiously wake in a pool of my own sweat. You can take the boy out of school, but you can’t take school out of the boy! So, with me being a high-school dropout, you would imagine that the current debate surrounding the reopening of schools wouldn’t register so much as a blip on my rock-and-roll radar, right? Wrong.

My mother was a public-school teacher.

As a single mother of two, she tirelessly devoted her life to the service of others, both at home and at work. From rising before dawn to ensure that my sister and I were bathed, dressed, and fed in time to catch the bus to grading papers well into the night, long after her dinner had gone cold, she rarely had a moment to herself. All this while working multiple jobs to supplement her meager $35,000 annual salary. Bloomingdale’s, Servpro, SAT prep, GED prep—she even once coached soccer for a $400 stipend, funding our first family trip to New York City, where we stayed at the St. Regis Hotel and ordered drinks at its famous King Cole Bar so that we could fill up on the free hors d'oeuvres we otherwise could not afford. Unsurprisingly, her devoted parenting mirrored her technique as a teacher. Never one to just point at a blackboard and recite lessons for kids to mindlessly memorize, she was an engaging educator, invested in the well-being of each and every student who sat in her class. And at an average of 32 students a class, that was no small feat. She was one of those teachers who became a mentor to many, and her students remembered her long after they had graduated, often bumping into her at the grocery store and erupting into a full recitation of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, like a flash mob in the produce aisle. I can’t tell you how many of her former students I’ve met over the years who offer anecdotes from my mother’s classroom. Every kid should be so lucky to have that favorite teacher, the one who changes your life for the better. She helped generations of children learn how to learn, and, like most other teachers, exhibited a selfless concern for others. Though I was never her student, she will forever be my favorite teacher.

It takes a certain kind of person to devote their life to this difficult and often-thankless job. I know because I was raised in a community of them. I have mowed their lawns, painted their apartments, even babysat their children, and I’m convinced that they are as essential as any other essential workers. Some even raise rock stars! Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine, Adam Levine, Josh Groban, and Haim are all children of school workers (with hopefully more academically rewarding results than mine). Over the years, I have come to notice that teachers share a special bond, because there aren’t too many people who truly understand their unique challenges—challenges that go far beyond just pen and paper. Today, those challenges could mean life or death for some.

When it comes to the daunting—and ever more politicized—question of reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic, the worry for our children’s well-being is paramount. Yet teachers are also confronted with a whole new set of dilemmas that most people would not consider. “There’s so much more to be addressed than just opening the doors and sending them back home,” my mother tells me over the phone. Now 82 and retired, she runs down a list of concerns based on her 35 years of experience: “masks and distancing, temperature checks, crowded busing, crowded hallways, sports, air-conditioning systems, lunchrooms, public restrooms, janitorial staff.” Most schools already struggle from a lack of resources; how could they possibly afford the mountain of safety measures that will need to be in place? And although the average age of a schoolteacher in the United States is in the early 40s, putting them in a lower-risk group, many career teachers, administrators, cafeteria workers, nurses, and janitors are older and at higher risk. Every school’s working faculty is a considerable percentage of its population, and should be safeguarded appropriately. I can only imagine if my mother were now forced to return to a stuffy, windowless classroom. What would we learn from that lesson? When I ask what she would do, my mother replies, “Remote learning for the time being.”


read the rest: https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/dave-grohl-pandemic-reopening-schools-health-teachers/614422/

19 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Dave Grohl: 'We Shouldn't Sacrifice the Health of Our Teachers' (Original Post) bigtree Jul 2020 OP
Especially considering there is already a severe shortage. onecaliberal Jul 2020 #1
Can we have Dave Grohl for president instead of Kanye? Initech Jul 2020 #2
Neither.......VOTE FOR JOE KS Toronado Jul 2020 #12
How about after Joe? Initech Jul 2020 #15
Maybe his favorite Vice President? KS Toronado Jul 2020 #18
K&R...love Dave! Docreed2003 Jul 2020 #3
I suggest sacrificing the entire Republican Congress before... Guilded Lilly Jul 2020 #4
I love Dave. Loryn Jul 2020 #5
Teachers do not intend to be sacrificed for malaise Jul 2020 #6
There goes my hero. Dave Starsky Jul 2020 #7
Or all their families duforsure Jul 2020 #8
A well written article. mgardener Jul 2020 #9
K&R and I want to plug "Sound City" if you want to get to know Dave. lagomorph777 Jul 2020 #10
❤️ ✿❧✿❧✿❧✿ ❧✿❤️ Lucinda Jul 2020 #11
he may have left school early KT2000 Jul 2020 #13
Good On Dave!!! ProfessorGAC Jul 2020 #14
The stupidest man in America tells us to go back to school and we listen to him? world wide wally Jul 2020 #16
I forgot his mother was a public school teacher. SMC22307 Jul 2020 #17
Teachers rock. Alas, they're also undervalued & underpaid, esp. appalachiablue Jul 2020 #19

onecaliberal

(32,489 posts)
1. Especially considering there is already a severe shortage.
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 12:04 PM
Jul 2020

And no one is expendable and no one should be sacrificial. Let the politicians who vote for a return to school go teach.

duforsure

(11,882 posts)
8. Or all their families
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 01:05 PM
Jul 2020

And children become carriers infecting more also. This reopening schools forcing them back is doomed already. Trump and these Governors should be sued both criminally , and in civil court. Its failure will be used for more damming ads against them.

KT2000

(20,544 posts)
13. he may have left school early
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 02:46 PM
Jul 2020

but it sounds like he has a life long tutor in his life. He is such a good guy that Dave Grohl and by the way so is the Atlantic. They have been great on the virus information.

ProfessorGAC

(64,425 posts)
14. Good On Dave!!!
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 02:48 PM
Jul 2020

Now, I like him even more!!!
For you rockers:
I always thought about the drummers auditioning for Dave's band, Foo Fighters.
Guy gets offer to audition, then has to play drums for the guy who played drums for freakin' Nirvana!
Talk about a nervous audition.
Dave's a great guy!

SMC22307

(8,088 posts)
17. I forgot his mother was a public school teacher.
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 10:40 PM
Jul 2020

Think Matt Damon's was, too. Thoughtful piece... thanks for sharing.

appalachiablue

(41,054 posts)
19. Teachers rock. Alas, they're also undervalued & underpaid, esp.
Tue Jul 21, 2020, 11:12 PM
Jul 2020

during this era's drive to squash and privatize public schools, hire less credentialed, lower paid staff. Among other goals like promoting home schooling, unregulated extremist Christian agenda in schools, etc.

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