While many students are focused solely on getting through fourth quarter and counting down the days until summer begins, we have started to notice we are not the only ones feeling this way.

There is a pervasive lack of morale and positive energy surrounding many of teachers in this building. Though I initially wondered why, the answers have become clear. Maybe it is because they have given up all hope for the school system for which they work. For years they have been fighting to stay positive and hoping for changes to come, but the system has been denying every request.

Maybe it’s the new evaluation system that teachers must endure and ones that determine whether a new teacher’s contract will be renewed. Maybe it’s the hours and hours they have been spent on compiling paperwork which no one will ever read and which will sit untouched in county building somewhere.

The hours teachers are spending on things unrelated to teaching kids directly is getting more and more. Instead of grading, tutoring students, or preparing lesson plans that can get students more involved, teachers are crunching numbers to prove what they’re worth.

You want to know what a teacher’s worth? You don’t need a piece of paper to figure that out. Just ask their students. I know when I walk into Mrs. Chandler’s class I am going to get hands on experience doing something I love and that she will support all of my work and help me. In Mr. Dougherty’s class, I walk in knowing that he will be pacing back and forth in the classroom in excitement over what he is going to teach us that day, and that he will get us involved in the lesson and excitement as well. Take Mrs. Rosales for example. No matter what is going on in her life, she walks into that classroom and focuses solely on the students. In social studies students can always count on Mr. Scarborough to entice them into his lessons by incorporating his guitar and singing and he is always available to stay after school to assist students. These teachers mean something to us. They are worth more than any piece of paper that can measure their ‘ability’.

Even though these teachers, and MANY others like them, are worth a lot, if we are not careful, they won’t be around for long. In fact, we are beginning to see that some of them are going to be gone as soon as this year is over. And I don’t blame them.

The art of teaching is being lost among the strict regulations, new curriculum, and other initiatives that have less to do with student learning and more to do with public impressions and statistics. However, the last time I checked not all teachers were robots and not all students learned the same way. It is time to give the teachers back the reins about what goes on in their classrooms. These educators got into the business of teaching because they had a love of their content and a passion for their students; please let them do their job without infringing on the very thing that made them come to teaching in the first place. This is our plea: Please protect the teachers who care about us, who care about what we learn, and who work hard in and outside of the classroom to ensure that we are ready for the world outside these walls. Stop making them feel unappreciated, incompetent, and beaten down before it’s too late.