“Those who can do.  Those who can’t teach.”

            So goes the clichéd saying that has long been an indictment on the quality of the teaching profession.

            No one in a position of power, from presidents to principals to managing editors, believes that school teachers have anything worthwhile to say in fixing America’s declining public school system.  Teachers are rarely consulted, their advice never used in any decision-making capacity on how best to teach to children.  Most definitely, they are not the face of the teaching profession.

            Whenever the media, especially television, use on-screen attorneys to dissect the latest headline-grabbing trial, it makes sense to have those who have studied and practiced law to discuss the law.  And when the story revolves around terrorism, all kinds of security specialists surface including ex-secretaries of state and CIA officials.  Yet when the subject turns to education, who are the experts sought out by the media?  Former U.S. education secretaries, think tank opine-ers, or anyone with a household name of Bill as in Bill Gates or Bill Cosby.  Almost all newspaper op-ed pieces on education are written by people with these pedigrees.  Rare it is to find a byline of an actual classroom teacher.

            Oh sure, every September there’ll be a “first day” diary written by a local teacher.  And once in a while a newspaper will track the year of a teacher, but even that is written by a journalist.

            Would a person give more credence to a friend or neighbor on how best to treat a medical condition than what an actual medical doctor has to say?  Yet year after year anyone with name recognition chimes in on how best to teach kids despite a total lack of teaching credentials.

            This belittlement of the teaching profession is maddening and is directly related to the fact that 75% of all K-12 teachers are female, and females as an employee group traditionally haven’t had the same salary and respect level of mainly male employee groups.

            Teachers don’t need a Big Daddy figure to stand up for them.  Teachers shouldn’t allow the Tony Danzas of society to put teaching in prime time.

            Believe it or not, America does have talent and it’s in classrooms all across America.  The teaching profession has its own superstars.  But the media doesn’t seem interested in either seeking them out, or in giving space in print, on air or online to these special educators who not only do incredible work with young people, but who strive to better education.  The word “hero” gets bandied about too easily these days, but some of these folks would be candidates for such an honored title.              
            It’s wonderful that President Obama is willing to rattle the teachers union status quo about merit pay, it’s good to see Education Secretary Duncan taking risks by stating teachers need to be held accountable, but neither of these gentlemen have teaching experience.  And the president’s two daughters attend private school, just as the majority of politicians’ children do.  These folks may be the least qualified to stake a claim on what’s best for kids in this country’s public schools.

            It seems that the media listens to everyone who has an opinion about teacher and schools except those who actually teach to America’s youth.

            When I was doing research for my latest book and came across a report from the College Board, the folks behind the SAT and AP tests, I noticed on the very first page at the top was a quote triple the size of the other text attributed to former IBM CEO Louis V. Gerstner Jr.  When I read it my eyes bugged out—it was a quote from my first book.  Not a word altered, moved or deleted.  Verbatim.

            To the College Board’s credit, once I brought the matter to their attention, they were apologetic and made the correction.  In a way I understood why I wasn’t credited.  Who am I?  I’m not a billionaire or celebrity or national politician.  I’m just a classroom teacher.

            One of the paradoxes in good teachers is their innate desire to help others and, at the same time, not take credit for it.   This selflessness has to change.  Good teachers should stand up and speak out and take ownership of their own profession, and don’t let outsiders take away the spotlight of their work.  Until that happens, teachers will continue to be overlooked, their expertise unexplored.

            However, don’t feel sorry for them.  Once Teacher Appreciation Week kicks in, they’ll be inundated with tshatshkes as proof of their worth, such as a marble with a saying attached, “You are marble-ous!”