{"id":1896,"date":"2021-05-07T15:19:13","date_gmt":"2021-05-07T15:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.americanboard.org\/blog\/?p=1896"},"modified":"2021-05-07T15:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-05-07T15:29:24","slug":"medias-portrayal-of-teachers-hurts-the-profession","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.americanboard.org\/blog\/medias-portrayal-of-teachers-hurts-the-profession\/","title":{"rendered":"Media’s Portrayal of Teachers Hurts the Profession"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week, and all across the internet we find signs of celebration. Big companies<\/a> are recognizing the profession by offering teacher discounts. School districts are giving their teacher staff shout outs. State Departments of Education are thanking the teachers who serve their states so well. Teacher prep programs like American Board<\/a> are using their social media<\/a> to spotlight their teacher graduates. And yet, if you tuned to the news you might think teaching was the worst job ever. The media’s portrayal of teachers and the teaching profession is doing far more harm than good, and that’s got to stop. To truly celebrate Teacher Appreciation Week, we need to respect our teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A quick Google search of the term “teachers” results in a handful of negative comments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is pretty ridiculous! The media portrays teaching as the worst career, pushes the narrative that teachers are rushing to leave the profession, and questions teachers and their expertise. Teachers are not helpless! They are career professionals, and we need to treat them as such. Despite constantly railing on the profession, the media will then turn around and lament the teacher shortage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reality Check<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There are 3.5 million teachers in the U.S. and the vast majority are fantastic at their jobs, committed to helping their students learn. As an example, principals who employ American Board trained teachers indicate that they plan to retain these teachers long term, which demonstrates the teachers’ value to their local schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know the media loves a sob story. Let’s think of the media’s portrayal of all public facing professions. How does your nightly news station cover teachers? Police officers? Heck, even local business leaders get the short end of the stick on the nightly news. But really, these people are community leaders and we depend on their success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at what some teachers did for a living before changing careers to serve local students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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