Stop Bashing Teachers...Stop!

(From the desk of a retired inner city teacher)

Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers…Stop!

Teaching is an honorable profession
Guiding minds in a quest for education
To discover… to learn
To build …to discern
How to break the social blocks
Of economic layers that tend to lock
Many of the future generation
Into patterns of self annihilation

When will the public begin to care
That young people are hurting every where?

Children with bright shiny faces
Come to school believing it will take them places
But others getting up early coming too
Pack their book bags filled with legitimate issues
Confused children occupy the land
Bullying and fighting walk hand in hand
Sex and violence sing over the airways
Rage and cursing is the norm for the day

Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers…Stop!

Teachers take the children of this time
And attempt to elevate the state of their minds
Working with spirits raised up in anger
Oblivious to surrounding danger
Content to laugh…punch…push…shove
Kicking academics under the rug
Dancing their way into negative situations
That could easily lead to incarceration

When will restorative methods be applied
To rebuild communities and help save lives?

Teachers play many roles
Working to help students set some goals
Along with academic responsibility
Teachers many times have to be
At times a counselor…at times a mediator
At time a social worker…always a peacemaker
Many willing to go the extra mile
In an effort to reach the total child

Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers…Stop!

This country’s battling over test scores
Teachers are considered the enemy in this war
People pointing fingers and blaming them
For children failing in the public school system
No one wants to examine the behavior climate
As to a reason why test scores may have plummet
And through the years certainly declined
In spite of Zero Tolerance and No Child Left Behind.

When will it be known that there is a correlation
Between social behavior and education?

The building of jails is planned ahead of time
Feeding into the "school to prison line"
Based on students that fail the 3rd grade test given by the state
Who then can easily lose hope and help seal their fate
Spinning into a behavior cycle of no return
Because at an early age it was hard for them to learn
1 out of 9 black males ages 20-34 are currently in jail
It’s society not the teachers that somehow has failed!

Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers…Stop

Word has it that barriers are formed by an exclusive atmosphere
Governed by an elitist stratosphere
That three percent of the population
Controls ninety percent of the wealth in this nation
Seems like for these people it doesn’t matter
Somebody has to be at the bottom of the ladder!
Question: Is public education designed to maintain
A class system that refuses to change?

When will America begin to show appreciation
For the teachers in the field of education?

The educational hierarchy must realize
It’s the teachers who are directly involved in the lives
Of the students that they see everyday
So teachers’ input is important in everyway
Making decisions about the curriculum
Researching innovative ways of dealing with discipline
Teachers are a national treasure
Whose worth and value are beyond measure!

Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers
Stop bashing teachers…Stop!

When will the public begin to care
That young people are hurting everywhere?

When will restorative methods be applied
To rebuild communities and help save lives?

When will it be known that there is a correlation
Between social behavior and education?

When will America begin to show appreciation
For the teachers in the field of education?