Teachers Who Earn Tenure (Waiting for Superman)

It’s not fair how teachers with tenure can’t be fired from their job. Tenure is defined as a policy for teachers that restrict the ability to be fired from their teaching privileges. Instead they are protected from getting their job taken from them. There is no process where the unmotivated teacher is taught a lesson in some way to correct their ways of teaching. It is unbelievable and hard to accept that many bad teachers still have the privilege to teach and supervise many students in the school system. It’s difficult as is to try to fire a teacher who is considered very bad at teaching and has tenure. I am only referring to the teachers who are bad at their job of teaching and earned a tenure for the sake of security in keeping their job.  

            I consider bad teachers as those who don’t care about teaching a class, who is just present in the classroom to earn money, which thinks “If the students don’t care, then why should I”. A bad teacher is lazy, unproductive, unmotivated, no where near self disciplined, sees no hope in the future of their students and does not put in the effort to teach students. They don’t enjoy their job, period. Teachers who don't find teaching a privilege or some kind of positive motivation in teaching other students should not continue to teach and find some other job to do. Students depend on teachers to help guide them for their own future. If a teacher just lazes around and ends up leaving the classroom then don't teach and find some other productive task to do some place else.

            The problem is the teaching job is difficult. Not many people want to teach for a living. Teaching in elementary is difficult enough. A classroom filled with young students who have yet to learn the realities of the real world. I deeply admire those who teach in elementary schools, it’s a very difficult job. Compared to teaching in middle and high schools, where students have a mindset of what the real world is like and what kind of future they want. In elementary schools, young students have yet to fully understand the world they live in.

            Although, I understand it’s hard to differentiate between a “good” and “bad” teacher. Teachers who provide their own school supplies and volunteer to give their personal time to their students outside of school is looked down upon by the education system. Teachers must go by the book, follow the syllabus and the policy which students must learn from. What the school gives is what everyone must use. Yet, they are many schools that don’t even have enough materials, resources and other supplies to be used to teach the students.

            I would like to further learn of what tenure is, how it works, and how it affects students and other teachers.  What will happen if tenure didn’t exist, will that effect the generous teachers who use their personal time and materials for their teaching methods? Why did tenure happen in the first place? Did the board of education, at the time tenure would take affect, ever consider the bad teachers who don't even teach their students properly?

How do we raise awareness for the less fortunate?

            People need to put into consideration about how the less fortunate are living compared to their lives. Many people probably don’t even see a reason to why they should put money down to some person who brought himself or herself to live on the streets. The less fortunate did not choose to live in poverty, although their path in life had leaded them to it. No one wants to live poorly. People who have the money and the wealth need to step up and help the unfortunate. Although, there are many charities that go on with the wealthy people simply donating a sum of money, is not enough.

Not just wealthy people need to be more considerate with distributing the sum of money they make to the less fortunate, but the poor/middle class needs to step up as well. To those who are facing poverty probably ran out of options to leading a better life. People who have the means, resources and the ability to help the less fortunate can create a huge difference. What people in communities do now is great: Organizing non-profit organizations, create volunteer work, donating, having charities etc. But more help needs to be done. What we do now are like inside jobs, people collect and distribute. We need to find a way to really learn about the poor areas within their neighborhoods and learn their lives, their means of living. Examine and analyze the true damages within the cities, towns, and living environments. Most people just don’t care anymore. People ask for help every single day and they never receive the help they need, the help they pray for, the help they beg others for. This type of ignorance is another issue people need to resolve in order to help the less fortunate.

Know which schools need more funds for better resources to let the kids within the school to have a better education. Many cities have a huge poverty problem that most people in the word don’t even realize. To the extent that cities shut down, because it was just becoming a terrible city to run, use that type of resource to find out why that happened and how. Apply that to what we can do better; to be sure another city can be prevented from shutting down. 

A video I watched in class about the way money is distributed to Americans is very unequal and unfair. That is another issue that needs to be address in order to create awareness for the less fortunate. An average, hard working American needs to work at least a whole month or more in order to match a CEO’s paycheck made within an hour. This is the sort of problem desperately needs to be looked into and further examined to help America become a fair and equal country.

To raise awareness is just lending a hand when someone needs it. If no one will hear their cry for help, who will? Their voices have reached us, but we're not answering back. It is never too late to start helping the less fortunate.

The Underdog by the Coup

       Boots Riley is voicing out the concerns of everyday people living in today’s society. The underdog refers to the people who struggle throughout their lives to earn a decent living, to put bread on their table, to keep a home, to stay with family, to take care of kids, elderly, to keep life going. Everyday people are fighting for their life in this chaotic world, hoping for a small chance in a better life than what they live in now.

      “Saying pray for a change from the Lord above you. They’d tear this motherfucker up if they really loved you”. Many people look up to the Lord, and pray for a change to happen in their life, for a miracle. People pray everyday for a better life or seek the answers as to why they ended up in this type of life, in the life they’re stuck in. “They” is referring to those above, in heaven, that being God, the Lord, he who has the answers to prayers. If all prayers were answered the world would have been lead differently, possibly better but not every person's prayer can be answered.

       One of the lines in his poem that struck me the most was, “Lights turned off and it’s the third month, the rent is late. Thoughts of being homeless, crying till you hyperventilate. Despair permeates the air then sets in your ear…” Many people struggle to live by, to pay the bills on time, to save money, living paycheck to paycheck. I can relate because, I have been there and done that and still to this day. Helping my family to pay bills, living expenses, saving money to buy only groceries, limit the usage of utilities and to do whatever it takes to keep a roof under our heads. Just as Boots Riley said “I got love for the underdog”, I strongly agree and feel the same as well.

       Another line that struck me was “’Crosstown, the situation is identical. Somebody’s getting strangled by the system and it’s tentacles”. Nobody is alone in this messed up world. Almost every person shares a similar lifestyle or at least, an understanding of the life struggles they go through daily. The government holds the power and people live under their rule, listen to what the authorities tell us. The tentacles refer to the government and they can easily manipulate the world. Many people believe that there is no one else in this world going through the same struggles. In reality, there are millions of people going through the many hardships in this world. Although, they may not be the same story, the same life, the struggles are similar.

What was significant to me was the chorus that Boots Riley says throughout his poem. “This is for my folkers who got bills overdue, this is for my folkers, um check, one, two, this is for my folkers who never lived like a hog, me and you, toe to toe, I got love for the underdog”. That specific line is like a reminder, Riley keeps reminding his audience that he feels for them, he understands, he knows the pain, the struggles. “Me and you, toe to toe” people like you and me, people who are similar to one another yet we turn a blind eye to our selfish struggles in life. We don't take note that there are so many people around the world who may live a similar lives or have a life that is ten times worse than ours.

I feel touched with this poem, because it gives the sense of reality, the concerns of everyday people, the poor, the middle class, those who can’t voice their problems to the world. Everyday life problems. This poem reassures the readers that they’re not alone in this godforsaken world.