A novel concept: Let teachers do their jobs | Sam Venable

Classes resume in Knox County Schools Aug. 8. I wonder how many teachers are approaching the occasion with dread and despair.

Not because their alarm clocks will ring earlier than they have throughout the summer.

Not because they accepted the call to teach in the first place.

The men and women of this profession should be celebrated for their career choice. The vast majority of the ones I’ve known through the years reap a reward for their services that goes far beyond a paltry salary.

Education is far more than just a job to them. They’re in it with their hearts.

They’re in it because they truly care about the education and welfare of all students — slow starters and fast learners, hellions and saints alike — who file into their classroom five days a week. They’re in it because somewhere along the line, a teacher (perhaps more than one) made a positive impact on their lives, and they’re repaying this debt by passing the blessing to a new generation.

If only parents and politicians would leave ’em the hell alone and let ’em do their jobs.

Fat chance of that these days.

It’s just a hunch on my part, but I suspect many of these “experts” in science, history, literature, creative writing, social studies and heaven only knows how many other subjects couldn’t pass a test in any of them. Yet to hear their fiery eruptions at school board meetings and legislative sessions, they know much more, and could do a decidedly better job, than the person in front of the class.

And God forbid that this same educator attempt to impart some truisms, uncomfortable as they may be.

Little wonder, then, that the Tennessee Education Association has filed suit against the state over a 2021 law regulating classroom instruction on 14 “prohibited concepts.” TEA charges that the law is vague and interferes with lessons in “difficult but important” subjects.

Much of this hubbub goes back to a dog-whistle issue known as CRT, or critical race theory.

(For those whose memory doesn’t reach beyond yesterday’s lunch, CRT was the red-meat buzzword before “woke” was invented. Didn’t matter that lawmakers couldn’t explain it, or even prove it was being taught to elementary or high school students. Pfft! Mere details. Just get shed of it. All in favor say “aye.”)

The result was a regulatory mishmash that left teachers hogtied unless they serve up pablum.

Hate to break it to the scholars on Capitol Hill, but there’s more to teaching than “who, what, where and when.”

A discussion of “why” might be the most enlightening aspect of all.

Sam Venable’s column appears every Sunday. Contact him at sam.venable@outlook.com.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Sam Venable: A novel concept: Let teachers do their jobs