Since I was a little girl, education has always been something I’ve valued. I remember wearing a Spelman College T-shirt at age six and reading my first chapter book about the great educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune.
For me, education was the key to everything else in life, and I thought everyone agreed. I mean, how could they not? Teachers were the ones that helped you build your skills in writing, reading and arithmetic. They helped you fix your clothes on picture day, so family could beam with delight when viewing your picture. And yes, sometimes they were not the best.
As someone who has a unique yet grammatically correct name, teachers often asked if I had a nickname because somehow my name was “too difficult.” Sure, I wasn’t named Ashley (no offense, Ashleys), yet that stained my self-esteem for years. I thought there was surely something wrong with my name, and if I could have one like everyone else, life would be better. But of course life doesn’t quite flow in the simplistic ways we wish.
Along with learning to love my name, I began to clearly see the economic worth for education was not consistent with what I thought its importance had always been. This happened during my undergrad years but became clearer once I began job-searching during my second year of grad school.
The salary offerings for many positions at public institutions were half of what my friends in corporate were making and they only had a bachelor’s degree. My friends from high school working in a factory were making more than I would be making after investing over $100,000 in my education. I was confused. I thought the more education I received, the better off I’d be.
This reality check has been stagnant in growth for decades in the world of education.
Listening to and reading the stories of the Oklahoma teachers on strike has made me revisit and think more about what we truly value as a country. If we valued education, teaching would be included as a profession that pays the most. Yet, it’s quite the opposite.
K-12 teachers spend an average of 35 hours a week for almost 12 years of each person’s life. They were there when we had a disagreement with our best friend in the third grade. They were there when we fell on the playground. They were there when a classmate needed to take food home because their family was homeless and hungry.
I don’t believe we should push down a profession in order to “spread the wealth,” but I do think we need to actively show where our values lie as a country by investing in professions like teaching, policing and firefighting.
As a parent, I consider the tax increase I’d need to pay in order for teachers to be paid not only what they deserve, but what we consider as valuable in our country. It would probably mean that I’d have to budget differently. Yet, to know that the teacher my son adores doesn’t have to be an Uber driver on the side is priceless to my peace of mind and the future of our country.
Shadra Smith, a Contributing Writer for the Voice, can be reached for comment at SSmith@wooster.edu.