Recently, FB reminded me of something I posted 4 years ago that is still very relevant right now.

A friend of mine asked when will I work just one job. The more I thought about that the more I realized that there haven’t been many times since I was legally able to work that I only had one job. In school most times I was a tutor on top of working in other places and I’ve been doing grant contracting work since grad school. It’s a shame that educators most often have to work multiple jobs just to cover basic bills. When will we invest in teachers, at all levels, like they invest in each generation?

Today I also saw a post that said something about football coaches getting paid a few millions as a losing clause in their contract while teachers have to pay out of their pocket for staplers.

The more I reflect on my post and other things I saw today the sadder I feel. I think about the teachers who had to deal with COVID-19 infections and those that didn’t make it due to COVID-19 in this last year. I think about the amount of money we pour into our education, enter our professions working in high needs areas whether that’s challenging K-12 school districts, community colleges, smaller state colleges/universities or minority serving institutions, only to not qualify for OR be denied loan forgiveness for service.

My time in higher education has been rewarding. I have enjoyed working with students and seeing them succeed; however, it has been filled with challenges. There’s the stress of contract renewal as well as tenure and promotion and trying to do the job with very limited resources all while managing personalities and attitudes within and outside of the classroom.

I’m really just stopping by to say we need to invest more into education. If we are going to be a nation that truly believes that all citizen have a legal right to a free basic education, then there needs to be a major restructuring in educational funding and the value of teachers and professors.

I said what I said.

Dr. Stassi