In recent years, there has been a very public war on teachers and public education. There has been a double sided push for privatization citing failing schools and under-qualified teachers being protected by tenure and teaching unions, while at the same time teachers are being pressured from governments where teachers are losing their ability to be creative in the classroom because of the demands of standardized tests. With 46% of new teachers leaving the profession within the first 5 years of teaching, something is fundamentally wrong with the way in which teachers are perceived and treated within society.
"American Teacher" is a documentary created in collaboration with the Teacher Salary Project and narrated by Matt Damon (whose mother is a public school teacher). This documentary focuses specifically on the pay and salary in which teachers receive. This was an interesting approach in my opinion since so many of the talking heads on cable news, specifically Fox News, like to criticize teachers for being so well paid compared to other professions. This film looked at the lives of specific teachers from around the country; one was an expecting mother, another works an extra job after school, a Harvard and Columbia graduate teaching 1st grade, a second year teacher, and a teacher who left the profession due to financial reasons.
Last year, the media world was touting "Waiting for Superman" as this amazing film which outlines the problems of schools and how to solve those problems. But there was a major flaw in this film, the teachers,or lack thereof. What the nation saw was a film which was part of the privatization push which was created by No Child Left Behind and failed to show the true majority of teachers who willingly take a vow of poverty and public ridicule, because they believe so strongly in their calling to teach.
This film chose not to focus on teacher unions or the politics involved in education today because to the filmmakers, this was not essential to the point in which they were making. The purpose of this documentary was to tell the story which faces so many teachers everyday. What we do see are people who are dedicated to the profession, who have a true sense of responsibility to their students, and understand their importance in a modern society which demands an educated populace and workforce. These are not the exception when it comes to the average teacher. Every person I know who either chose to go into education, or who currently works within that profession, have those same very views because this is who teachers are.
However, the reality of the situation is much more dire because of the pay in which teachers receive for the amount of work in which they actually do on a daily basis. According to the NEA, 62% of teachers hold second jobs on top of their regular teaching duties. Half of those jobs include coaching and other activities relating to school, while the other 50% work outside of the school atmosphere in retail stores, construction, or the service sector where they can find hours which work around their schedules. When was the last time you heard of a surgeon prepping for surgery, when 2 hours ago they were driving a forklift in a warehouse?
So why does salary play such an important role in the discussion of education reform and better performing schools? Teachers do not go into the field because of pay and benefits. Teachers are paid 14% less than people who have similar education and are in the work force at other careers. A lawyer in New York City starts with bonuses making over $150,000 in the first year while a teacher will make around $45,000. After 25 years of teaching, the average salary nationwide for teachers is $67,000 a year, while for an MBA after only 5 years is making nearly $225,000 a year. The next question is how many hours do teachers work every day? It is a safe average that your public school teacher once you include prep time, after school activities, grading, and of course actual time in front of a classroom, you are looking at a work load of almost 15 hours a day. That means you are looking at an hourly pay of less that $14 per hour.
Pay and compensation are indicative of the level of respect in which we place a career in society and the film does a great job of outlining this as a major problem for not only teaching as a profession, but for education as a whole.
My one main critique of this film though would have to be a much needed historical perspective on teaching as a profession. There is a brief mention of teaching in the past, but a definitive look at teaching's lifestyle compared to today (compared with other professions who have evolved over time) would have added to a compelling argument for paying teachers more and attracting the smartest and most ingenious people our universities have to offer.
As a standalone documentary, it can be a little repetitive, but in the context of films like "Waiting For Superman" and the media blitz against teachers, this is a much needed part of the conversation of educational reform.
My grade = B
Watch the trailer:
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