Teachers have not only acted as the conduits of our education for students K-12, but they’ve also been some of our friends, or have helped create long-lasting memories in school. However, not everyone shares this view.

Many people are annoyed with teachers, or just dislike the schools they go to, as teachers fall in the crossfire. Teachers always have to stay under pressure for all kinds of stuff, that when students do things which do require the full anger and wrath of a teacher, these teachers snap. However, in the end, this results in the teacher being somewhat punished compared to the students who get away scot free, even if what the teachers get angry at them for is justified. It matters for what they say which can affect how they can express their anger. This makes me wonder, is our school taking teachers for granted? Is it justified for what our teachers are so angry about? And should we be worried about it?

Mr. Eversole thinks so. Eversole, a teacher for English, film, and cultural geography, even though he sympathizes with those leaving their jobs as teachers, he believes that he is taken for granted, not by his students but other members in the community.

“There are those in the community that think of us more as only here to do this job, but they don’t think of us as people first,” Eversole said. That’s where he believes the disconnect happens for some teachers. Despite that, he still loves teaching, working at our high school for about nine years. He loves both his students and his job, never being taken for granted himself.

English teacher Mrs. Braswell says that students do show disrespect towards teachers. She isn’t wrong though, as she like most other teachers, have to deal with students who either act inappropriate, or blatantly ignore her when she needs to be heard. Although she can’t speak for those teachers who have left our school, she believes that if she was to ever leave it would be due to student apathy.

“It’s a big drag when you come into class and have things prepared and students just complain, and don’t do things,” said Braswell, as a teacher for senior high school students. She knows they have a choice and will be out in the real world soon as she tries to reflect her work with real life because “if you would rather sleep during class then that’s on you.” It’s a big life lesson she believes that students should learn now instead of learning it in the real world so you don’t fail at college or fail at getting a job.

What differs from these two teachers, however, are the facts and feelings given by Mr. Hendricks, who teaches Spanish. Hendricks feels that students don’t disrespect teachers, but just education as a whole. Since if you could compare this generation to the generations of the past, you could see that education was more respected back then.

“With prior generations, education was really respected, but now it’s just kind of assumed, without having to put in any work,” Hendricks said. He considers it a significant factor, a movement through the youth assuming everything when they don’t know anything, resulting in students taking teachers for granted, talking back to them or making up excuses.

What Hendricks and I both believe is that COVID has left a lasting effect, with COVID making our school spoonfeed the students. Now that school is in-person, students have to be more accountable compared to before.

Despite that, Hendricks believes that we can bring back education to what it once was before. I believe so too as we could return to the standards of education before COVID happened, and maybe with fewer incidents between teachers and students. While this could happen, it requires a strong commitment between teachers, students, and parents.

In the end, I think that this whole teacher being taken for granted thing dives deeper and relates to the issues teachers face today, but I also believe that with COVID having affected us and now not being that much of a threat, it doesn’t only require the teachers and parents to fix what is now currently broken, but it requires our help, the students help, as well.