By, Kathy Six
November 23, 2021
"You Ain't Black"
When Biden made the huge blunder of telling Charlamagne Tha God, "Well I tell you what, if you hve a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black," there was an audible gasp around the country.
Political Classification
What makes this offensive? It's the simple concept of classification of people as if we are a mere shell of our classified group. There are copious ways we can classify people; gender, ethnicity, career choice, geography, faith, etc. Imagine trying to fit each of your classifications according to a political position. Let's use Biden's premise. Consider a married black woman ex-military who lives in Texas, with three children. She and her family are upper class and Catholic. According to the political postulation Biden used, she should vote Democrat. However, she is ex-military, so she should vote Republican. On the other hand, she is a woman, so she should vote Democrat. Wait, she lives in Texas so geographically she should vote Republican. She is upper middle class so here she could vote either way. She's Catholic so she should be a conservative and vote Republican.
Classification Can Have Unpropitious Outcomes
Classification of people removes even the slightest modicum of common sense about the complexity of what it means to be human. Why then, do we find ourselves doing this so easily? Well, that is perhaps, for another article. Let me touch on how this classification can have unpropitious outcomes. Teachers are a class of people as such. If we dare classify them politically, they would be democrat. Like the woman described previously, teachers come with these same complexities. What they share is only one aspect of life, the love of teaching children. That's where their classifying should end. Yet, today, the news seems to place teachers in two camps. The democrats want to love on their support of unions. The republicans want to hate on their support of unions. It seems, if you support the ideals of a union and believe it is useful in balancing power of the administration and teachers, you've somehow crossed over into the democrat camp for which you are immured. Neither are correct, of course, but the temptation to report on teachers as liberal knaves by republicans and liberal kotahitangas by liberals is offensive on every level. Teachers, like all other people, are complex people with diverse lives. They are neither liberal knaves or liberal kotahitangas, they are as variant as any other classified group.
The Media Perceives Teachers as a Certain "Classified" Group
Understand that the news has a huge impact on perception even within the classified groups. Teachers are not unique in this aspect. Where they are unique is in their working conditions. The dynamics of likely being the only adult in the room for the majority of your day provides little opportunity to socialize with peers. Our day is spent with students and time away from students is spent planning, making phone calls, checking email, running copies, etc. Even lunch is tricky. It's short and not without it's own issues. Lunches are often scheduled as a scaffold to prevent an overrun group of bodies getting lunch in the student cafeteria. Teachers might have twenty minutes to chat through a scarfed down bite while trying to squeeze in another quick run to their mailbox, check email or handle an office situation. Planning time together is spent.... well, planning. Meetings are spent discussing that which pertains to teaching. There's no water cooler or coffee area of chat. We might squeeze in a chat after school briefly, but otherwise, we are a solitary laborer. Each of us carries around our ideas and thoughts about political concepts and what is meaningful in our world with limited ability to share it among our peers.
Many Teachers are Conservatives
Let's clarify then that, there are many teachers who are conservatives. Many who, and I know this is shocking, voted for Donald Trump and are frustrated with the behavior of portions of our union whether it be national, state, local or combinations of those. There are teachers who do not support the latest push of teaching CRT and are just as angry as others that many of our schools and colleges are vigorously adopting this curriculum. There are teachers who do not support mandates that have come from the Biden administration. Many feel strongly that the election of 2020 was a massive scandal of cheating and needs to be investigated. There are teachers who feel the vaccine should be a choice and are against vaccinating and masking children based on research of science risk to ratio data. Who are these teachers who dare go against the grain of the political classification they've been assigned? They are quite possibly your child's teacher. You shouldn't know because a good teacher doesn't spill their political ideologies into the classroom. However, they could be wishing you would show up at that school board meeting and fight for their conservative beliefs. The most prolific wish, in my opinion, of conservative teachers is to know that they are not alone.
To have a network of other teachers who hold their same ideology. They dream of having the opportunity to connect to other teachers who won't scold them because they believe Trump was a good president and Biden is not. To connect with other teachers who uphold their values about patriotism in school. Teachers like them who believe biological boys should not be allowed in girls' bathrooms. To speak to other teachers about the execrable ideology of CRT. They might dream of speaking to other teachers who believe the vaccine should remain a choice and no other staff member should be allowed to condemn them for choosing to make their own medical decision. Perhaps they would like to discuss the difficulties of teaching with masks and the science behind why they are more harmful than helpful to the child's health and social acclimation.
Teachers are Breaking Their Silence!
Is it possible to bring these simple wishes to teachers who feel they are part of a fringed society of the educational system? It's not only possible, it's probable. Let me first say that conservative teachers are not really on the fringe. The media has placed them there, but they are really a complex and diverse group of people like any other group. In fact, their numbers are growing and their silence is breaking. The time has come for teachers to recognize their right to be conservative, republican, or any other opposing concept that the media has constructed about them. If you are one of those teachers, perhaps it is time for you to be connected and have a collective voice.
You are Not Alone!
Not only will this article remind teachers they have a right to be heard, but they have a place to begin. If this sounds like you or someone you know, complete this form. Your information will be kept private and only used to help connect teachers to CTUV (Conservative Teachers United Voices.
Kathy Six is a teacher with a Master’s Degree in Gifted and Talented Students and is involved in her community supporting her lifelong residence of Fruitport, Michigan. She is married to her husband Scott for 40 years, has two married children and four grandchildren. Kathy loves to hunt, fish, play softball, and reads everything and anything she can get her hands on.
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