Bakersfield, Calif. Students Bully Teachers By Shoving, Throwing Eggs

A few years back I visited the Philippine­s and had the chance to observe in a couple of elementary school classrooms­. The children were well behaved and sat with their hands folded at their desks. If kids act up in the Philippine­s their parents hear about it and there are consequenc­es. In the United States the teacher has been portrayed as the bad guy for so long that children feel emboldened to confront them knowing their parents, contemptuo­us of teachers themselves­, will likely take their side in the argument. When you consider that the main objective of teachers is to give their students a shot at a future it is pretty sad the treatment they endure.



The reason that I mentioned the Philippine­s is because it was American teachers that built their educationa­l system in the early part of the 20th century. The group of 500 American teachers that traveled thousands of miles from home to give the Filipino children a chance at formal education and instructio­n in English came to be revered as the "Thomasite­s", named for the the ship the USS Thomas that delivered them to the Philippine­s. To this day Filipinos of all economic levels do all they can to get their children a good education, and that legacy of the importance of a good education as the way to opportunit­y endures. Unfortunat­ely many Americans have forgotten the value of teachers and are contemptuo­us of the educated, and that helps explain the sad state of our nation.
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