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The United States’ Public School System is Collapsing On Itself
How decades of wage stagnation and indifference towards educators has fueled the worst recorded teacher shortage in modern history
Earlier this week, a high school biology teacher at a private school in Michigan showed her students a series of pictures with animals on them, including one with former President Barack Obama. Then she asked the students, “Which one is the primate?”
What happened next? She was put on leave. To openly compare the former leader of the free world to a monkey is one of the oldest racial tropes, one which has persisted for centuries and existed long before the formation of the United States. This behavior should be immediate grounds for termination, at least one would think. (To be clear, her leave of absence still could lead to her eventual termination, but the fact that it isn’t immediate is certainly telling.)
On the surface, this story is exemplary of the racist stuff that white people get away with, but considering the administration officials likely knew this would make national headlines and damage the school’s reputation, it makes you wonder if other factors are at play here.
I can’t make the argument that the teacher shortage helped her keep her job, but the teacher shortage will ultimately lead to a less selective hiring…
