Jill Biden's Almost Great Stump Speech For Teaching

FLOTUS was in Tennessee, of all places, to kick off an "education tour." meant to make hay out of the Biden administration's relief package for schools. At the University of Tennessee, she followed the mayor, Secretary Cardona, and Teacher of the Year Melissa Collins (who is a compelling presence). There's also an emphasis on recruiting and retaining teachers, and she had some good, moving things to say, but I can't let this quote pass without response.

“Teaching isn’t what we do, it’s who we are” - @FLOTUS @WXII pic.twitter.com/hFAuXUuASF

— WXII Maria DeBone (@WXIIMaria) September 12, 2022

This quote's heart is in the right place. It got a big chunk of applause. But here's what's wrong with the sentiment, because it's part of what has gotten the profession in trouble already.

"Teaching is who we are," plays to the myth that people are born teachers, and that myth has several unfortunate, damaging side effects.

First and foremost, it contributes to the notion that teaching is not a profession that people can either choose or not choose. It contributes to the mindset that figures it doesn't matter what we do to teachers and their working conditions because it's not like they could choose to do something else or find another line of work or just choose not to be teachers, because, hey, teaching is who they are. 

If teaching isn't a job folks choose to do, but is simply a calling (which Dr. Biden labeled it at least thrice) or an identity one is born into, then we don't have to talk about how to make the profession more attractive in order to recruit and retain people. 

We can talk about a "teacher shortage" as if we're talking about a shortage of green beans, as if the magic teacher tree for some reason just didn't bear enough fruit this year. And that in turn means we can start talking about "solutions" that address everything except the real issues at hand (like creating cockamamie rules to let any warm body pretend to be a teacher because the teacher tree didn't yield enough fruit). 

If I want to really stretch a point, I can even argue that this quote is a little dehumanizing, erasing the whole "we are people who" choose to do this job. And while it's not at all the most important piece of all this, I'll also point out that if teaching is your whole identity, retirement will be a bitch. 

FLOTUS frames it all as people wanting to teach but being stopped by obstacles--low pay, student loans, class sizes, and safety concerns. If we want to bring bright talented people into the field, she says, "if we want educators to be able to do what they do best, we have to give them the support that they deserve." And then she introduced the Three R's For Teachers-- Recruit, Respect and Retain. And then she pivots to stumping for her husband (opening schools, vaccinating teachers, loan forgiveness, more counselors, encouraging states to raise pay, yay). She just knew he would have to be an education President; she does not offer a connection between this and the years he spent in the public-education-thrashing Obama administration. 

She also refers to teaching as "this profession" and talks about "the work," which strikes me as a better framework. And she really brings it all home toward the end:

Become a teacher. And when you do, and when you do--and I hope all of you do who want to join this profession-- you'll find a vocation that brings you joy and meaning. You'll know that someone out there is a better thinker because of you, that someone is kind of sitting a little bit taller because you gave him the confidence. Someone is working a little harder because you pushed her to try. Someone is braver because you helped him find his courage. And you'll know this, too-- that your President and his administration are working every day so that you have the support, respect and pay you deserve. So join us. Become a teacher. And we will change the world, one student at a time.

Well, she was on a roll for a minute, anyway. 

I'll repeat that Tennessee, with its ardent embrace of Larry "Teachers are the dumbest" Arnn and its long string of amateur-hour grifters as secretary of education, is an odd choice. The gang appear drawn there by a proposed Grow Your Own program, which is currently nothing more than a pretty idea, but as unrealized ideas go, I suppose it's prettier than North Carolina's crappy proposed merit pay program. And it's certainly nicer to have someone from DC saying pretty things about teachers instead of calling them names and suggesting they all stink (like Betsy DeVos under Trump/Pence and Arne Duncan under Obama/Biden). 

But I'm not sure we've fully grasped the range of issues gumming up the teacher pipeline (or at least we have chosen not to express said grasping in words). I like a pep rally for the profession as much as the next person, especially these days, but when it veers toward the ditch, my nerves, long made twitchy by pretty words untethered to any useful, practical policy--well, I get a little pain.

Bottom line. Some swell parts, some terrible parts, some choices clearly made in order to stump for Biden policies (which echoes the "don't tell me what you need, just listen while I tell you what I want to do for you" pitch that teachers know so well from dozens of edu-wares salespersons). This was the kickoff for the tour; maybe things will pick up down the road.