There are bad apples in every field, education is no exception. This is not to say that all or even many educators are not fit for their work, however, it must be recognized when this is the case. Because like students, teachers make mistakes. 

When a student misbehaves, he is punished, whether that be through detention or another form of discipline. When a student performs poorly, he receives a poor grade. When a student makes a mistake, there are consequences. This is all logical and expected, as we learn from the results of our actions. Except, it seems that these rules often don’t apply to our educators. 

When a teacher makes a small mistake, there are rarely consequences, as such, not all slip-ups are met with punishment. However, a lack of consequence has also been applied to the larger slip-ups as well. For example, since we’ve been able to capture them, moments when these more significant mistakes in classrooms have been met with media attention. Videos of teachers using slurs or even aggressively pushing or hitting students garner thousands in not millions of online users’ attention. Via whatever app they’re shared on, the viewers of these videos usually leave comments that call for the teacher to be fired, or in more extreme cases, sued. 

As is often the case, the media blows the situation far out of proportion from what had really happened. Yet, there are times when the teachers in these videos do in fact deserve a form of punishment, but don’t necessarily receive one. This could be a result of a teacher union. 

Across the country, a large majority of educators belong to a union that provides them with better working conditions, higher wages, and benefits. These unions result from a long fight from educators through protests, strikes, and bargaining in order to protect their rights and additional needs within their profession. For over one hundred years, progress has been made to improve teachers’ working conditions. However, while educators are better off, they’ve inevitably become harder to remove from these workplaces, even when the circumstance calls for it. 

As a necessary disclaimer, I’d like to remind all of the truly wonderful teachers that can be found in every learning environment, these kinds of educators do make up the majority. But it must be brought to proper attention when teaching behavior doesn’t meet the standards that those receiving it deserve.