by Joseph Zavarella

Created on: July 20, 2008   Last Updated: February 12, 2009

Teachers could be an important force for positive change both locally and globally. Unfortunately that possibility has been squandered on the petty self indulgence of career building focused on acquiring the most benefits and highest salary that the traffic will bear. The need for teachers to be considered missionaries in a wild and hostile frontier is still very much the perception of some people who can remember when those conditions actually existed in some places. We must finally come to realize that teachers are not missionaries dedicated to changing the lives of their poor and impoverished charges. Although those conditions might actually exist in some places, but in the industrialized world most teachers are in fairly well equipped classrooms and their students are there to learn.

There has been an occassional smattering of teacher led involvement in the save the environment issues. Earth Day is a major event in many places around the world. Prevention of cruelty to animals is also an area that teachers and their students may have had an impact. However, the significance of teachers in dealing with health related problems may be questionable. Teachers have been notably absent in the areas of sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy, and childhood obesity just to name a few.

There is also the question of what sort of changes in which we would expect teachers to be engaged. Do we want them to be politically oriented and support specific issues and candidates for public office? Are teachers, or should teachers be neutral on issues requiring a referendum of voters to select from a number of options pertaining to a specific problem? Should teachers become involved on issues pertaining to abortion or morality? Should teachers become involved in the reduction of crime in specific neighborhoods inhabited by their students? Why do teachers need to have a program called, "DARE," in our public schools? The existence of this program certainly indicates that teachers do not wish to become involved. Is it not a conflict of interest when teachers ask parents to vote for the school budget?

All of the above and more are serious questions to be asked about whether or not it is advisable for teachers to be expected to become an important force for positive change. The other side of that is teachers could become an important force for negative change. There is no guarantee that teachers are motivated by any moral force that will keep them aligned with the wishes and desires of the public they serve. If history is any indication there is probably the same percentage of evil doers and social miscreants among teachers in our schools as there are in the population at large.

The topic of whether or not teachers are an important force for positive change both locally and globally, although interesting, should be rephrased as follows so it is a neutral statement. Should teachers be an important force for positive change both locally and globally might be a better way to approach the issue.

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