Podcast: COVID-19 and America’s teacher crisis
Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune
Teacher Andrew Van Herik protests outside Chicago Public Schools headquarters July 22.
The vast majority of Americans believe teachers don’t receive the respect—or pay—they deserve, but that won’t stop the U.S. from forcing educators to work in potential COVID-19 hotspots with barebones safety protocols. Labor exploitation is anything but a new concept, and on this episode of the “Bigger Picture,” I discuss how our treatment of teachers exemplifies systemic flaws in the economy.
Show notes:
- Israel Ministry of Health COVID-19 Data Dashboard
- Israeli Data Show School Openings Were a Disaster That Wiped Out Lockdown Gains
- Amid New Surge In Virus Cases, Israel’s Top Public Health Official Resigns
- Trump urges states to reopen schools this fall amid pandemic
- Donald Trump Speech Transcript: Safely Reopening Schools Amid COVID-19 Pandemic
- How Many Teachers Are at Risk of Serious Illness If Infected with Coronavirus?
- The Changing Age Structure of U.S. Teachers
- The Teacher Burnout Epidemic
- The Largest Labor Unions in the US
- The rise of teacher unions: A look at union impact over the years
- Answering the Call: The History of NEA
- CPI Inflation Calculator
- A Brief History of Teacher Strikes in the United States
- Teacher Strikes: 4 Common Questions
- LAUSD teachers’ strike ends. Teachers to return to classrooms Wednesday
- Strikes get “silent treatment” at NEA convention, as candidates take center stage
- Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, Council 31
- Will Unions Let Schools Reopen?
- Texas Teachers Union May Strike Over COVID-19 Precautions
- Florida Teachers Sue To Block School Coronavirus Reopening Mandate
- The Rise of Neoliberalism: The Cause of Extreme Inequality?
- A Report Card on Our Nation’s Commitment to Public Schools
- Inside the Pricey, Totally Legal World of College Consultants
- Oklahoma Governor Compares Striking Teachers To ‘A Teenage Kid That Wants A Better Car’
- About one-in-six U.S. teachers work second jobs – and not just in the summer
- Billionaires are getting even richer from the pandemic. Enough is enough
- Bernie Sanders on target saying 3 richest have as much wealth as bottom half of all Americans
- Average Teacher Salary Down 4.5 percent, NEA Report Finds
- Low Teacher Salaries 101
- Exactly How Teachers Came to Be So Underpaid in America
- Sexism is at the heart of why teachers are striking
- Teachers With Student Debt: The Struggle, The Causes And What Comes Next
- The teacher pay penalty has hit a new high
- US life expectancy has been declining. Here’s why
- Coronavirus Is the Perfect Disaster for ‘Disaster Capitalism’
- Turns Out That Trillion-Dollar Bailout Was, in Fact, Real
- We’re Dying From Coronavirus. Corporations Are Getting Rich Off It.
- Billionaires’ Pandemic Wealth Gains Burst Through $700B
- Phoenix-area teachers, districts grapple with buying PPE for the classroom
- As the World Economy Grinds to a Halt, the U.S. War Machine Churns On
- Missouri Budget Slashed By $448 Million Due To Coronavirus, Education Hardest Hit
- Governor Parson Fails to Protect Communities, Taxpayers with Mandatory Minimum Bill Signing
- Wealth, Inheritance and Social Mobility
- Various articles about Zoom meetings to discuss reopening schools
- Beloved Arizona teacher dies of coronavirus, two others sharing classroom also infected
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Years on Staff: 4
What has been your favorite quarantine hobby? Reading about how technology controls our lives during...
![The greatest struggle in my life would probably have to be losing my grandpa. I lost my grandpa this past July and there was a two-week span where, after my grandpa passed, a lot of other stuff happened too. I kind of bunkered down in my shell for a little bit there. I didn’t go out or see any of my friends much over those two weeks. When I did, all I thought about was the loss of my grandpa. Losing someone is hard. He was one of my biggest inspirations. My grandparents lived in Florida. Any chance they got to travel to Missouri, they would. I will always cherish those moments even more than I did in the moment. My grandpa loved to watch me and my sister play sports, especially [when I played] soccer. Whenever I would talk to him on the phone, he always told me to get out of my head because that was something I did a lot. [He] told me that I would be fine and to keep my head up. I looked up to him throughout my life. I never saw my grandpa without a smile on his face. [He was] always so funny and always loved to crack jokes. Knowing he won’t be there for my big milestones, like [when I] graduate high school, is something really difficult to deal with. He was one of the hardest workers. He served in the Vietnam war [and] then went back to Gloucester, Ohio where he worked in the coal mines for 15 years. Rain, shine, happy, upset, angry—he worked through it all to support my dad and aunt. My papa loved his family so much and showed it by goofing around all the time. I remember one time when I was seven and my papa and I were watching Nascar and my favorite driver had always been Kyle Bush. Papa said something like, ‘I hope Kyle spins out.’ Papa knew how angry I would get but always made it up with a hug. I aspire to be like him every day. My grandpa made himself who he was and always stayed true to himself. So I would say that [losing him] was really a struggle.” - Derrien Gatchel, 11](https://PWestPathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/kgatchel-1-475x356.jpeg)