Recently I had an online conversation with American teachers with left-leaning political views who are located in Sweden. The conversation started off casual and quickly became heated. I was appalled by how these educators took control of the conversation, degraded me, and disregarded my ideas.
Some background information. I have been working as a substitute teacher at a rural elementary school in Sweden for nearly a year. While I have experience in working with children, I have not been formally trained as an educator. The school initially hired me to help teach English for a couple hours each week, but gradually my job morphed into being a general substitute teacher. The school is located in a small village of 500 people, and does not have experienced staff on hand for more simple part-time jobs like substituting. This is the same case for many rural schools throughout the country.
The online group I was in consisted of people of all ages and professional backgrounds who live in Sweden. I posted a vague comment about a difficult experience I had while substituting, and questioned why students are not excluded from fun activities as a form of punishment. The leftist American teachers in the group quickly picked up on the post, and were irate that I would even propose the idea of exclusion. Many of them talked down on me, claiming I am not qualified to be an educator and should quit my job. One noted that I may even be “harmful” to children.
I told them I enjoy my job and am actually fairly qualified to work as a substitute compared to many locals living in my village. I shared ideas that would help me become more equipped as an educator, such as being included in staff meetings so I can learn more about working with the children (I have yet to be invited to a staff meeting at the school). I also said it would be nice if the Swedish education system offered a general online tutorial for ground-level people like me who do not have formal education in teaching.
To my surprise, a number of the teachers scoffed at my ideas, as though a substitute teacher is not valuable enough to be included in things like meetings or general training. They responded like pack animals. One said, “We are teachers talking to someone who is NOT a teacher.” Is it normal for teachers to think so poorly of a substitute? At the end of the day a substitute is a person who is left alone in a classroom of students.
Additionally, I wondered if these educators were aware that Sweden has a severe lack of teachers . People are not exactly jumping on the band wagon to become a certified educator, especially to be a part-time substitute teacher in a remote village.
No wonder why teachers with conservative views tend to not speak up, they may be harassed by leftist teachers like what I am experiencing.
I think the teachers may have ridiculed me because they knew I am a person with conservative-leaning views. A number of them wrote paragraphs detailing past posts I had put up in the group, and even slandered me. I thought it was creepy that they had kept tabs on things I had posted in the past, as though they stalked me. No wonder why teachers with conservative views tend to not speak up, they may be harassed by leftist teachers like what I am experiencing.
I ended up deleting the post because it was getting out of hand, but the conflict did not stop there. One of the educators was irritated that I had deleted the post, and re-posted what I had originally posted and even included my name. Some people who were not educators noted that it was uncalled for to re-post content that a person had deleted, but, amazingly, many of the educators supported her re-posting something I had deleted. They belittled me for deleting the post, claiming they should have “access” to what they had contributed to the post. Clearly this was a tar and feather moment.
Ultimately, I was stunned that these people are educators. How do they communicate with students who do not think the same as them if they do not have common decency to communicate with people of the public who have differing views?
I am becoming increasingly concerned about how to approach the public education system if I ever have children, especially after witnessing how these teachers react to those who think differently than them. Unfortunately, mainland Sweden does not permit home schooling, so the public education system is the only system families in Sweden have to work with. The only part of Sweden that does permit home school to a degree is Gotland, which is an island.
Parents in America are fortunate to have opportunities in home school, and to be more involved in the public education system. Whether you have children or not, I encourage you to take time to delve into the world of American teachers.
Photo credit: DepositPhotos.com
Lauren Ell is an American blogger born and raised in Southern California and is currently based in Sweden. She discusses Epilepsy, Politics and Fun. Professionally Ell is an Online Marketing Consultant and Virtual Assistant. She is also founder and president of Republican Atheists and GunSafetySociety.org. Connect with Lauren on Facebook and Twitter.