"Loser Teacher" Wait, What?

Over the weekend it was reported that Donald Trump, Jr. stated in a speech to a group of Conservative students "You don't have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism."  The attention surrounding those words, "loser teachers" brought out the critics and rightfully so.  No matter his thoughts, taking a stab at a profession that is overpaid and underworked seemed extremely negative and a little bit arrogant.  Yes, we have all had bad teachers in our lifetime.  In fact one of the the reasons that I chose education as a profession was because of a terrible social studies teacher that I had in high school.  He was the typical football coach that only cared about his sport and one who multiple times turned a blind eye to mass cheating in his classroom.  Brett even had to deal with one of those teachers that tried to "sell everyone on socialism" with a strong push towards liberalism in all of her lessons.  As much as it upset him when she told him that "he would never understand anything about the real world since he was a white, privileged male who worshiped Reagan," we never once referred to her as a "loser teacher."  We knew her opinion was incorrect, but instead of arguing with her, we encouraged Brett to take the high road and remain quite in her class while working hard on the material.  It was a good life lesson for him on how to deal with authority that was blatantly biased.  After reading Trump Jr's comments, I wish that during his speech that he would have encouraged students to take the high road and had offered ideas on how to work together to solve problems without reverting to name calling.  It would have meant more to his audience and sent a positive message out into the world.

Even though I know that the President's son was wrong in using the phrase "Loser Teacher", I couldn't really get it out of my head.  No one had ever called me a loser in my professional life, but that was exactly how I felt when I left teaching almost two years ago.  I wasn't a loser teacher for lack of effort, but for lack of control over my situation.  I was a loser teacher because I was given thirty-two students in a classroom without resources or help to teach them all.  I was a loser teacher because my math text books were taken away in lieu of computers that were not equipped with a math curriculum for students to complete.  I was a loser teacher because I followed the steps of discipline for students outlined in the handbook, but received no help once it called for a referral to the office.  I was a loser teacher because I was asked to teach writing lab even though I was not certified to do so.  I was a loser teacher when a student threw an object at my so hard that it left a welt and was told by the person in charge of discipline that it was "no big deal."  I was a loser teacher when I was informed that I would have to increase the number of classes that I would teach by one even though I was already at the maximum and would receive no help in writing the curriculum.  I was a loser teacher when I was asked to write "depth of knowledge" questions for students to solve even though I knew that they did not have the basic knowledge to solve the problems in the first place.  I was a loser teacher when I was asked to give standardized tests five times a year (three by the state and two by the district) to better help me understand what my students needed to learn.  I was pretty sure that I could tell them what skills my classes were lacking without over testing them.  I was a loser teacher when I had to teach two different classes during the same class period.  I was a loser teacher when I was told that the demands of teaching had increased greatly and that I would just have to get used to it.  I was not a loser teacher because Donald Trump Jr said that I was, but because of the way that I was treated by the education mandates of the state and federal governments as well as our own district.

In the end I probably could have remained a loser teacher even with all of the issues listed above.  I loved helping students grow and learn in an enriching classroom.  It was the last reason that I was a loser teacher that ultimately pushed me out of the profession.  I was a loser teacher because I was spending more time educating other students than I was being a mom and wife to the Heinisch family.  Being named a loser teacher was one thing, but being a loser mom and wife was something that I just couldn't bear to be called.