04/30/2026
The other day I saw a social media clip where a teacher said something to the effect of expecting every teacher to engage every student all the time is like expecting every diner at every restaurant to enjoy every meal they ever eat. I think it’s inherently an implicitly a different thing: students are compelled to be in schools by the law, not by their choice. They aren’t choosing to spend eight hours a day in a desk. Because of that, I think that the schools has an institution should be held to a higher standard than restaurants and other businesses that are buying for customers money, and therefore their engagement. Teachers themselves, specifically, should not be the sole bearers of the responsibility for engaging every student in every school all of the time. The burden of engagement should fall on the shoulders of elected representatives, the courts, and school leaders in as much as it should fall on the shoulders of teachers themselves. Similarly, demanding that students be engaged in everything all the time is tantamount to asking teachers to be engaged in everything all the time; however, if we don’t aim for Utopia, then we’ll settle for wherever we’re at any of the time.
