• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts

The Educators Room logo

  • Start Here
    • Impact Statements: Teacher Expertise
    • Newsletter
  • Browse Topics
    • Content Strategies
      • Literacy
      • Mathematics
      • Social Studies
      • Educational Technology
      • ELL & ESOL
      • Fine Arts
      • Special Education
      • Popular Topics
        • Teacher Self-Care
        • Instructional Coach Files
        • Common Core
        • The Traveling Teacher
        • The Unemployed Teacher
        • The New Teacher Chronicles
        • Book Review
        • Grade Levels
          • Elementary (K-5)
          • Middle (6-8)
          • Adult
          • New Teacher Bootcamp
          • Hot Button Topics
            • Menu Item
              • Principals' Corner
              • Charter Schools
              • Confessions of a Teacher
              • Interviews
              • The State of Education
              • Stellar Educator of the Week
            • Menu
              • How to Fix Education
              • Featured
              • Ask a Teacher
              • Teacher Branding
              • Current Events
  • Podcasts
  • Courses
    • Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout- An 8 Week Course
    • Becoming An Educational Consultant
    • Teacher Branding 101:Teachers are The Experts
    • The Learning Academy
    • Books
    • Shirts
  • Education in Atlanta
  • Teacher Self-Care
  • The Coach's Academy
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Advertising
  • Write for Us
  • Job Board
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
    • Consulting
    • Advertising
  • Shop
    • Books
    • Shirts
×

March 24, 2015 Current Events in Education

The Resource Desert: Schools in the 21st Century

  • About the Author
  • Latest Posts

About Jake Miller

Mr. Jake Miller is the 2016 National History Day Pennsylvania Teacher of the Year, a 2017 NEA Global Fellow to China, and a former candidate for county-wide office. Miller has written more than 500 articles, most of which have appeared on The Educator's Room. He's the opening contributor to TER's book When the Fire Is Gone. Learn more about Jake at www.MrJakeMiller.com
  • The Student-Teaching Model Is Outdated: Here's How We Can Do Better - September 15, 2021
  • Visualize: How Seeing What's Coming Changed My Teaching - August 16, 2021
  • 10 Lessons About Teaching from My Youngest Son - June 24, 2021
  • Ending the Epithet “Try-Hard” Once and for All in Classrooms - June 18, 2021
  • From STEM, Let's Pivot to the BRANCHES of the Humanities - May 25, 2021
  • Would Education Collapse If Teachers Stopped Working for Free? - May 20, 2021
  • 10 Ways to Teach Like Ted Lasso: Part II - April 21, 2021
  • 8 Tips So Your Substitute Plans Don't Suck - April 14, 2021
  • 10 Ways to Teach Like Ted Lasso: Part I - March 12, 2021
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teachers: Habit 3 - First Things First - February 26, 2021

Dry. Thirsty. Tired. Beaten-down. Hopeless. Stranded. Barren. Arid. Scorched. Desolate. Endless.

These words can describe a desert, but they can also describe some of our nation's resources for education.

Taxpayers / community members (their demonym of choice depends on how angry they are) will be the first to tell you that. Property taxes - the most common national way to pay for schools - are tough. For our elderly citizens, some people lose their homes over taxes. Tax increases are tough to stomach. They push school board members and state legislatures to uphold their right to minimal taxes. Unless their child is in school, the willingness to budge is minimal. The resources are dwindling or, in some cases, gone.

School districts are equally strapped. With the soaring costs of health care (a national issue), pensions (usually a state kicking the can down the road), specialized education, and the increased demands on staffing and infrastructure, the budgets keep climbing. School boards around the nation are put in the dilemma of fixing potholes or reducing class sizes. The resources are dwindling or, in some cases, gone.

States are equally strapped for cash. While the amount of spending has remained on a slow increase, the percentage of schools who receive state funding diminishes every year. States have their own issues to pay for: natural disasters, failing infrastructure, their increasing size of government. You got it - the resources are drying up.

But so are our teachers' patience and time. Educators who began their career 30 years ago have seen a complete time and expectation warp, as they're now expected to teach multiple versions of classes (teacher lingo: preps), more classes, more students, and more demanding students each and every year. Their paperwork - from Arne Duncan all the way down to their superintendent - increases with each initiative and panacea for education. That is, until next year. Coupled with stagnant wage increases and less time to know the students, teachers are cracking like a dry river bed.

Administrators are in the same boat. I look at them and wonder how they're able to lead a school or a district despite being constantly pinched between all these lost resources.

Parents have also been stretched. More than ever are not just both adults in the home are working, but both working multiple jobs. That has stretched them thin on time to help their children succeed with their homework and their responsibility, and, coupled with many of the frustration with an educational system that is looking more and more foreign to them as the years pass (teacher lingo: Common Core), the disconnect between front door and school door is growing at a deserting speed.

Lastly, and most importantly, are the students. They are the reason that all these aforementioned stakeholders are invested - both literally and figuratively - in education. But these students are suffering stress-related issues more frequently than we can even begin to understand. The increased demands of the stakeholders - who want to see increased test scores and a quality return on their investment - coupled with the students own personal ambitions that are often complicated by many reasons, mean that students are cracking under the pressure of trying to find an oasis.

So what's the solution to this? The easy thing would be to say more resources: money, time, devotion, among other facets to help quench the thirst of our educational desert. Most of all, though, is a set of realistic expectations for one another. We can't expect a bottomless allowance to spend money on education, unlimited teacher time on the job, and understanding and curing the burnout of educators, parents, and students across the nation. Until we find the shade and a place to quench that main resource, we'll be stuck in the sands.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailThe Queasy Mix on Social Media Default ThumbnailFood For Thought: Breakfast and Student Success Default ThumbnailPolice, Black Students, and Teachers Today We Walked-The Oklahoma Edition
« Encouraging Success In Our Students
Tips for Parents: Conquering Common Core Math: 8 Tips to Use at Home »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

The Educator's Room was launched in 2012 to amplify the voice of educators. To date, we have over 45+ writers from around the world and boast over twelve million page views. Through articles, events, and social media we will advocate for honest dialogue with teachers about how to improve public education. This mission is especially important when reporting on education in our community; therefore, we commit our readers to integrity, accuracy, and independence in education reporting. To join our mailing list, click here.

What we do

At The Educator's Room, we focus on amplifying and honoring the voice of educators as experts in education. To date, we have over 40 staff writers/teachers from around the world.

Popular Posts

  • Ask The Educator's Room: I'm dating a student's dad. Should we tell the school?
  • My Union Showed Up for Me, and I'll Never Forget It
  • Your Students Deserve a Diverse Classroom Library. Here's How to Set It Up.
  • You Don't Have to Watch the Tyre Nichols Video, But Be Ready to Talk About It

Featured On

Buy Our Books/Courses

How to Leave Your Job in Education

Practicing Self-Care to Avoid Teacher Burnout

Using Your Teacher Expertise to Become an Educational Consultant

Check out our books on teaching and learning!

The Learning Academy

Footer

↑ back to top

About

  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Accessibility Policy

Newsletter

  • Sign Up! for emails and updates

Contact

  • Contact
  • Services
  • Media Kit
  • FAQ

 

Copyright © 2021 The Educator's Room.