“Loser Teachers”

Letter to the Editor, published in the February 17 edition of the Waco Tribune-Herald

On February 11, Donald Trump Jr. shared his divisive thoughts about our nation’s educators. He said: “I love seeing some young conservatives because I know it’s not easy. Keep up that fight. Bring it to your schools. You don’t have to be indoctrinated by these loser teachers that are trying to sell you on socialism from birth… Because you can think for yourselves, they can’t.” 

If Jr. desired to begin a conversation about the state of education in our nation, perhaps he should address the inherent inequity in our education system. Texas Governor Abbott (Republican) is currently tackling the issues of school finance reform, teacher pay raises, and property tax relief. Abbott hopes to increase spending on education, lessen limits on how schools can spend money, raise pay for teachers, and ease skyrocketing property taxes. His reason? Only forty percent of third-graders are reading at the appropriate grade level. It might be a stretch, then, to imagine them reading Marx and Engels.  

Perhaps Jr. should learn of the big issues facing teachers in our nation. Our property tax funded system of education inherently disadvantages kids in low-income areas. In our own city, Waco ISD fights school closures, while Midway ISD expands. Waco ISD works to provide three meals a day for students who otherwise wouldn’t get them. 1,000 of the 15,000 students in Waco ISD are homeless. Maybe he’d want to know that Waco ISD struggles with retaining teachers; the district has to hire twenty-five percent of its workforce every year.  

It’s safe to say that these teachers aren’t concerned with indoctrinating their students so much as they’re concerned with feeding, housing, and providing quality education to students without the proper budget. Donald Trump Jr.’s remarks are ignorant and dangerous; education must remain a bipartisan issue.