Media Mayhem

The COVID-19 Pandemic gave way to bizarre conspiracy theories, inconceivable polarization, and a horribly divided country, which can be attributed to media bias on both sides; however, recent claims have begun to have negative impacts on public education. Ideas like critical race theory are purported to be taught in schools as early as Kindergarten, which brings a lot of undesired attention to teachers. The stress, underappreciation, and outpouring of criticism towards public school teachers have caused thousands to leave the profession altogether, with hundreds leaving in Des Moines and Waukee alone. To examine this topic, I talked to my mother, Angie Bower, who recently ended her teaching career in Waukee. 

Respect from the community has become a major issue when it comes to public education, and a lot of the public perception of our teachers can be attributed to the media. “Personally, I did feel respected most of the time,” said Bower when asked if she felt respected at school. “However, with social media and media as a whole, it became clear that there are individuals and small groups of people in our community and throughout the country who have beliefs about public educators that made me question whether teachers had their respect.” With the emergence of platforms that allow anonymity, increasingly radical opinions have begun to surface, especially about teachers.

Mainstream biased media has become the most prominent within the last ten years. Bower began her teaching career in the late 1990s before teachers had been thrust into the spotlight. “Back when I started teaching we were able to do our jobs, do them well, and that’s it,” said Bower. “It seems that some of the public would like to look into a classroom and scrutinize the minutiae of what’s being done in a classroom. Education is a profession, but so often teachers are not treated as such.” As media has become more widespread and polarized, people have been given a much broader platform to voice their opinions. Such platforms can, as said by Bower, be used for good; however, they have become a staple for negative comments and bigoted beliefs.

A large portion of attacks from the media on public educators are directed at critical race theory; however, CRT is not taught in public schools. “Short response: uh, no,” said Bower when asked whether CRT was prevalent in public education. “Long response: no. Critical Race Theory is graduate-level coursework. Are schools trying to teach accurate history? I hope so. But social-emotional skills aren’t CRT.” Schools are doing what they can to teach what has actually happened in history, but that history does not contain CRT. “Absolutely not,” said senior Jade Hogarty when asked the same question. “I had a teacher that said every group has been oppressed at some point.” 

The expansion of media has clearly made it harder to be a teacher, but is it really a contributing factor to so many teachers leaving the profession? “Sadly, I do,” said Bower when asked if she thought the media was really a factor. “When people consume that media believe that media, and choose to believe that media over listening to the professionals who work with their children every day, it can become too much.” Teaching is really a selfless career, yet so much criticism is directed toward people that pursue it. 

In our district, we have started to feel the effects of the teaching exodus. “Last year, I had to do class in the cafeteria because there was no teacher,” said sophomore Colin Gach. “That was pretty rough.” As we lose teachers, the learning environment is disrupted. Imagine a world twenty years down the road where we can’t fill teaching positions. How are kids supposed to learn? School prepares kids for the real world, and without teachers, nobody will be ready.

Critical race theory examines systemic racism and how it impacts our country. It is not taught in our school; in fact, it is not taught in 99% of American schools, yet it is used constantly by biased media as a way to place blame. Fox News, the most-watched news network in the U.S., produces what seems like an article a day covering the topic. But Bower, a teacher who has seen public education firsthand, confirmed that it does not exist in public schools. Why does mainstream media constantly feed us misguided and false information?  No matter which news network you watch or which commentators you listen to, it’s always wise to check the facts and ask the right questions: Where is this information coming from? Is the evidence reliable? Can these claims be proven? Nothing is true until you’ve examined the facts. When baseless claims like CRT being taught in schools become mainstream, there are destructive consequences that impact all of us. We must do more to prevent these ideas from becoming so popular because when they do, problems emerge.