Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Letter to the editor:

Too much asked of teachers

Many of the 20 first-graders and six adults murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 bled to death.

I didn’t hear anyone complain, but I did hear teachers talking about spending their own money to buy stop-the-bleed kits with tourniquets, rubber gloves and gauze for stuffing wounds — kits at prices that seem like someone is profiteering off the lives of first-graders and teachers. Is there a corporation willing to manufacture these kits at cost?

In America, it’s never been enough to teach children. Teachers have to be counselors, motivational speakers, advisers, mediators, abuse detectors, leaders, entertainers, disciplinarians, paper pushers, standardized test protectors and advocates.

Teachers deal with special needs of all kinds and many have to deal with students who exhibit disruptive behavior — such as violence, drugs, blatant disrespect that hurts other children — in overcrowded classrooms.

Is it too much to ask for a cost-of-living raise or reasonable health care benefits? There is a reason there is a teacher shortage: demanding more of people who already care too much.