In the midst of plenty, school teachers have to resort to this

A week or so ago, something rolled by me on Twitter that I found quite disturbing. And heartbreaking. The tweet held a link to a video of some teachers in South Dakota, on their hands and knees on a mat in the middle of an ice rink, trying to grab as much cash as they could - stuffing it into their shirts, etc. -  to buy equipment and supplies for their classrooms.

The event was held during an intermission at a Sioux Falls, SD Stampede hockey game. The cash was provided by local lender CU Mortgage Direct.

When the competition began, the teachers — all wearing hockey helmets — crawled into the pile of cash, frantically stuffing the bills into their shirts as an arena of spectators hollered and cheered until every dollar was snatched up. (Source: WaPo)

I'm sure this was a well-intentioned, and I'm sure that the teachers were happy to get the money. But I found it completely mortifying and degradingto the teaching profession in general, and to these teachers in particular.

Plenty of people think that teaching is a cushy job. All that time off. Those easy-peasy hours. 

But such people have apparently never known any teachers, other than the ones they gazed upon as students, IRL. The teachers I know all work incredibly hard. They spend their summers creating and refining their lesson plans. They spend their last few days of vacation preparing their classrooms. They spend their evenings correcting assignments and devising new ones. They spend time emailing with students and parents. (Let's not even get into all the time they have to spend adjusting to virtual and hybrid learning.)

And they spend money out of their own pockets for equipment and supplies to make their classrooms a richer and more interesting environment, and to make sure that the kids who can't afford even basic school supplies have what they need. Some teachers even spend their own money on food, clothing, and hygiene items for their students.

Believe me, I'm well aware that there are plenty of lousy teachers. Cynical burnouts, incompetents, those who chose teaching because it was the path of the least resistance. But most teachers choose their profession because they love children and want to help them learn. And they do this even though their profession is often maligned, their work often thankless. 

In some communities, teachers are paid fairly well.

Even so, why should they have to spend their own money on anything other than extra items like seasonal decorations to grace their walls? Necessary equipment and supplies, for classroom or for students, should be paid for by the school. Period. 

South Dakota isn't a place where teachers make much money. 

South Dakota teachers are among the lowest paid in the country. According to a recent report by the National Education Association, South Dakota teachers in the 2019-20 fiscal year earned an average annual salary of about $49,000, behind only Mississippi. In terms of per-student spending, the state ranked 38th, having spent about $10,800 per student in the fall term of that year, according to the report.

The cost of living in South Dakota is a lot lower than it is in Boston or LA, and someone has to be last - or second to last, as Mississippi generally owns last place in most measures of education, health, and general welfare. But making $49K and having to equip your own classroom...

Sigh.

The blowback to the Dash for Cash event was immediate. Millions of people viewed the video, and a lot of them found the spectacle of teachers on their hands and knees as shameful as I did. "Dehumanizing," it was called. "Dystopian." The hockey team that sponsored the event has apologized.

The scramble reminded me of something straight out of Hunger Games, but there's a more current reference:

Some compared the spectacle to the popular Netflix series “Squid Game,” in which the show’s characters compete in deadly games to win a giant piggy bank full of cash.

The teachers, for their part, were happy to have the dough, happy for a break from paying out of pocket. And some of them are probably wondering what all the fuss is about. Just some coastal elites getting all cranked up about something that lets them look down on the rubes. MYOB, you snobs. 

But there's something truly disgraceful that, in the midst of plenty, school teachers have to resort to this to get what they need.

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There's an non-profit called Donors Choice that helps teachers fund projects to help their students. I just donated to help buy books for the middle school in the neighborhood I grew up in. I went to parochial school, but am happy to help support "the pubs."