Asked about teachers who are worried about coronavirus outbreaks at their schools, Kayleigh McEnany compared them to meat packers.
“We believe teachers are essential workers … our meat packers didn’t stop working didn’t this pandemic … nor should our teachers.” pic.twitter.com/DJfMYBRARz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2020
we really are meat packers.
it’s how we are expected to work,
students see us that way on the first day.
i’ve been told mor than a few times
“you obviously don’t kno anything, you’re a teacher”
because that’s a byproduct of our current educational system.
and in my experience
– as a faux butcher working behind the counter –
administrations do believe teachers are interchangeable with any other person who’s learned to butcher the meat,
grind it up
and deliver it in the same exact ratio in crisp,
clean cellophane.
humans are individuals –
and i teach design history, graphic design, typography, and now film editing –
and if there’s one thing
i’ve figured out
on the front lines of creative education
it’s
one size does not fit all.
even tho a helluva lot of us
are determined to live the meat counter fantasy
because the red pill alternative is often a lot scarier.
but fun.
incredibly fun. with insane challenges and horrors.
which is how i’ve experienced it.
as of this summer
i’ve been teaching for 20 years
and my view is
real learning doesn’t easily fit into a factory farm
or henry ford-crafted assembly line –
even tho
that is the model for
most capitalist systems that have jobs in them –
the places
one ends up
after the education process
is supposedly done.
hint: it’s never done.
the paradigm can and should be changed.
and in a pandemic, distance learning is the thing.
we have to learn to embrace it.
like masks, it’s necessary right now.
—steve mehallo
Flommist Steve Mehallo is a graphic designer, illustrator, font designer, educator, foodie and gadfly. He is the creator and founder of FLOMM! Thx to Shalini for the news update.
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