I grew up in Oklahoma schools. I attended Kellyville Elementary School until fifth grade, and then I attended Bristow schools through my high school graduation, with supplemental classes at an Oklahoma School of Science and Math regional center. When I graduated in 2010, I went on to the University of Oklahoma, another public institution. I am now pursuing a doctorate in quantum physics at the University of Maryland, one of the premier institutions in my field.
I didn’t achieve this by being smart or through force of will. I got where I am today thanks to the labor and expertise of hardworking Oklahoma public school teachers. Without their help, beginning with my own mother, I would not have had the opportunities to succeed that I have had throughout my life.
Unfortunately, the work those teachers do goes absurdly unrewarded. Our teacher pay is at the bottom nationally, and we see further education cuts and more schools forced to cut critical programs, like actually having five days of schooling per week.
I grew up watching my mother spend her own money on classroom supplies. She worked hard, not just at the expected labor of grading papers and preparing lesson plans, but caring for her students. She frequently taught students whose home lives were difficult or whose families didn’t have much. She offered those students a safe haven, a stable classroom, and, all too often, warm coats or clothes. She was never paid enough for having to be an ad hoc social worker in addition to a teacher.
Time and time again, we ask teachers to provide a frontline response to every social ill. We expect them to compensate for the effects of poverty, racism, drug use, and mental illness in their students and in their students’ families. And we don’t want to pay them much for doing it.
Public education is a promise we make to each other as a community. The promise is that every child deserves to share the knowledge and art we have created as a society. It’s also an assertion that children’s opportunities and potential careers shouldn’t depend on the size of their parents’ home.
Our society is nowhere near realizing that goal, but the only way to get closer is to strengthen public education. If we want to build an Oklahoma that works for all Oklahomans, we first need it to work for the teachers and public employees. Otherwise, we will not be able to live up to that promise.
As we approach a potential walkout, let’s keep in mind what’s really at stake. It’s not an abstract question about teacher pay schedules or a selfish demand by bureaucrats. It’s about how willing we are to put our money where our mouth is when we say that every child deserves an education and an equal shot at life.
The way we structure our state finances is a moral statement. The way we have done so the past decade has made clear that, when push comes to shove, we will ask children and their caretakers across this state to sacrifice before we ask anyone with money or influence to give up a dime.
Zachary Eldredge
Formerly of Kellyville and Bristow, now residing in Maryland
