Teacher Shortage

There is a national teacher shortage in the United States and just because you’re only hearing about it now doesn’t mean it’s new. Teachers have been leaving the profession for years, it was only exacerbated by COVID and the politicization from the GOP that followed.

States and school districts are getting creative in handling the crisis, some offering bonuses, others cutting school days down to four, and in fascist Florida, they’re allowing veterans to teach without the requirement of a bachelor’s degree, but while pursuing one.

It’s funny that it’s Florida taking the shortcut with teachers as those veterans don’t have to have teaching experience, which shows maybe just how much Ron DeSantis respects education and the teaching profession. Just because you don’t need any experience to be elected president or governor doesn’t mean you can wing it as a teacher.

What’s funny about this in the not-so-funny ha-ha way is that its Republican assholes like Ron DeSantis who should be given a lot of the blame for teacher shortages.

First, they politicized COVID. They didn’t want vaccine or face mask mandates for schools, thus putting your kids’ lives in danger…and your entire family’s in danger as well. They didn’t care because it made good politics. Look what fascist Democrats are doing! They’re mandating personal choice with your children! Bleah! Bleah! Bleah!

Then, they started making laws that schools can’t teach Critical Race Theory, which no school in the United States is teaching. But, Republicans are redefining what is and isn’t Critical Race Theory and in Florida, Ron DeSantis has put out a list of textbooks for the state to ban. They’ve also banned anything that mentions “gay.” Somehow, they found a textbook that teaches “gay math.” No, seriously. And, not to mention all the book bans.

We’re discovering you don’t need any actual experience that pertains to the job to be elected as a school board member either.

In Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, who had zero experience in public office before being elected governor, ran on a campaign that teachers were indoctrinating children into liberalism. He claimed President Biden was sending the FBI after parents who spoke out at school board meetings, which went national despite the fact it wasn’t fact. He won on this bullshit.

Republicans nationwide are demanding that parents, not teachers, set the curriculum for public school students. But the thing is, they have a say in how they vote, from school board elections to state representatives to stupid-ass troglodyte governors like Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott, and Glenn Youngkin.

Youngkin has actually set up a snitch line for parents to call and tell on teachers who are doing bad things, like teaching Critical Race Theory or other divisive topics. The Washington Post and a dozen other media outlets have filed suit under the Freedom of Information Act seeking records related to this snitch line.

Some wisenheimers have published the tipline, which is helpeducation@governor.virginia.gov, and have encouraged its critics to flood it with faux complaints like schools are teaching Arabic numerals. We here at the Research and Other Things Department of Claytoonz Conglomerated maintain the utmost seriousness and a straight face when dealing with today’s top issues and would never encourage such a juvenile, sophomoric, and immature tactic as sending faux complaints about schools to helpeducation@governor.virginia.gov. Things like “Ms. Amanda Hunginkiss is teaching her second grade class about gay frog sex with bananas.” Or, “Mr. Seymour Butz is teaching a history class that Glenn Youngkin is Virginia’s first governor who’s a truck stop glory-hole aficionado. Be sure to spell out “aficionado” for them.

People like Glenn Youngkin and Ron DeSantis are destroying education in this nation by swapping it for propaganda. They’re the real groomers. They’re using children to manipulate parents, and Republicans and many moderate parents are dumb enough to fall for it.

When parents are leaving death threats for teachers, it’s no wonder nobody wants the job anymore.

Pretty soon, it won’t matter that a bachelor’s degree is no longer required to teach education…because all they’ll be teaching is right-wing propaganda.

Creative note: I stared at the template of this cartoon for about an hour before I got busy with it because I wasn’t sure I should do it. I wasn’t sure because you can see the gag in the second panel coming from a mile away. It’s a tactic a lot of cartoonists use and it always makes me groan. But, I figured the point I was making today more than made up for my lack of cleverness.

Music Note: I listened to some Local H, thank you.

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