This raises the question of why teachers go into the profession and why they do their jobs well. First, to set the record straight about teacher tenure, depending on state law, tenure doesn’t ensure that a teacher has a fire-proof job. It means that after a certain probationary period, an administrator has to document the reason to fire a teacher.

As Damon said to the reporter, “A teacher wants to teach. Why else would you take a sh*tty salary and really long hours and do that job unless you really love to do it?”

Most teachers do work long hours. They prepare lesson plans, they grade assignments, they come early and stay late for meetings, they meet with parents, and in the summer, they often have to take college courses, at their own expense, to keep their certification current. They also work long hours because they're committed to their jobs.

They spend some of that “sh*tty” salary on supplies for their students. This is especially true nowadays, given the budget cuts that have impacted public schools so negatively. If students are going to have the supplies they need to be successful in school, and if they come from families in which one or both parents are out of a job, the teacher has to step in and take up the slack. This doesn’t even take into account the bulletin boards and other types of classroom supplies teachers have to foot the bill for.

I adored most of my teachers. In fact, their example is partly what set me on the path to being a teacher. I think, from the feedback I get, many of my students liked me. Some of them even followed me into education as a profession. I think it’s telling, though, that my three kids chose other professions. They went to the same high school where I taught. They saw first-hand how demanding the job was and how little remuneration I got for it. I suppose I could have quit and found another profession. However, I loved the challenges of dealing with students and seeing them learn from me as I learned from them.

It seems to be the thing to do to blame teachers and their unions for the ills of the world. Apparently, rich folks like the Kochs think it would be a good idea if they didn’t have to help foot the bill for public education. At least, that’s what I see every time Dave Trabert, a Koch mouthpiece, has an OpEd in the Wichita Eagle calling for privatization and charter schools. I would imagine, given the Kochs’ animosity toward paying taxes, they would prefer that parents fund the private schools and charter schools that Koch spokespeople are in favor of. This, even though Trabert bases his conclusions on faulty data, as well as data showing that public schools do as well as, or better than, private schools and charter schools at educating all students.

Damon knows from the experience of growing up in a teacher in the family what the profession demands of those who going into it and what those teachers give to their students. He also knows teachers are there because they love what they do. All of us in the profession owe him a big thank you for speaking out so forcefully in our favor.