Are the Attacks on Teachers Misogyny in Disguise?

It all started with this tweet:

2h TeacherReality @TeacherReality    · Open

Reading Twitter feed of @GovChristie This guy has deep hatred of teachers. Talks to them like dirt. Reminds me of @DrStevePerry

I responded with the tweet below. The fact is that according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 76% of public education teachers are women. (In private education, 72% of teachers are women).  When you look at the assault on public education, teachers, their benefits & their pensions, it is not too big of a stretch to make the assumption that those who are doing the bashing (mostly men who are in power) must be misogynistic.  Thus, this tweet ensued.

@TeacherReality @GovChristie @DrStevePerry 1 can only assume that their deep hatred of tchrs really is a deep hatred of women. #misogynists

Dr. Steve Perry @DrStevePerry    · Open

@christal_watts @TeacherReality @GovChristie #misogynists Right bc all teachers are women. Nuts. I pray that you’re really NOT a teacher.

I responded with this:

@DrStevePerry @TeacherReality The majority of teachers r women. Surprising u don’t know that. Better tchr than u could ever dream of being.

I guess stating that “praying I’m not a teacher,” is his response to a debate.

Wait, it gets better.

 Dr. Steve Perry @DrStevePerry    · Open

@jerseyjazzman @christal_watts @TeacherReality @stopthefreezeNJ #edreform Wow upper middle class certified & victims? You folks are a joke.

Now, I’m upper middle class & I’m a victim.

First off, I am middle class & holding on with my finger nails. My husband & I both know that if either one of us loses our jobs, we are just a paycheck or two away from being out of our home. That’s our reality.

@DrStevePerry @jerseyjazzman @teacherreality @stopthefreezenj hardly upper mid class unlike u. #Drsteveperryprotectingbigbizintnotkidsints

What’s so funny about this statement is that DOCTOR Steve Perry is a CNN contributor. If anyone is upper middle class, that would be DOCTOR Steve Perry. I think he needs to by himself a mirror.

He responds with this in his next twitter. Now I’m upper middle class, a victim, enjoy luxurious paid four months of vacation and I’m suburban.

Why is this man working for CNN?

2h Dr. Steve Perry @DrStevePerry    · Open

@christal_watts @jerseyjazzman @teacherreality @stopthefreezenj DAMN sure suburban. Enjoy another of your 4 months of paid days off per yr

 Christal Watts @christal_watts Close

@DrStevePerry @jerseyjazzman @teacherreality @stopthefreezenj tells how little u know about me. I guess he ASSumes this because I’m white.

Here is what is soooo very wrong this assumption by Dr. Steve Perry. My great grandparents came to the West Coast during the Depression. They were migrant farm workers for many years. They eventually were able to quit this job & my great grandfather became a logger in Oregon. During the 1960’s, my great grandparents were able  to buy a couple of logging trucks after many years of hard & dangerous work by my great grandfather.

In that same decade, one of their employees had an accident & was injured. My grandparents lost everything as a result. In 1971, my great-grandfather died. In 1973, my great grandmother lost her only child, my grandma. My grandma was 45 years old who died from a heart aneurysm. My great grandmother lived on social security until she died in the mid-1990’s.

Both of my grandmothers worked outside the home as they did not have reliable men in their lives. My dad wanted to go to college, but was denied the opportunity. Instead, he joined the US Navy, where he served his country for over two decades. He worked his way through the ranks & retired out of the Navy as a lieutenant. My mom dropped out of high school due to becoming pregnant with my older brother. In 1973, she earned her GED.

Out of all of the kids & grandkids on both sides of the immediate family, only four have gone on to receive a bachelor’s degree & of those, two have gone on to receive a master’s (of which I am one). When I’m accepted into a doctorate program, I will be the only person in my family to take this step.

18m Dr. Steve Perry @DrStevePerry  Reply  Retweeted  Favorite • Open

You MUST hear the racist undertones in the Qs of those who say we have chosen the RIGHT kids. It shields their failures & perpetuates ours.

He next responds with what everyone knows is the easiest “call-out”, the charge of being a racist. Dr.Steve Perry seems to believe that if you question him on anything, then you must be a racist. What Dr. Steve Perry was being questioned on was his attrition rate for his magnet school.Jersey Jazzman offers a nice blog post as well on this issue.

Why does attrition matter?

Well, those like Dr. Steve Perry often make the argument that our schools are failing our students and we make excuses when we look to poverty rates of our students. Dr. Steve Perry claims that 100% of his students go on to four year colleges. That is very admirable on its face, but like any such claim, a smart person will ask how many students dropped out of the program & which students were asked to leave.

As Jersey Jazzman points out in his blog post, the poverty rate of students attending Dr. Steve Perry’s school is much lower than those of surrounding schools. Furthermore, students are selected by lottery & one can assume that if a student (& their parents) does not follow the rules of the school, they are asked to leave.

I will continue to maintain that the attack on teachers & their unions has misogynistic undertones. As a white, female teacher, I take great umbrage when people use my race against me & make the claim that I’m a racist when I question their position.

The reality that we face in the United States is that the majority of teachers are female. The majority of those females are white & the majority of those female, white teachers are middle class. Until we do more to attract males and minorities to the teaching profession, we need to figure out how help those that are already here to most effectively teach all of our students.

We cannot do this by ad hominems.

I have no problem apologizing for using a pejorative term & did so by apologizing on Twitter for implying that Dr. Steve Perry is a misogynist. I wonder if he is willing to do the same.