I agree with you, but shall we change that to "parenthood"? Since we might as well push back against the stigma against the father being the one who raises the children instead of pursuing a career.
As a stay-at-home homeschooling father, I experienced that stigma very briefly a decade ago, but it seemed to die a sudden death shortly after 2010. I've felt nothing but encouraged since. I think it's something that you'd expect from the outside, but doesn't really show up in practice.
Teachers would have more recognition and status if there were concrete evidence that their methods are effective and based on reproducible research.
Is there a 10x teacher or even a 2x teacher? Surely there is, but how would we know?
In Asian cultures a handful of teachers make a million dollars a year because they do test prep: it's easy to tell when their students pass or fail the big test. The most successful ones are treated by parents and test-takers as A-list celebrities, or even beyond that. They'd sooner swoon meeting Gwen Lee than Scarlett Johansson.
But if you're teaching something harder to gauge, like "writing" or physical education, then it's hard to know if you're a 2x teacher or a 0.5x teacher. And you can't point to your research-backed methodology, because everybody else's methodology is also research-backed (n=22, observed over 3~6 weeks, as usual).
The people who raise the next generation should have recognition and status if they're doing a good job. Are they? Would any random person off the street be doing an equally good job? We don't really know.
Teachers teach thousands of students at a minimum over their careers. Surely this can be measured. If nobody is doing it it’s because of either teachers unions, other bureaucratic restrictions, or not caring enough.
As a society, we could recognize the status with money in the form of childcare grants and food assistance to parents, or by raising wages so both parents don't have to work, but neither of those is in the interest of the capital class, so we don't.
Bored heroes might still be bored. It is all about choice and it is OK to chose not to be a heroes. We do not need to glorify that individual choice I guess, but make sure that there are choices. (Me and my wife are happy that those choices existed for us and my daughter has happy and fulfilled parents even if they are no heroes)
My wife would prefer to focus on being a mom but feels too pressured from outside into having a job. Also, it's hard to afford a house these days with one income alone.
Comments
> She found her talents wasting while her kids spent their days in class and her husband did the 9-to-5 at Hughes.
Back then they did not know that moms are heroes and being a mom is a full-time job.
To be fair, motherhood is a critical job and it's definitely in our interest as a society to give it a higher status than it has.
I agree with you, but shall we change that to "parenthood"? Since we might as well push back against the stigma against the father being the one who raises the children instead of pursuing a career.
As a stay-at-home homeschooling father, I experienced that stigma very briefly a decade ago, but it seemed to die a sudden death shortly after 2010. I've felt nothing but encouraged since. I think it's something that you'd expect from the outside, but doesn't really show up in practice.
As someone who quit my job (back in Feb 2020, of all times...) to spend more time with my then-unborn daughter, I agree with you 100%.
Same with teachers. The people who raise the next generation have absurdly low recognition and status in our culture.
Teachers would have more recognition and status if there were concrete evidence that their methods are effective and based on reproducible research.
Is there a 10x teacher or even a 2x teacher? Surely there is, but how would we know?
In Asian cultures a handful of teachers make a million dollars a year because they do test prep: it's easy to tell when their students pass or fail the big test. The most successful ones are treated by parents and test-takers as A-list celebrities, or even beyond that. They'd sooner swoon meeting Gwen Lee than Scarlett Johansson.
But if you're teaching something harder to gauge, like "writing" or physical education, then it's hard to know if you're a 2x teacher or a 0.5x teacher. And you can't point to your research-backed methodology, because everybody else's methodology is also research-backed (n=22, observed over 3~6 weeks, as usual).
The people who raise the next generation should have recognition and status if they're doing a good job. Are they? Would any random person off the street be doing an equally good job? We don't really know.
Teachers teach thousands of students at a minimum over their careers. Surely this can be measured. If nobody is doing it it’s because of either teachers unions, other bureaucratic restrictions, or not caring enough.
Their students know. Even if it's a noisy metric, over the course of a few years a teacher will have 100+ students.
As a society, we could recognize the status with money in the form of childcare grants and food assistance to parents, or by raising wages so both parents don't have to work, but neither of those is in the interest of the capital class, so we don't.
I mean, they did, and that's a large part of the early feminist movement, getting that recognized?
As well as the important truth that not woman is suited to, likes, or wants to do 100% of the time.
Bored heroes might still be bored. It is all about choice and it is OK to chose not to be a heroes. We do not need to glorify that individual choice I guess, but make sure that there are choices. (Me and my wife are happy that those choices existed for us and my daughter has happy and fulfilled parents even if they are no heroes)
My experience is that being a full time mum is valued less now.
My wife would prefer to focus on being a mom but feels too pressured from outside into having a job. Also, it's hard to afford a house these days with one income alone.
My wife is getting pressure to home school our kids. Peer pressure sucks. I hope you get through it.