What? Classroom Materials Loans?

Despite ridiculous claims about how teachers “make too much money” because the private sector pays teachers less than the public sector [perhaps private institutions should pay teachers a more dignified salary], because teacher make an “obscene” 35$ an hour, or because a group of science deniers decided that teachers aren’t smart enough, the truth is that the level of respect given to teachers in the US, at least in national conversations regarding education, is remarkably low. They are constantly framed as leeches who work for the sake of “paid vacation” (never mind the fact that they work on a salary and that by the time summer comes along they have already earned their summer pay) or because they want an “easy job” (last I checked, teaching was not an easy thing to do).