Eighth grade science was a disaster. I can’t tell you the name of our first teacher that year at Martin Murphy Middle School in South San Jose, as she barely made it through September before declaring we were too difficult to handle. I’ll admit, we were a rowdy bunch, but it doesn’t help that our teacher was most likely under-supported and under-compensated for the work she was doing. It’s hard to blame her for leaving.
Thus began a depressing churn of ill-prepared teachers, an increasingly common problem in classrooms across the country. Like Teacher No. 1, Teacher No. 2 didn’t stick around for long. For a few weeks, this second teacher posted work for us to do, but she rarely showed up. Within a month or so of starting, she, too, left.
Teacher No. 3 was a local elementary school teacher who wanted to help out, but who couldn’t stay for long. Which leads us to Teacher No. 4, a breath of fresh air near the end of the first semester. Teacher No. 4 was a perfect fit for our class. Somehow, she got us to focus, and we began to catch up to the other science classes.
But then our miracle teacher needed surgery. Another teacher gone, more chaos for us.
Second semester was no different—if anything, it was even more of a slog. Sordid rumors spread about why Teacher No. 5 was fired. Regardless, he was just meant to be a substitute, keeping us in check while we waited for someone more qualified.
This brings us to Teachers No. 6 and No. 7, who came as a bundle, in case one of them didn’t work out. Unluckily for us, these new teachers joined right before March. Yes, that same March when we all quarantined at the beginning of the pandemic, and teachers across Murphy scrambled to figure out how to continue teaching.
In the case of my science class and our two new teachers? Yeah, the class ended on the same abysmal note it began with, an entire academic year gone.
We’re not supposed to have it all figured out by eighth grade, but I knew it was important to have a qualified science teacher for our class.
Now, with an entire year in college so far complete, I more fully grasp the impact of compassionate, empowering and capable teachers—and what happens when we go without them. It’s not just our education that’s at risk, but who we are as a nation.
More and more classrooms are being taught by overworked, underpaid and unsupported teachers. The answer is clear: in order to attract and keep professionals in the classroom, we must start by paying teachers the salary they deserve.
It’s crucial that not another year of science—or math or English, history, economics—be wasted simply because we refuse to pay teachers what they’re worth.
Bradley Halmos
Morgan Hill
