Mr. Rockwell, this is not a historical issue, something gone with the past. Teachers need to start educating themselves, cause they sure aren’t getting educated in college.

Today, right here and now, in 2022…

• Ten-year-old children can work seven days a week outside of school hours picking fruits and vegetables.

• The federal government and 10 states set NO maximum on the number of hours per day or week a young person can work on farms.

• Age, hour, overtime and minimum wage provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act do NOT apply to children picking crops.

• Generally, farm workers under 20 receive a lower federal minimum wage of $4.25 an hour for the first 90 days of employment.

The strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, salads, lettuces, radishes, etc. American eat were picked by people – including children - bent over, or on their knees, all day long. The wine and coffee we drink, came from grapes and coffee beans picked by farmworkers – including children.

Did these kids know this? I doubt it, but the teacher should have known.

Good teachers call what happened in this classroom “a teachable moment”. Good teachers look for these moments and turn them into lessons that grab student’s attention and makes them glad that moment happened.

Students never forget “teachable moments”. In this case, a simple “thank you for speaking up, I never thought of it that way” would have created a teachable moment. The teacher could have modelled a genuine and meaningful apology, then gone on to engage other students by asking what other sayings bothered them. Instead, she chose to close down discussion, by repeating her “command”.

I have zero sympathy for an unqualified teacher who feels entitled to a salary, because she went to college. Chasing a teacher like that out of the profession, doesn’t bother me a bit.

Mr. Rockwell, you’ve been a teacher. How many times have you been sorry that an unqualified co-worker was let go?