Over the last week the Capitol has been surrounded by enduring masses that stand for hours in the cold, take unpaid days off and deprive themselves of both sleep and comfort, all for the cause of protecting their own voices in a democratic process under siege. They have brought back activism to this historically progressive campus.

All the while, I have been watching the response of the student body. Some of you have stood with your teachers and teaching assistants; others have the audacity to call them cowards, shameless and unworthy. While I support the opinions of any individual and the right to express said opinions, it seems rather unjust to single out the same people who have helped bring you to this university in the first place.

Let us start with the argument teachers are unworthy of the benefits and pay they earn. After having gone through at least four years or more of college education, teachers make consistently less than those in the private sector with the same or lower education level without room for significant raises or bonuses without a further degree.

This has been reported by George Stephanopoulos of Good Morning America. “Local teachers make 9 percent less than the average private sector worker,” he said. Why should someone who put in the time, effort and money to become better educated be paid equally or even less than those who are not?

Let’s not forget the fact that the teachers of Wisconsin have already had their salaries constrained. “Teacher salaries have lost 11 percent to inflation since imposition of the [Qualified Economic Offer] in 1993. Teacher salaries fell to just 93 percent of the national average, the lowest point in 40 years, with the state’s ranking plummeting from 15th to 22nd nationally,” reports the Wisconsin Education Association Council. You wouldn’t go to the cheapest doctor to operate on you, so why shortchange teachers to teach you?

Despite these attacks on teachers, Wisconsin still consistently ranks as having one of the best educational systems in the country. Take a look at the exhaustive National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics and you will see Wisconsin consistently ranks ahead of the other states in education.

Teachers take the job not because of money; no one has ever gone into education to get rich. They do it because they enjoy teaching and seeing students grow and learn. What other profession has such a strong hand in raising you into an intelligent well-rounded person? They coach, tutor and direct plays so kids can move beyond the small town or get off the urban corners. They teach because it’s their passion, not for a paycheck.

I have also heard recently that these teachers are shameless because they have walked out of class in order to protest. Arguments have been made that they are hurting the kids because they will miss a day of school. In fact, they are teaching by example to stand up for what they believe in.

Still, there are some of you who think them unjust for walking out. Then I ask you this: Would you have told black people during the civil rights movements they were whiners, that they should have gone back to work, accepted their place and never walked on our nation’s capital? Would you have told the participants of the Boston Tea Party during the American Revolution to just accept the taxes, that they are unpatriotic extremists and that they should have just gone to work instead?

Some of you think the demonstration is an attack on the children. Yet you are the same people who vote down funding for schools and support cutting programs that help students. So don’t act like you really care about the children. Stop using them as a political ploy. For those parents who had to take off to watch your kids, I hope you now understand what it would be like if teachers weren’t there educating, raising and babysitting them everyday.

For those of you students who don’t agree with the events around our Capitol, I say get out there and make your views known. But when you start to slander the same people who have engaged your minds so you could come to this prestigious university and get a degree for that high paying private sector job, you better choose your words carefully.

Just remember the words of Tyler Durden of Fight Club when you have that cushy business job: “The people you are after are the people you depend on. We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances, we guard you while you sleep. Do not fuck with us.”

Cruz Ramirez ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in English.