When I first set out to read The Teachers: A Year Inside America’s Most Vulnerable, Important Profession by Alexandra Robbins, I wasn’t sure what I would find. But I quickly discovered one of the most powerful experiences of being “seen” I’ve ever experienced as a reader.
A New York Times bestselling author (multiple times) and award-winning journalist, it’s clear that Robbins understands how to weave research and story into a compelling narrative about the education crisis in America.
But even more critically, Robbins gets teachers.
Throughout my reading of the book, I kept marking passages that stopped me in my tracks. Of course, part of this is because I experienced so much of what she covers—the evolution of teaching in the 2010s until now, pandemic teaching, the CRT witch hunt, jackhammer parents. But Robbins has the unique talent of distilling an issue down to its crux, revealing truths about the system so accurate they feel plucked from your own brain. By the end of my reading, I had so many exclamation points written in the margins that I knew I had to share them.
Check out these powerful quotes from The Teachers.
On the teacher “shortage”
On parents
On conflicting narratives
On burnout
On violence in classrooms
On untenable workloads
An important question
A call to action
I can’t recommend this book enough—both to teachers for solidarity and support and to the rest of the country to wake up and act.
Governor DeSantis, if you’re reading, I will send you a copy free of charge.
Click here to order your copy of The Teachers and to learn more about Alexandra Robbins.
