Dear President Obama; Re: Your Next Career Move

Dear Mr. President,

Congratulations on approaching the finish line. There’s little doubt in my mind that it has been a long eight years for you, and I, for one, am grateful for your service and the legacy you will leave behind. Thank you.

But despite your own jokes recently at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, let’s be real, you’re not THAT old. Sure, you’ve grayed a bit, but come on, your kids aren’t even through (into!) college yet. You’ve still got plenty of gas left in the tank, and thank goodness! America still needs you.

It was evident from your video with John Boehner how nervous life-after-politics is making you. And while you’re not as old as you think you are, you’re also not young enough to pursue a career as an experimental jet pilot with Joe Biden.

So I have a suggestion: teach. Not as an adjunct or honorary professor at a distinguished liberal arts college, but in K-12 classroom.

I don’t know what it’s like to have your perspective from the top of the pyramid, but from the un-elected tiers of democracy looking up, I think — as important as your job is — the people truly entrusted with safeguarding our democracy are those blessed and tasked with the joyful burden of teaching children. Each day they set examples, impart knowledge, and develop the minds and consciousness of our students and children. It is arguably the single most important job, and while I can’t compare it to swinging at 100 mph fastball, performing surgery, or leading a country, I can tell you it’s not an easy job.

Unfortunately in America, we treat the professionals whom we entrust with educating our children with a degree of second-class scorn: underpaid; under-appreciated; frequently poorly trained; and often under-stimulated themselves, constrained by myriad factors outside their control. We’ve deterred great people from pursuing one of the most important jobs in America, and we’ve done a poor job of training and retaining many of the excellent people who do teach! We’re committing slow national suicide of death by dumbness! Neither our economy nor our civic institutions can endure without proper stewardship by their stakeholders: the American people. We owe it to ourselves to educate ourselves for our own benefit.

So next time you’re mulling over your future, I respectfully ask that you consider doing some K-12 teaching, even if it’s only part time. I can pretty much guarantee you that you’d find a school district willing to accommodate to your schedule, and you would be a wonderful teacher to the students in front of you, and a powerful example to a nation that needs to hold its teachers in higher esteem. Plus, you’ve spent eight years dealing with Congress, so classroom management will be no problem at all!

#Education