On Tuesday, The Atlantic published a piece written by Dave Grohl in support of teachers amid the debate about reopening schools this fall with the continuing COVID-19 pandemic. Now, the Foo Fighters frontman has shared an audio version of the essay.
In the nearly nine-minute clip, titled “In Defense of Our Teachers,” Grohl argues against reopening schools, and shares insights from his mother, Virginia, a now-retired public school teacher who taught for 35 years. He points to the mountain of safety measures that would be needed to reopen, and the lack of resources that many schools already face.
Ultimately, Grohl says that it’s teachers and faculty members who work in schools on a daily basis who know best about what it would take to reopen, and that politicians and policy makers should listen to them in making these decisions.
“I wouldn’t trust the U.S. secretary of percussion to tell me how to play ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ if they had never sat behind a drum set,” Grohl writes. “So why should any teacher trust Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to tell them how to teach, without her ever having sat at the head of a class?”
“Until you have spent countless days in a classroom devoting your time and energy to becoming that lifelong mentor to generations of otherwise disengaged students, you must listen to those who have,” the musician continues. “Teachers want to teach, not die, and we should support and protect them like the national treasures that they are. For without them, where would we be?”
“In Defense of Teachers” is the first audio edition of Grohl’s @DavesTrueStories series, which he launched in March.
By Josh Johnson
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