Organizers of a publicity stunt at a Sioux Falls Stampede hockey game had the best of intentions when they invited South Dakota teachers to crawl on the ice and stuff dollar bills down their shirts. Dubbed “Dash for Cash,” the event was designed to give educators money so they didn’t have to pay for school supplies out of their own pockets.
A spokesperson for CU Mortgage, the event’s sponsor, even called it “an awesome group thing to do” for the 10 teachers who were selected to run onto the rink, sink to their knees on a carpet and scramble for some of the $5,000 poured out of bags while the crowd cheered.
It was all over quickly. The teachers hoovered up the money like good public servants and popped back to their feet, shirts so stuffed with cash that they looked like Thanksgiving turkeys. One participant told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader that the event was “really cool.”
Here’s something cooler. Next time, maybe they can tie the teachers’ hands behind their backs so that they have to gobble dollar bills with their teeth. Or give them hockey sticks to fight each other for the money, a la "The Hunger Games."
I mean, it’s for the kids, right?
At first, I thought it was just me, old and crotchety, who found the event crass. But it turns out a lot of other people did, too.
The whole hokey sideshow is symbolic of the state of education funding in 2021. Teachers, among the lowest paid professionals, often buy school supplies for their classrooms, making up shortfalls in spending through their own generosity.
The public praises this largesse during various teacher appreciation weeks, but then conveniently forgets it when education unions advocate for safer working conditions, more culturally responsive curriculums, smaller class sizes or — heaven forbid! — increased wages.
Suddenly, these same caring educators are characterized as rapacious predators, skipping off into lengthy summer vacations and holiday breaks, snapping up taxpayer dollars as efficiently as those ten South Dakota educators did on the ice last week.
It’s a cognitive dissonance — the angelic/demonic educator — and one with roots in an outmoded yet still pervasive view of the teaching profession as composed almost exclusively of young women, who should be submissive, maternal and willing to work for low wages because molding the next generation is its own reward and because they have husbands who make the real money.
So it’s OK for teachers to spend out of their own pockets, and they should be willing to crawl on ice, through broken glass, and across a sea of flames for a few extra bucks, and then grovel in gratitude to the sponsor who gives it.
Curiously, you don’t see CPAs running obstacle courses to make sure their clients have the necessary tax-prep software, doctors snatching currency in wind machines for new medical equipment, or soldiers holding bake sales to finance the latest weaponry. But teachers — aw, it’s cute to watch ’em shoving dollar bills down their tops like a PG version of a pole dancer.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Would it have been so hard for the sponsors of this hockey event to give 10 teachers a check for $500 each? Or would that have been too dignified?
Reach Chris at chris.schillig@yahoo.com. On Twitter: @cschillig.
Here’s something cooler. Next time, maybe they can tie the teachers’ hands behind their backs so that they have to gobble dollar bills with their teeth. Or give them hockey sticks to fight each other for the money, a la "The Hunger Games."
I mean, it’s for the kids, right?
At first, I thought it was just me, old and crotchety, who found the event crass. But it turns out a lot of other people did, too.
The whole hokey sideshow is symbolic of the state of education funding in 2021. Teachers, among the lowest paid professionals, often buy school supplies for their classrooms, making up shortfalls in spending through their own generosity.
The public praises this largesse during various teacher appreciation weeks, but then conveniently forgets it when education unions advocate for safer working conditions, more culturally responsive curriculums, smaller class sizes or — heaven forbid! — increased wages.
Suddenly, these same caring educators are characterized as rapacious predators, skipping off into lengthy summer vacations and holiday breaks, snapping up taxpayer dollars as efficiently as those ten South Dakota educators did on the ice last week.
It’s a cognitive dissonance — the angelic/demonic educator — and one with roots in an outmoded yet still pervasive view of the teaching profession as composed almost exclusively of young women, who should be submissive, maternal and willing to work for low wages because molding the next generation is its own reward and because they have husbands who make the real money.
So it’s OK for teachers to spend out of their own pockets, and they should be willing to crawl on ice, through broken glass, and across a sea of flames for a few extra bucks, and then grovel in gratitude to the sponsor who gives it.
Curiously, you don’t see CPAs running obstacle courses to make sure their clients have the necessary tax-prep software, doctors snatching currency in wind machines for new medical equipment, or soldiers holding bake sales to finance the latest weaponry. But teachers — aw, it’s cute to watch ’em shoving dollar bills down their tops like a PG version of a pole dancer.
I guess what I’m trying to say is this: Would it have been so hard for the sponsors of this hockey event to give 10 teachers a check for $500 each? Or would that have been too dignified?
Reach Chris at chris.schillig@yahoo.com. On Twitter: @cschillig.
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