Sixty-five years ago, the Supreme Court ruled, in the Brown v. Board of Education case, that the Plessy c. Ferguson (1896) doctrine of "separate but equal" was unconstitutional. This decision ended in the course of public education, but it did not fall short of its goals of school desegregation. Indeed, Richard Rothstein, the historian who is a Distinguished Fellow at the Economic Policy Institute and the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, wrote that in 2014, Black students are "more racially and socioeconomically isolated" than at any time since 1970. , when this data was first available.

After Brown passed, there were some integration gains, through bussing and magnet schools, but the South resisted Brown because of a second box ordered desegregation "with all deliberate speed," which was a euphemism for taking your sweet time. I attended a segregated school in Moss Point, Mississippi in 1969, fifteen years after the passage of Brown c. Board of Education. In 2016, Cleveland, Mississippi finally closed its segregated Black high school and renamed Cleveland High School, White School, Cleveland Central High School. Now, the district is in a row because of a young woman who has earned the honor of being a young man, with a lower GPA, could have the honor. Yes, the Brown c. Board of Education case made history, But it was an imperfect tool to tackle racial inequities in the public school system, mainly because these inequalities are anchored in residential patterns and funding sources. Where do you live in wealthier districts, you will have better education, perpetuating inequalities.

It has been trendy to blame teachers for learning outcomes, as well as these teacher's responsibilities with increasing regulation, testing-taking, and unrealistic requirements around engagement with parents and others. A school district in South Carolina, for example, requires that teachers respond to parent emails within 24 hours. The burden of one teacher's 10-12 hour days has become so much that she is teaching her teaching in the middle of the school year. Many questioned her commitment to children, but she fought proudly to maintain her sanity and some semblance of a quality of life.

Teaching is not supposed to be trench warfare. It is supposed to be joyful for both students and teachers. There is nothing more than a child's gleefully grasp a concept, read a page, solve a math problem, or give a speech. But that sense of gratification is diminished when bureaucracy chips the joy away, or when a teacher has to take care of it. Teachers have made national headlines as they seek supplemental income, driving Uber or Lyft, moonlighting as food servers, taking care of their jobs and saving money. Those who teach it really do not want to do it - they do not know who they are, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

So the nonsense we celebrated during the week of May 6, Teacher's Appreciation Week is a charade. If you want to appreciate teachers, pay them! Do not offer folks for two or more burritos at Chipotle or other food fringes Do not give teachers apples and fake appreciation when the teachers who graciously accept your apples and recognition are hustling outside the classroom to make ends meet. Teachers are striking all over the country, even in places like West Virginia where we would expect it because they are desperate to be valued. Paying them less than they are worth is disrespectful. Offering half price burritos and other nonsense is hypocrisy at its highest!

Sixty-five years ago, the Supreme Court tackled the issue of segregation in our nation's school systems. The Brown c. Board of education decision changed the law, but not the structure of racial gaps in education. And it did not matter the way we deliver the educational product, our nation's teachers, have been disrespected and disadvantaged by the structural indifference to classrooms that serve poor and Black students.

Sixty-five years after the Brown c. Board of Education decision, the achievement gap is persistent. Our nation's wealth gap is one of achievement, and the treatment of our nation's teachers is connected to the wealth and achievement gap. When we commemorate Brown v. Board of Education, we must embrace the importance of adequately compensating teachers. In embracing our teachers, we support the children they are teaching and guiding. In ignoring issues of fair teacher compensation, we are utterly abandoning our children!