Adults Aren't Kids — Teachers Are Professionals
In this video, Dr. Justin Baeder discusses why teacher appreciation efforts that treat educators like children — with candy, stickers, and childish games — miss the mark.
Key Takeaways
- Treat teachers as professionals - Appreciation efforts should reflect the dignity of the profession, not infantilize educators
- Skip the candy and stickers - Well-intentioned gestures that feel juvenile can actually undermine morale
- Professional respect is the best appreciation - Autonomy, trust, and genuine recognition mean more than trinkets
Transcript
All right, so is it okay to bring snacks?
Do people appreciate food?
Yes, absolutely.
Never a bad idea to provide treats, put food in the staff lounge, that kind of thing.
Let people know that you appreciate them.
What's weird to me is the treating of adults like they're kids.
We cannot treat teachers like they are seven-year-olds and expect them to respond in an appropriate way.
This is not part of...
working in a professional environment no other business does this no other industry no other profession treats adults like kids or treats the professionals like the clients like this is just a weird thing that we do in our profession and i think we've got to stop it i think it demeans the profession absolutely give people food but like little handwritten valentine's for every teacher no like don't do that kind of stuff