Teacher Portrayal by the Media

Teachers are portrayed in a variety of ways by the media. Whether it be the news or a fictional portrayal, teachers are a popular topic.
One of the reasons why teachers are such a popular topic is because of the role we play in society. We are the mentors, the educators, the ear for the youth, and our society values its youth. The mass media has found that teachers make good news and television. Since educational stories involve a wide range of ages, an article or story involving teachers will attract a wide audience.
Teachers are the section of our society who spends some of the most time with our youth, so when something significant happens it usually has a heightened portrayal. When something bad happens involving a teacher the news media loves to latch onto it. The reason for this falls back to the heightened roles that we play, and the value placed upon our societies children. This does not mean that the media always gets it right though. For instance, in the last year there has been a major story involving two teachers possibly referring to an aledged sexuality of a student. Teachers that had been teaching over fifteen year were targeted. As the news media has told it the student was harassed and embarrassed by teachers in class. They are said to have debated his sexuality, his sexual preferences, and other factors in his life. The interviews were primarily with the student, the teachers stayed mainly quiet. The story became sensationalized due to the media portrayal of these teachers. That students themselves do this to each other on a daily basis was not mentioned. That the teachers were most likely referencing what other students had said was given minimal focus. Simply because the student is accusinga teacher of a possible harassment issue, the media latched into it and blew it out of proportion. In this case I think the media did wrong. I do not feel they accurately covered all the issues.
One of the cases where I feel the media gets the portrayal of teachers right is in television and movies. While not all of the fictional media out there portrays teachers in a sunny light, they do balance out the diversity that can be found amongst teachers.
The channel that does well in portraying us to our youth is the Disney channel. Their shows portray teachers as teachers. They do not make every teacher out to be a wackjob or nerd. Teachers are shown as being stern when needed and fun where its appropriate (which we all try to be at some point). The Disney Channel makes an attempt at showing how teachers can be misunderstood by their students, and how teachers can make mistakes in regards to our students. They also do not place teachers on a pedestal. The Disney Channel also does show the bored teachers that need some motivation. In portraying us in this manner they are showing the real people that we are. We do have our interests and we are educators in order to pass them on to the younger generations. At least some of us do.

One of my favorite shows on television was "Head of the Class". This show was on from 1985-1991, and gave the public a view of what it is like to teach genius level students. They showed the trials and tribulations involved in dealing with students that are more advanced than you in some ways, yet socially lacking in others. The teacher in this class was given a group of misfit genius'. Which begs the question of why so many genius' students are portrayed as misfits, I know of a few that slide under the radar and many would never suspect the high level of brainpower the slang speaking woods student may possess. Back on track here though, the teachers portrayed in here took on the task of teaching them social skills and working with others, along with the prescribed task of base knowledge. My only fault with this is that he was an actor taking over teaching. I know they do this to help the story line along, but how often does this really happen?
Teachers are a direct source of learning for our youth in how to play well with others. Having the media accurately portray this helps to reinforce to students that educators are a knowledge source to be respected. I realize that it is not realistic of us to find only accurate portrayals by the media. While I wish the news media would quite sensationalizing everything, I also understand their need for ratings and stories to draw in their viewers.