Teacher disappointed with Lee
TO THE EDITOR:
I received the May 25 issue of Toledo Free Press and was immediately disheartened by the first inside page. I am greatly disappointed in the cartoon by Don Lee because it is disrespectful to all who believe in the field of education. Making light of the horrible situation of a teacher inappropriately placing her hands on a child is incredibly rude and distasteful.
While I believe in our First Amendment rights and value others’ opinions, I also believe that some topics are reprehensible enough that a “satirical” cartoon is unnecessary. I have taught for 10 years now, and I am very proud of being a teacher. I would never hit or push a child and I would never support someone who did. Not only do you make light of a teacher doing this, you added characters with the words “bullies” and “gangz” in the background, as if teachers do not fight these two giant issues every single day. Bullying is a bigger issue than most people understand or care to admit — how insensitive of you to sarcastically include it in your cartoon.
Mr. Lee, I went to your Facebook page to see if there was more to this cartoon/ story than meets the eye. With the picture is this description: “… I had fair-to-good teachers for the most part, but there was one POS in particular and this cartoon is dedicated to her.”
I am sorry that you can only say you had fair-to-good teachers in your life and I am sorry that a teacher treated you so badly. As a teacher who still bears the scars of middle-school bullying, I understand that those feelings run deep. Instead of further perpetuating the negativity, why not use your presence to do something good? Support education, support students, support anything to be positive — rather than create sarcastic cartoons that are a slap in the face of real teachers everywhere.
Bonnie Garrett
fourth-grade teacher, Toledo
Don Lee replies:
“Ms. Garrett errs in one major point. I did not do the cartoon to, in her
words, ‘make light’ of the situation. I did it to fight a reprehensible situation
with the editorial cartoonist’s weapons of ridicule and contempt. To call criticism
of thuggish behavior a ‘slap in the face’ to all good teachers is to stand in
solidarity with the thuggishness. Is that what a teacher ought to want to do?
I hope not.”
Contact Don Lee on Twitter @DonLeeCartoons
