In Defense of JC Bowman

Yesterday we revealed Chattanooga Education Association’s Chris Brooks meandering diatribe on JC Bowman.  Today, Jennifer Martin mounts a moving defense of JC, an honorable defender of Right to Work and teacher freedom, appearing in Bluff City Education.

For a few months now, Chris Brooks, the Tennessee Education Association representative for District 6, has been closely following Professional Educators of Tennessee president J.C. Bowman. With seemingly no endgame or debate-worthy remarks, he has taken it upon himself to write scathing remarks about Bowman’s career and his impact on education, attacking everything from his tweets to his character. His writings on this man are riddled with wild accusations and inaccuracies, bringing me to simultaneous laughter and horror as I see what they have to say about this hardworking advocate for teachers: who also happens to be my own father.

I’ve been raised into it by my parents, two teachers who turned into policy makers as their passion for education expanded beyond the classroom. Their endless devotion to fighting for the rights of struggling students and teachers made me come to one conclusion: I never wanted to be a teacher. Seeing the struggles against them in their fight for educators made the profession seem way too hard. By some twist of irony, it is my husband who has fallen in love with teaching and has now become a teacher himself. It seems you can’t ever separate yourself from you parents entirely, hm?