Teacher believes that appreciation week is ‘dumb’ — her reasons resonate with many people

Many professions have days or weeks in a year dedicated to showing appreciation to the professionals. Teacher Appreciation Week is one such thing. However, a woman who is in her ninth year of teaching feels that Teacher Appreciation Week is "dumb." Not just that, she also feels the same way about Christmas and all the other holidays. The woman, Reina, who goes by @reindrrop on TikTok, shared her reasoning behind her "controversial take" with the platform and many people on the internet agreed with her.

"I think Teacher Appreciation Week is dumb," Reina began. "Don't worry, I feel like this about Christmas and every single holiday. It's a consumeristic lie." She reasoned, "Because as a teacher, I’m in my ninth year, if you really appreciate me, appreciate me all year long." The woman added, "I don't need the mug, I don't need the pencils, I don't need the gift card. I need families to send in respectful, kind and empathetic little humans." She encouraged parents to check in on their child's teacher all year long if they really appreciated them. "You know, I had a parent this year who brought me a coffee for a parent-teacher conference. Like, checked in on me and asked what I needed." Another parent got her a set of pens because she had mentioned in passing that she had run out of pens.

"I think as a society, we should be teaching appreciation all year long, all the time," Reina expressed. She felt this way about Christmas, too. "If you want to give someone a gift, it doesn't just have to be on Christmas or Mother's Day. Love your mom all the time." The teacher pointed out, "I am just saying, professions that get appreciation weeks tend to be the ones that are unappreciated the rest of the year." A huge number of teachers feel undervalued in society across 28 high-income countries, according to research by Penn State University. It affected both their job satisfaction and how they engaged in their work. Only 24.5 percent of teachers felt valued in society, while only 18.4 percent felt valued by the media. Only 22.5% of them felt that they had an influence on educational policy.

Reina repeated that it would be more helpful to create appreciation year-round and check in on a child's teacher without a specific occasion. "Even a thank you on a random day in February. Like, to me, that goes so much further than, 'Oh, it's Teacher Appreciation Week, here is the thing that I have to do this week because the consumerism conglomerate said that it's Teacher Appreciation Week.'" People could resonate with the teacher's thoughts in the comments section of the video.

@josbryith wrote, "My friend said if there’s an appreciation week, that means we’re underpaid and underappreciated and I felt that!" @rae_the_etsi commented, "For teacher appreciation week, I’m sending in replacement supplies because my kid ate a lot of them. Again." @jess_lynne4 remarked, "I'm doing something for my teacher every day this week! But also, I do class parties, field trips and I will show up with a drink or a treat! I try to spoil my teachers all year! You need it, I got you!" @ataleof2yarns shared, "Had a convo with someone last year about how it’s interesting that teacher appreciation week happens right after standardized testing and nurse appreciation week is right after flu season."

You can follow Reina (@reindrrop) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.