The Guardians We Don’t Talk About
When we talk about the people on the frontlines of our communities, two groups come to mind: police and teachers. Both are tasked with the impossible. They’re supposed to fix what society has broken, to hold together the fraying threads of a system that seems determined to come apart. And yet, while we’re quick to criticize police when they fail—sometimes catastrophically—we don’t talk nearly enough about the failures of teachers, even though their impact can be just as profound and far-reaching.
Before you get defensive, let me be clear: this isn’t about absolving bad cops or dragging down good teachers. It’s about confronting the reality that both systems are broken—and that the ways we approach accountability for one often ignore the deeper, systemic issues present in both.
Two Sides of the Same Coin
Police and teachers occupy surprisingly similar roles in society. Both are considered protectors and caretakers in their respective domains—police for public safety, teachers for education. Both interact with vulnerable populations daily. And both are expected to do far more than their job descriptions suggest:
Police: Handle mental health crises, drug addiction, homelessness, and domestic violence, all while enforcing the law.
Teachers: Act as counselors, social workers, disciplinarians, and sometimes even surrogate parents, in addition to teaching.
Neither group is adequately supported or compensated for the weight of these responsibilities. And in both cases, the system they operate within is designed to fail—not them, but the communities they serve.
The Cost of Bad Teaching
I’ve worked in schools where I’ve seen firsthand how teachers handle—or fail to handle—the so-called “bad” kids. These are the kids sent to me because the teacher didn’t know what else to do with them. The ones kicked out of class, labeled as problems, and written off before anyone tried to understand what they were carrying.
It didn’t take me long to realize these kids weren’t “bad.” They were dealing with instability at home, fear, trauma, and a host of other challenges that made it hard—sometimes impossible—for them to regulate their emotions or behaviors in a traditional classroom setting. What they needed was someone who could see beyond their outbursts, someone who could hold space for them without judgment.
Instead, I watched teachers get triggered themselves. I saw adults lose control, escalating situations that didn’t need to escalate. I saw teachers kick kids out of class not because they were disruptive, but because the teacher didn’t know how to handle their own emotions. Worse, I heard the kind of language that leaves scars: “No one wants you here,” “You don’t deserve…”—words that reinforce the very feelings of rejection and inadequacy these kids are already struggling with.
And it wasn’t just the teachers. The school itself was a trigger. The loudness, the crowds, the constant pressure to perform, to be put on the spot—it’s a minefield for any kid dealing with anxiety, let alone one living in survival mode. The very structure of school was designed in a way that actively traumatized or re-traumatized youth who were already on the edge.
The parallels to policing are stark. Just like cops are expected to handle mental health crises they aren’t trained for, teachers are thrown into classrooms with students whose needs go far beyond the curriculum. In both cases, when the system fails, the most vulnerable people pay the price.
Reforming the Systems
If we’re serious about reforming police, we should be just as serious about reforming education. Both systems require:
Better Screening and Training: Just as we need to rethink how we train and vet police officers, we need to ensure that teachers are equipped to handle diverse classrooms and complex challenges.
Support for the Good Ones: Good cops and good teachers are burned out by the same thing: the weight of fixing problems they didn’t create. They need better pay, more resources, and mental health support.
Accountability Without Demonization: We can call out bad actors without vilifying the entire profession. This applies to both cops and teachers.
Addressing the Root Causes: At the end of the day, the failures of police and teachers reflect the failures of society. If we want to fix these professions, we need to fix the systems that feed into them: poverty, racism, underfunded communities, and inadequate mental health care.
A Final Thought
Police and teachers aren’t so different. Both hold incredible power over the lives of the people they serve. Both are asked to do too much with too little. And both, when they fail, leave lasting scars on the communities around them.
But here’s the thing: we don’t just need better cops and better teachers. We need a better society—one that doesn’t offload its problems onto a few overburdened individuals and expect them to carry the weight.
Until we get there, let’s at least be honest about where the systems are failing—not just for police, but for teachers too. Because accountability shouldn’t stop at the badge. It should extend to the classroom.
