To the Editor:

Re “The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries,” by Dave Eggers and Nínive Clements Calegari (Op-Ed, May 1):

Ironically, the poor treatment teachers endure in America has to do with the high hopes we vest in them. We widely believe that, no matter what forces shape a child’s life outside school, teachers can level the playing field, neutralize the negative effects of poverty on learning, and raise every kid to proficiency in every standard. But this generally doesn’t happen.

Yes, there are exceptions. Schools can transform some lives from hardship to health and happiness. As a public school principal, I devote my life to creating that possibility every day. But I still recognize that schools — as they are designed and financed now — generally reinforce social structures; we don’t undo them.

This means that America’s hope for the schoolhouse is bound to be crushed, and the emotional consequence is anger and disdain — for teachers.

Until we perceive child poverty as something to be fixed not by our schools but by wage, labor, taxation and health care policy, we will continue to place unrealistic expectations on teachers, and see them as to blame for dashed American dreams. We will hang scarlet-letter test scores around their necks, and publicly shame them for our collective failings.