There’s something oddly comforting when a teacher finally gets to sit on the other side of the desk, not to test or instruct, but to answer the very questions students, parents, and even fellow educators have always wanted to ask. In the latest WIRED video, math teacher Lesley Fox steps into that role, peeling back the curtain on a profession often judged from the outside but rarely understood from within. The segment is titled Teacher Support, and it feels less like a Q&A and more like a candid diary, one that resonates with anyone who has ever set foot in a classroom, whether as a student or as an educator.
Lesley Fox is not just answering internet questions; she is answering decades of whispered doubts, hallway gossip, and unspoken frustrations about teaching. “Do teachers secretly play favorites?” It’s a question wrapped in curiosity and accusation. Her response is measured, empathetic, and, perhaps unexpectedly, human. Teachers are not immune to preference, but the greater task lies in rising above it, in reminding themselves that every student deserves the same window of possibility, even if some knock louder than others.
Then comes the bigger question: Is this the worst time to become a teacher? In a post-pandemic world where education systems are strained, where AI threatens to replace chalk and board with algorithms, and where the word burnout feels stitched into the very fabric of classrooms, the timing seems precarious. Fox doesn’t sugarcoat it. She acknowledges the challenges, underfunded schools, increasing behavioral issues, and administrative pressure, but she anchors it in purpose. Teaching, she insists, is not a profession you choose for ease, but for impact. And in that sense, maybe there’s never really a “good” or “bad” time to teach. There’s only now, and what you decide to do with it.
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Her responses move beyond surface-level complaints into deeper cultural critiques. Why don’t schools teach cooking, cleaning, or taxes? It’s not simply an oversight; it’s an outdated curriculum model still tethered to industrial-era priorities. Life skills remain sidelined while test scores dominate headlines. And yet, as Fox points out, teachers themselves often want these classes just as much as students do. It’s the system, not the staff, that resists evolution.
The subject of phones in classrooms sparks a sharper debate. Should they be banned? Fox leans into the nuance. Phones are not inherently evil; they are tools. But tools in the wrong hands can either distract or destroy focus. The modern classroom has become a negotiation between engagement and escapism. The irony is that while we debate banning phones, schools increasingly rely on them for communication, learning apps, and even safety protocols. The contradiction is telling.
Homework, too, comes under fire. The internet loves to ask: “Why can’t teachers just stop giving it?” Fox explains what many don’t realize: homework isn’t always about practice; sometimes it’s about discipline, time management, and independent learning. Still, she acknowledges the excess. Too much homework, she admits, can suffocate rather than stimulate. Balance is the keyword, but balance, like teaching itself, is far easier in theory than in practice.
Behind every question lies something deeper: not just curiosity, but critique, even desperation. Students want to know why they feel unseen. Parents want to know why schools don’t prepare kids for real life. Society wants to know why education seems stuck in a cycle of trial and error. And here stands Fox, a single teacher with chalk-stained hands, reminding us that teachers themselves are caught in that very same storm. They are not gatekeepers of knowledge so much as guides through a system struggling to redefine itself.
Recent conversations in education reflect this tension. Across the U.S. and the U.K., teacher shortages dominate headlines. Reports in 2025 show that fewer graduates are pursuing teaching degrees, citing pay gaps and mental health strain. At the same time, students are demanding modernized curricula, financial literacy, emotional intelligence, and digital citizenship, skills as critical as algebra or Shakespeare. Fox’s answers, while personal, echo a much larger narrative: teachers know the flaws, but they stay anyway. Not out of naivety, but out of conviction.
The magic of this video is not that every answer satisfies, but that it reveals something profound about teachers themselves, they are constantly asked to carry questions they did not write, inside a system they did not design. And yet, they answer anyway. Not perfectly. Not always cheerfully. But always honestly, because teaching, at its core, is the belief that even questions with no clear answers are worth asking.
