Taylor Swift鈥檚 new album, 鈥淭he Tortured Poets Department,鈥� has 31 songs about the complexities of love, loss, and other emotions. But there鈥檚 one song in particular that has been hailed as 鈥渁 teacher anthem.鈥�
is an upbeat pop song with potent lyrics about masking heartbreak with productivity. 鈥溾�楥ause I鈥檓 a real tough kid, I can handle my s鈥�,鈥� Swift sings. 鈥淭hey said, 鈥楤abe, you gotta fake it 鈥榯il you make it,鈥� and I did.鈥�
The song recounts Swift鈥檚 experience performing night after night at the record-breaking Eras Tour despite feeling 鈥渕iserable鈥� after a tough breakup. (鈥淚 was grinning like I鈥檓 winning, I was hitting my marks,鈥� she sings, 鈥溾�榗ause I can do it with a broken heart.鈥� ) For teachers, though, the lyrics represent pushing past challenges, both personal and professional, to do their best work for students.
After all, teachers are performers, too.
When Madi Saenz-Payne, a high school English teacher in California, heard the song, she thought of the time when she learned in the middle of the school day that her grandmother was dying. She pushed her feelings down and put on a brave face for her students.
鈥淵ou really have to pretend sometimes that what you鈥檙e teaching is the most important thing in the whole day, when we鈥檙e whole humans, too,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e have lives and breakups and family problems and deaths. ... You really can鈥檛 unload your stuff on 14-to-15-year-olds, so you have to put your smile on and keep teaching until the bell rings.鈥�
And teachers have a lot of work-related stress and feelings of burnout that they have to contend with while still showing up for their students every day. The EdWeek Research Center鈥檚 inaugural Teacher Morale Index stands at -13 on a scale ranging from -100 to +100, a finding that suggests that on average, teachers feel more negatively than positively about their jobs.
Many teachers have lip-synced the song鈥檚 lyrics, 鈥淚 cry a lot, but I am so productive鈥攊t鈥檚 an art,鈥� on social media, declaring them an accurate description of a teacher鈥檚 life.
The song feels especially resonant after the last few years of pandemic-related turmoil, said Corinne Altham, an elementary school librarian in Maine. It was heartbreaking to teach remotely, then through masks, and not feel as if students鈥� needs were fully met, she said.
鈥淲e had a lot of heartbreak, but we pushed it down and got through it,鈥� she said.
One of Altham鈥檚 favorite parts of the song is when Swift sings, 鈥淵ou know you鈥檙e good when you can even do it with a broken heart.鈥�
The lyric reminds her of her own skills as a veteran educator: 鈥淎fter a while, you know you鈥檙e good,鈥� she said.
For Andrew Martin, a 3rd grade teacher in Florida, the part of the song that resonates the most is the outro. Swift exclaims with a laugh, 鈥溾�楥ause I鈥檓 miserable! And nobody even knows!鈥� Then she sighs: 鈥淭ry and come for my job.鈥�
Teachers 鈥渁re exhausted and put down, but then every one of them gets in front of students, and they put on a face, and just like the song says, 鈥� nobody鈥檚 going to know,鈥� Martin said.
It feels like public criticism of teachers has become sharper and more common since the start of the pandemic, he said. Student misbehavior has increased, too, making it harder for teachers to do their jobs. And teachers are still 鈥渄igging through the academic hole鈥� that emerged as a result of the pandemic, Martin said.
鈥淚 Can Do It With a Broken Heart鈥� sums up the experience of teaching in the face of those systemic challenges, he said.
Said Martin: 鈥淚 want to scream it on the way to work a lot of times.鈥�
