Over the holiday break, I had a pretty heated conversation with a conservative friend of mine about politics and other assorted topical sundries. The discussion turned towards the obligatory public versus private meme trotted out by most Republican and Tea Party sympathizers. That is, the public sector needs to shrink and its employees are bankrupting our economy, what with their lavish pensions, benefits, and retirement packages. He brought up public school teachers, stating that their benefits and pensions are especially egregious, particularly with how little they actually work.
Now, I'm not going to rehash the whole argument that teachers typically work more than 40 hour weeks, that their days are definitely not only nine to three, and that the profession could use an overall salary upgrade, merit rewards notwithstanding. So, I'll let the reader litigate this in the comments.
In response to my conservative comrade, I invoked an interesting campaign from the United Farm Workers (UFW) over a year ago called Take Our Jobs. The message is simple. If you're bothered by a stagnant economy and high unemployment, then "farm workers are ready to welcome citizens and legal residents who wish to replace them in the field." So, yes, take our jobs.
I'm not really sure how many people might have taken up the UFW on their offer, and I can certainly understand the reluctance. Farm work is really hard work; Stephen Colbert sincerely testified to this in 2010. And not that American citizens are averse to hard work, yet even with high unemployment, it's unlikely that people are jumping at the chance to harvest produce.
So, when my conservative friend griped about the undeserved teacher, I told him, "Then become one." Seriously. Rather than tear down the hard work performed by educators, calling their salaries and pensions unjustified, and railing against long vacations, then go ahead and teach, no one's stopping you.
He replied simply that he could, planned to at one point in his life, and that was the end of it. I assured him that a healthier alternative to criticizing teachers for their summers off -- which are really not all that off -- and their limited working hours -- which are really not all that limited -- is to change careers and work in a classroom.
Consequently, I implore all readers out there who begrudge teachers of what they earn to quit their dead-end private sector jobs and become a teacher. If you want information, I'm happy to provide it in the comments.
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I couldn't find a Reply Box to respond to you. So I will just post this.
I am collecting statements illustrating teacher thinking and techniques. Yours was particularly good.
Stating I am a liar, and then putting in quotation marks something I never said, is such a beautiful example of how teachers think. Truly a fine example.
With economcial use of words you manged, all the following: i) a personal insult ii) a made up quotaton and iii) a clear intent to bully. That I would call a Teacher Hat Trick.
The nice thing, allhough, not exceptional, is that you maintained the standard teacher position of never using facts in your argument, and you provided a nice litany of your suffering. .
Now, since I have been asking ever teacher who issues her "veil of tears" post why teachers, if they are so hard working, dedicated, and capable, why the continue to put up with the horrors of teaching.
I have tentatively concluded that it must be they have a deep religious desire to be tornented and mortified to suffer the pangs of hell.
Didn't Rev. Martin Luther King say "Undeserved suffering is redemptive" Although I believe he meant suffering to achieve a goal.
Could you clarify this for me?
No need to justify yourselves folks! There are some bad teachers out there that bring us all down and the people that complain continually about teachers would join those ranks if they became teachers as well.
BTW, I LOVE what I do. It may be physically and emotionally demanding much of the time, and financially questionable (there is a huge, negative financial ROI for my "investment" in an MAEd and teaching credential), but it is a tremendously rewarding career spiritually, especially when you see the positive influence you make on students. I believe our nation needs more folks like myself to become a teacher. At the same time, I believe only those who are driven with passion for the job will survive their first week, much less year, on the job. It is that demanding.
Like many of us, my only insight into teaching was my perspective as a student. And for high school, those perspectives became memories starting 30 years ago. Even when my wife started teaching last decade, I did not appreciate all of the time she spent preparing lessons, creating tests, grading assignments, etc. It was not until I "walked a mile" in a teacher's shoes that I understood. And it is not what many of you may think. It is not a cush job. If you truly care about being a teacher, you spend the majority of your waking hours the first year just trying to stay one step ahead of the next day's lessons or assessments. And you spend almost as much time outside the classroom each day preparing, reviewing, creating, assessing, and reflecting, than you do inside. Boy, did I have an incorrect idea of what teaching entailed!
It isn't so much that people are at odds with each other, it's that laws create contention between people. NCLB is a catastrophe, zero tolerance laws force actions that defy common sense, and unfunded mandates pit school employees against parents.
And it's all about money, of course. We need to be realistic about what we can spend and what we can expect. We can't continue to underfund schools and expect spectacular results. We can't expect the public (and teachers are part of that public) to spend more and more money on unproven, untested programs such as Race to the Top.
We need to be able to have the same goals and work together for those goals. Everyone has a part to take on. Teachers, parents, students, the public, and politicians all have different parts, and we all need to do our parts so this will work. There has been too much finger pointing and not enough calm conversation. I want to hear from people who are not teachers, but I also want them to listen to teachers. We can start talking and planning and figuring out what to do or we can keep fighting and be in the same situation or worse years down the road.
I supplement my kid's educations. I told them years ago that there are two standards - mine and the schools. They have to meet both. I don't care about their handwriting. I do care about their reading, math, science, and analysis. My 6th grade son has to do his current events reports out of "The Economist". The teacher would be happy with an on-line TV report - I specified the more challenging source. And they will master their math.