I am rarely out of school, but sometimes, such as was the case today, I have a doctor's appointment or some other obligation that I cannot make for an evening or weekend, so I am essentially forced to take the day off.
When I do take a regular weekday off, I am always amazed at the sight of normal (a.k.a. "non-teachers") people living their lives and walking free in the streets around me. They are right out there in the open and not holed up in an unheated, smelly, dingy school all day. Wow!
I know that there are some major advantages to being a teacher. The work day ends at 3 (although we often have to do lots of prep work above and beyond normal class hours), and I would be remiss if I did not mention the fabulous vacation time (much deserved and needed to recoup from the mentally draining task of facing heaps of kids 6 hours a day).
Here are some of the differences between teachers and real people that I find most fascinating.
1. Real people actually get to work with other adults. A good portion of their day is spent interacting with other adults and engaging in mentally stimulating, adult conversation. Teachers spend their days talking with kids, monitoring their every word, constantly censoring themselves, and turning every single conversation into a Mr. Rodgers lesson-to-be-learned moment, because we worry that not enough of these conversations are taking place at home.
2. Real people do not have to suffer any feelings of guilt or inadequacy if their colleagues fail at a task. Teachers are constantly worried that a child's failure on a test will be a poor reflection on us. I mean, make no mention of the fact that there might be no support from home, and the kid's outside-of-school life might be the biggest contributing factor to his failure. At the end of the day, when that kid takes his standardized test, and it asks for "teacher's name," I'm the one going down for the count. And make no mistakes, those tests get scored and sent back to us, item-by-item, with each teacher's name next to each student grade.
3. Real people actually get lunch hours. They get to leave their places of employment to go have lunch in a completely different, non-work environment. I don't get a "lunch hour" but rather a lunch "22 minutes." I spend many of those supposedly duty-free lunches making sure this one has her lunch tickets, or that one doesn't bully the weaklings in the class out of their lunch money.
4. Real people get to deal with other adults who, hopefully, know how to keep their emotions under control at work. Teachers must be trained, not only in their subject matters, but also in putting out the fires of hormonal teenagers.
5. Real people can reasonably expect some respect at work. For example, I saw my doctor today. He, his nurse and the heart ultrasound woman (HEART, I said, I'm NOT pregnant!), were all seemingly enjoying their work days and I was enjoying having conversations with them. I'm not saying that their jobs are not highly stressful. I'm sure they are. But they knew that I was in there looking for their expertise and would respect what they had to tell me. Teachers, on the other hand, know that when we go in there, nobody cares what we have to say, and that no matter how nice we try to be, these kids are going to snicker, sneer, bitch and moan.
6. Real people can make a doctor's appointment and come in late, work late, or skip lunch. Teachers have to either not make appointments, or take an entire sick day off to keep a simple, one-hour appointment.
Lest you think I don't like my job, let me just say that I don't mean to complain. I know I have a great job. I like the kids a lot. I have great vacation times. I get paid pretty well. I am lucky to have a job that keeps me relatively young. And let me just mention the vacation thing again. Clearly, that is the biggest perk.
I know that, in summer, when I have all that time off, I can't even imagine what it must be like for my friends to go to offices where they have to look out the window and see that gorgeous Sun there, beckoning them to come out and play. I know that would KILL me. But seriously, sometimes I just wish I had a little more adult interaction at work and a little more freedom of schedule.
1 comment:
Ahhh, but the grass is always greener on the other side of the watercooler! 9 out of 10 office drones would give anything to have your schedule. I, personally, could not ever work with children all day long. Some people are suited to that, but I am not. I admire you for doing it. Until you have children, I don't think you realize the level of dedication it must take to be a teacher. Sadly, some people who have kids STILL don't get it. Anybody who abuses a teacher, who tries to bully a teacher, or who takes a good teacher for granted should be forced to spend a year teaching kindergarten or 7th grade. Those have to be the most difficult grades to deal with, and just what those bastards deserve.
Post a Comment