No Power, No Autonomy, No Reason to Stay
When did teachers get stripped of their personal rights, control of the curricula, and ability to defend themselves and others? What sort of automatons are They expecting to see emerge from our universities? I am hardly devoid of emotion, opinion, a soul. You and I have strengths above and beyond those circumscribed in our B.A., Ed.D., MFA, or whatever decorates your sheepskins, yet for many of us we may not share our knowledge. Educators are at the mercy of rigid curricula, rampant conservativism, pressure to perform well on meaningless exams, and the type of homogenization that can only dull the most brilliant minds and stress the most fragile. Note: I know how meaningless those inane standardized tests are firsthand. Every test I ever took placed me squarely in the top two percent, yet it took me eleven years from the time I graduated high school to earn an undergrad degree, I can't make a bed to save my life, and I still count on my fingers. This is a measure of success?
Worse yet, there is this prevailing misconception (invariably because they are tax-paid) that teachers are paid adequately. In many places, beginning teachers are paid $20-25 thousand a year and are in academic debt in excess of $40,000. It is unjust to assume that everyone entering the teaching force is twenty-two and debt-free. In addition, teachers are expected to earn additional credits, degrees, or in some cases certifications in exchange for a nominal raise. Many detractors point out that teachers work only 184 days a year, which simply isn't true. Those additional certifications are earned on our own time, often at our own cost. I have never been able to take a summer off, working as many as four p/t jobs to get ahead. Actually, I've often had to work two or three additional jobs during the school year to make ends meet. For those of you among us who are reasonably paid, I'm happy for you. Both of you.
The title of this entry certainly could apply to students (of high school age) as well as teachers. Without question it is correct to limit the power of students in the context of education; most of them require more structure than they prefer in order to achieve. However, they need to ease into autonomy in order to function in society as we know it. (They certainly can choose to operate outside of society, but they can't expect much help.) This is a catch-22 in many districts, as many students repeatedly prove themselves incapable of accepting responsibility; but without this guided practice in decision-making, they will be unready to perform adult tasks when it is required of them.
....which brings us to arguably the most frustrating thing about teaching: we have authority and sway over these children's lives for a scant eight hours at the very most. Often it's only an hour or so, yet we need to be resource, counselor, parent, disciplinarian, and of course teacher to them. How does one explain to an anger-saturated ball of hormones that we don't fight in school when that's the way of life he understands from home? Oftentimes the very behaviors schools strive to stamp out are espoused at home, creating a maelstrom within the child or young adult.
This combination is just lose, lose, lose all the way 'round. Why am I still doing this job? I don't rightly know. I suspect I am not the only person who feels betrayed and trapped in a soul-sucking situation, although if one more person mentions "summers off" I may have them spitting chiclets.
Worse yet, there is this prevailing misconception (invariably because they are tax-paid) that teachers are paid adequately. In many places, beginning teachers are paid $20-25 thousand a year and are in academic debt in excess of $40,000. It is unjust to assume that everyone entering the teaching force is twenty-two and debt-free. In addition, teachers are expected to earn additional credits, degrees, or in some cases certifications in exchange for a nominal raise. Many detractors point out that teachers work only 184 days a year, which simply isn't true. Those additional certifications are earned on our own time, often at our own cost. I have never been able to take a summer off, working as many as four p/t jobs to get ahead. Actually, I've often had to work two or three additional jobs during the school year to make ends meet. For those of you among us who are reasonably paid, I'm happy for you. Both of you.
The title of this entry certainly could apply to students (of high school age) as well as teachers. Without question it is correct to limit the power of students in the context of education; most of them require more structure than they prefer in order to achieve. However, they need to ease into autonomy in order to function in society as we know it. (They certainly can choose to operate outside of society, but they can't expect much help.) This is a catch-22 in many districts, as many students repeatedly prove themselves incapable of accepting responsibility; but without this guided practice in decision-making, they will be unready to perform adult tasks when it is required of them.
....which brings us to arguably the most frustrating thing about teaching: we have authority and sway over these children's lives for a scant eight hours at the very most. Often it's only an hour or so, yet we need to be resource, counselor, parent, disciplinarian, and of course teacher to them. How does one explain to an anger-saturated ball of hormones that we don't fight in school when that's the way of life he understands from home? Oftentimes the very behaviors schools strive to stamp out are espoused at home, creating a maelstrom within the child or young adult.
This combination is just lose, lose, lose all the way 'round. Why am I still doing this job? I don't rightly know. I suspect I am not the only person who feels betrayed and trapped in a soul-sucking situation, although if one more person mentions "summers off" I may have them spitting chiclets.
spoken by Sister Morpheme at 8:41 PM
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