In university, I tried to convince my parents that a Canadian history degree would be a profitable career decision.
My favorite professor at the time took pity on my strain to prove myself by suggesting I apply to teacher’s college. Becoming a teacher, he reasoned, would allow me to encourage my passion for my nation’s history by inspiring the next generation.
Apparently he knew something I did not know, like the value of a pension and tenure. But I knew the one thing I needed to know: teachers are crazy. They have to be. Who else would play host every day to 30 children with distinct personalities, unique learning styles and hormonal conflicts, who may or may not wish to learn that day? Imagine trying to coordinate those students into a strict schedule of six different subjects a day, while keeping the pulse on the classroom culture for issues like bullying or peer pressure.
I have tremendous respect for teachers. Many of my dear friends are teachers, and many of the young people I know today want to become teachers. I admire that. I also have tremendous respect for careers like explosive bomb detonators, brain surgeons and killer whale trainers, but that surely doesn’t mean I want to be one. I don’t care what the pay and benefits are because I am not going to do that. It takes a special person to organize a classroom full of children all day long. I do not want to be that special.
As in every profession, there are the good teachers and the not so good teachers. There are the ones that retire and leave a void and those who should retire and leave a spot for someone fresh. We could say the same for any industry. I know a few CEOs that could use a push off the ivory tower, don’t you? (NHL? Cough.)
Oh I know, teachers are well paid and they get their summers off. Everybody always points to that one fact when they complain about teachers. In their defence, I spend every day with only two children (three if the Carpenter is whiney), and I’ll tell you what, just trying to keep two unique kids with independent tempers, learning styles and attitudes all their own for a two-day weekend is enough to drive me out of town for a summer too.
You know what I mean. You’re so busy trying to fill up the summer with day camps and sleep overs because your little people scare you too. It’s okay to admit it. We’re all friends here.
It’s no different for teachers. The school calendar is long and the curriculum is heavy. Thanks to funding issues, teachers are losing the crucial support of educational assistants in the classroom, meaning there isn’t enough time to help those students who need more attention. Working parents don’t have time to volunteer.
We’re losing our special education programs to a streamlined system, making the gaps for the children who don’t fit in the box larger, while the demands for individual needs increases. Who bears the brunt of that? The students. Nobody knows that better than our teachers. We have to work together to change that.
Yep, teachers are crazy. Thank goodness for that.