Respect Teachers?
If you haven't already done so, take a look at Kelsie's blog on teacher respect. As a teacher, I always enjoy seeing students recognize a bit about what my job is like. While it is unquestionably true that teachers are not generally respected by the government or most corporate institutions--as illustrated by the comparatively low pay and extensive education required, not to mention the fact that most of the people in the community view us as whiners who should just shut up and enjoy our summers off--it is also true that there are moments in a teacher's life that sometimes make it feel worthwhile. If that were not the case, I would not have been doing it for almost 16 years.
Despite what the legislature and the big businessmen may say, teaching is one of very few noble professions left in the world. Most of the people in teaching are in it for reasons other than the salary. And although many students go through 12 years of schooling without ever having a significant interaction with a teacher, there are those few for whom a good teacher makes all the difference.
That said, it still sucks when you have a student talk to (or about) you like you were a lesser being because you have dedicated your life to making his better. Then when his parents come in and magically find a way to blame you for their own failings, you sometimes feel like it isn't worth it. And it doesn't help that some teachers really are jerks; there are some that either aren't very good at what they do or they don't really care about the students...and they are not fooling anyone.
But here's the big problem with teacher respect: The people at the top of The System don't appreciate or really care about education. The businessmen just want qualified workers, cogs in their great machine. The "educators" just want higher test scores to "prove" to the businessmen that their students are qualified. The parents just want a place for their kids to go 8 hours a day while they are at work. And the students? Where do they weigh into all this? They are treated as the products. At the beginning of the process (kindergarten), students are dumped into the great grinder like raw meat. Over thirteen years of "processing," they are shaped into what The System wants them to become (regardless of what they may want for themselves). At graduation, they are squeezed out like ground hamburger, all the same color, all the same qualifications, all the same test scores, and without any sense of who they are or what their lives should be about. Most of them then go on to serve the Great Machine, and the cycle continues.
But every once in a while, a Harlequin gets loose...
Despite what the legislature and the big businessmen may say, teaching is one of very few noble professions left in the world. Most of the people in teaching are in it for reasons other than the salary. And although many students go through 12 years of schooling without ever having a significant interaction with a teacher, there are those few for whom a good teacher makes all the difference.
That said, it still sucks when you have a student talk to (or about) you like you were a lesser being because you have dedicated your life to making his better. Then when his parents come in and magically find a way to blame you for their own failings, you sometimes feel like it isn't worth it. And it doesn't help that some teachers really are jerks; there are some that either aren't very good at what they do or they don't really care about the students...and they are not fooling anyone.
But here's the big problem with teacher respect: The people at the top of The System don't appreciate or really care about education. The businessmen just want qualified workers, cogs in their great machine. The "educators" just want higher test scores to "prove" to the businessmen that their students are qualified. The parents just want a place for their kids to go 8 hours a day while they are at work. And the students? Where do they weigh into all this? They are treated as the products. At the beginning of the process (kindergarten), students are dumped into the great grinder like raw meat. Over thirteen years of "processing," they are shaped into what The System wants them to become (regardless of what they may want for themselves). At graduation, they are squeezed out like ground hamburger, all the same color, all the same qualifications, all the same test scores, and without any sense of who they are or what their lives should be about. Most of them then go on to serve the Great Machine, and the cycle continues.
But every once in a while, a Harlequin gets loose...
posted by MRT at 8:41 AM
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