A Brick Should Not Whine

A cartoon from our school paper.

      I have spent the last year in a blue funk about my job.  Over the past decade there has been a marked change in the perception of teachers within our society.  When I first started in 1985 teaching was viewed as a noble profession that garnered respect from a pretty big majority of the people that I encountered.  I would hear things like, "I don't think I could do what you do, but I'm glad you're willing to do it."  It was an extra perk to to a challenging profession that isn't for everyone.  I felt like what I did actually was going to leave a positive footprint on this earth and that it was being recognized by others.  Teaching is not the most lucrative profession in the world, although I live in an area where I've never complained about what I've gotten paid, but that isn't the case everywhere and when I first started I had no idea where I would land so money was never really a driving force in my decision to become an educator.  It was great advice that I got from my Father when he told me, "Think of something you can do everyday for the rest of your working life and still enjoy it at the end.  Don't worry about anything else like what you get paid, if you're respected or famous, just determine will you be happy at the end of the day.  Then make that your career."  It was great advice and I have passed that on to my own son, as well as many others, almost verbatim.  When I became a teacher I felt like I had followed my Dad's advice and found that job that I was meant to do.

More student art work.
The people with X were just redone, not eliminated.

      But there has been a very noticeable shift in the treatment of teachers in recent years.  We seemed to have become the cause of many of societies problems like student failure, state budget shortfalls, doing too much of the job of the parent, not doing enough of the job of the parent, and generally taking the job because it gives us the summers off.  These are not paranoid generalizations; in the last few years I have on at least one occasion been told each one of these things either as a veiled criticism or a hostile attack by some individual I was talking with.  I also feel the transition in the media and by the actions of states like Wisconsin and my own state of Illinois where the legislature has failed to fund our pension system to the tune of $44 billion.  Somehow in the public perception I have gone from hero to villain.  And I have let it impact me during the last year in a very negative way.  Mostly I have started to look at how long I have until I can retire.  Now I'm not really that close to retirement and before all of this came up I didn't give retirement much thought at all because I was just enjoying teaching.  But I've realized that none of this is about teaching.

     Every year we have a Top 10 Banquet for the 10 kids in the senior class with the highest GPAs.  They are asked which teacher was their most influential and then that teacher is also invited to the banquet.  A program is created and teacher's that are selected are asked to write out some words of advice for the student that chose them and on the occasions that I have been honored by being chosen I have always incorporated this same quote from Chuck Swindoll, "I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it."  And then it hits me, why should anyone else listen to me when I don't listen to myself?  What the heck should I care if in the minds of people that don't have an inkling of what I do I'm not a hero any longer?  It's like I said before, that was just a small bit of ego massaging that came with the job a couple of decades ago.  The real joy in teaching is the everyday interaction with the kids.  That hasn't changed a bit.  It is awesome!  And in fact, this year has been the best ever because I know these kids so well and I am just ecstatic about all of their successes.  So shame on me for ever letting any of this small stuff get into my head.  I love teaching.  I always have.  If they make is so I can't retire until I'm 67 then I'll teach for the next 17 years and continue to love everyday of it.  My Father really knew what he was talking about and it took way to long for me to remember it.  Sorry Dad.

Panoramic view of my classroom, where the magic happens!