List Week 2006: Ten Reasons Why Teaching is Okay by Lenny White

In response to Elusive Orchid’s list yesterday, I feel that I need to provide the veteran teacher’s point of view. Teaching is a very fulfilling job, and I wouldn’t willingly change careers but Elusive is going to find that not everything is as halcyon as she believes. After seven years in the classroom, here are some truths about teaching. - Lenny

1. The kids linger with you after you go home at night.

Even though the students leave at the end of the day, the buttheads remain with you all night. There have been many nights where I keep mentally replaying a confrontation with a student who refuses to work, or work out what I am going to say when the student inevitably comes back the next day with a horrible attitude. Unfortunately, when 100 students are wonderful, it is the one who is a jerk that you spend most of your mental energy on.

2. Very few people seem like they are on your side.

In my district, the administration has been set up to be in constant conflict with the teaching staff. Our superintendent is a megalomaniac who believes that his orders are supreme. Think of the worst qualities of CEOs that you have heard; that is our district leader. Because of this attitude, the administrators have been ordered to show the teaching staff who is boss. Any positive movement in student success is attributed to his great leadership. Any decline is because we do not work hard enough. The students who need the most critical help and attention usually have the parents who throw their hands up and proclaim “I can’t do anything with this student. It’s your job to make them behave/come to school/do their work/etc.”

3. You get to pay for your own development.

In many other careers, professional development is provided by your employer, at your employer’s expense. Teaching is one of the few careers where you lose your license if you do not take numerous classes (180 hours worth over 6 years where I live), but they must be taken at your own expense. Oh sure, some districts offer tuition reimbursement, but with budget shortfalls the way they are, that number is dwindling.

4. You get to take 150 tests home and grade them.

The student gets to take one test, and complain about how overworked they are. For every assignment I give, I get to grade 150 papers. On my own time. When I could be spending time with Lily. The one class a day I receive for “prep time” is pitifully short when you factor in all of the errands that I need to complete in my role as a club sponsor. Next year, thanks to our charming superintendent, my prep time is given to the principal to use at their discretion.


5. There will be teachers who absolutely suck.

Elusive Orchid will be a wonderful teacher. I wish that everyone had her skill, smarts, and passion for the job. Not everyone who gets a teaching certification can claim the same. I realize that there are some people who are not meant to be teachers. There are colleagues who have horrible classroom management skills and should be removed from the classroom immediately. There are teachers who show a wildly inappropriate movie and call it a lesson. There are teachers who allow their students to run wild. It is an unfortunate truth that these teachers make everyone else look bad. It is also unfortunate and true, that these teachers are often the ones that students “like” the most and who receive the most praise from the administration for their low failure rates and high student approval ratings. Just be confident that your students have learned something, even if they hate you for it.

6. The chewing gum moment.

Nothing bothers me more than some student sitting there popping their gum. It is incredibly annoying and distracting. Plus, they will certainly use their fingers to play with the gum at some point, getting their fingers sticky, and then get the desk, paper, or even computer sticky. What is the big deal with throwing the gum away? Are you going to die if you don’t chew gum for an hour?

7. Everyone knows your job better than you.

Supposedly, I am the one in the classroom who is working with these students everyday. Why then does an administrator who has not been in the classroom for years, or a district person who has not been in the classroom for decades, or a politician who has never been in the classroom suddenly know exactly what my students need to do in order to succeed? Part of the answer has to do with the background of the teaching profession. Education in this country has historically been a “woman’s job.” Once a woman got a husband, she was expected to stop working. Because of this, they were paid little and respected even less. The traditional one-room schoolhouse was overseen by a group of trustees who “kept the women in line.” This attitude still carries over today when everyone else knows the answer to education, but refuses to believe the teacher. This also accounts for the historically low salaries of teachers. I’m not complaining about the money that I do make, but I would love to see any other profession get away with what school boards are legally allowed to do. Thank goodness for the union, or the situation would be even worse. I would love to have a politician follow me for a day, handling the students that I handle, grading the papers I grade, and figuring out how to engage and manage 25-30 diverse, mentally over-stimulated, and uninterested students. If they can do it for one day successfully, I’ll let them back to try to do it again for a second day. When they can handle it for 180 days, then I will agree that they should be in charge of my classroom.

8. The hours aren’t nearly as good as they claim.

The hours may seem great, but remember that the teacher’s day usually doesn’t begin and end with the students. I am supposed to be on campus at 7:30 AM and not allowed to leave until 3:30 PM. That is assuming that I have nothing scheduled. Usually, my club activities keep me here until 5:00, and then I get to go home with papers to grade, or lessons to plan. If you factored in all of the hours that a teacher really works, then the teacher makes less than a babysitter.

9. Speaking of that, we are expected to be the world’s best babysitters.

It is amazing how many discipline problems are blamed on the teacher. A student is tardy to class; it must be the teacher who isn’t inspiring the student to want to come on time. A student does not complete their homework; it must be the fault of the teacher for not making them want to learn. Somehow, we are expected to be Mary Poppins and Jaime Escalante all rolled into one. But unfortunately, a spoonful of whoop-ass will not make the medicine go down; it will just get me in trouble.

10. June, July, August

When I get to spend my summer taking more classes (see #3), rewriting my curriculum, attending student functions, and…wait a minute, I start on August 1st this year. And end at Memorial Day. It's more like June and half of July. Maybe.

Despite all this…I still like my profession. I have a variety of students from different cultural and economic backgrounds. When even just ONE of them makes it through, it makes my job worth it. And to me, that’s the best bonus I can get.