TEACHING


I’m not at all experienced with blogs. If you want to see a “real” blog, then check out my friend Megan’s blog: http://bangkokrealitysmackdown.wordpress.com/ It’s really cool. I especially like the cockroach story.

On Monday, 03/14/11, I attended a teachers rally in Annapolis. I’ll just say that I am teacher in Maryland. The point of the rally was to protest some upcoming legislation that would reduce the retirement quality of most workers who pay into the state system.

I make under $50,000 a year and I have Master’s degree and several years experience. It is CRAZY that people would do anything to make teaching less attractive than it already is. Some people somehow think that teachers make plenty of money. Compared to whom?  A job that requires a Master’s degree and involves educating children should not be compared to a job that takes no skills and has a workforce that could be drunk and high all day. Not a complaint or even a demand – just a sane opinion.

It’s also stupid when people suggest that teachers just get other jobs if they want more money. If that happened, then the five teachers left in Maryland would be the ones who think that a job should not take care of basic needs. Those people would not be good teachers, and the person making that suggestion is a selfish jerk who hates children.

Maryland is one of the few states that does not have a completely pathetic public school system, but apparently now people want us to become completely pathetic, too. Who will ever go into teaching when it becomes clearer and clearer that a teacher’s life will eventually involve rooting through the dumpster for dinner?

Okay, here’s a picture: this is where education is going when people don’t want to pay for it. I would have thrown in some vomit, though.

When I was in college, one of my friends and his family moved down to Georgia. The younger brother was in 11^th grade. I’ll call him Steve. Steve drank, did recreational drugs, and was a C or D student. When he arrived in Georgia, though, everyone thought that he was a genius! He was moved to the top of the class. In a history class, one of his classmates asked: “Isn’t there some kind of theory that the land all around the Earth used to be connected?” The teacher looked intrigued and said: “Yeah, I think I’ve heard of that before.” Steve raised his hand and said: “Isn’t that called Pangaea?” The teacher had no idea. Steve was probably the only person in the whole building who had even heard of such a thing. Maybe all of Georgia.

If people want to compensate teachers even less than now, then the profession is going to turn into the equivalent of Walmart greeter. If you want to have teachers who can help students learn, you should really consider compensating them better than you would a person with little skills or education. If you don’t, then how are children supposed to value education, anyway?