/rant
As I get ready to head back to work next week, I suddenly find myself incredibly incensed. I’m so sick of being told how I’m supposed to be a teacher because I care about “the kids” and should therefore be willing to suffer any amount of bs from admin, students, and parents because of it.
There is propaganda up on our school walls with shit like “teachers do it for the outcome, not the income!” It reminds me of my masters program where at our graduation we were given candles with a little message saying “teachers are like candles, they burn themselves out to light the way for others”. WTF kind of message is that?
First week of school I have to take kids on a week long “experiential education” trip (read: rich kids go camping). I have to be on for an entire week, and it is by far the most exhausting, physically and mentally, thing I do all year. It’s not even explicitly in our contract, albeit could probably be considered part of “other duties”. It’s just so much a part of the culture of the community nobody feels they can say no because of how badly it would affect students and families. I’m even joining the committee this year to fight back against some of the worst excesses (like how it’s required for graduation but kids have to pay for it, which I’m pretty goddamn sure is illegal as f)
I see this manipulation in other service oriented jobs too. Nurses told that what they do is save people so suck up that poor pay and benefits because it’s “not about the money”.
I like my students, but this is getting out of hand. Add to that the expectation I gotta jump in front of a bullet for people as part of my job? I signed up to teach people to learn to write and understand history, this is bs.
/end rant