When stay/work-at-home moms take affront to those think that they spend all day sitting on the couch, eating bon-bons, I always nod my head in solidarity. Not because I am one, but because I know what it’s like to have someone insist that your job isn’t a job (and I know that motherhood is a full-time job!). I respect the work that every single person does, and I bet that every job in this world is difficult in many ways (except for my dream job of professional wine and chocolate taster).
In fact, today one of my little lovelies raised his hand and said, “Why do teachers complain about not making enough money? I mean, if you want to get paid more, then you should’ve found a JOB where you have to work all year!”
Let me tell you, a soapbox materialized under my feet and by the time I was finished, one student stood up and clapped, while the rest just stared, open-mouthed, wondering if I’d finally lost my mind.
It’s not the first time I’ve heard it, and it surely won’t be the last. Indeed, if I had a dollar for every time I heard some generic statement about teachers having an easy job, it’d make up for what my paychecks are lacking! And every time I hear it, I want to invite that person to spend a day in my shoes.
During the course of a school day, I’m a teacher. I’m also a counselor, because in middle school, not a day goes by that there isn’t a crying girl. You think I’m exaggerating? Trust me, with 60 or so girls on a team, at least one is bound to cry before the day is over. I’m a critic, as I grade stacks and stacks of essays. I’m a leader, as I conduct my team meetings every day (can you believe someone trusted me with a position of power, no matter how minute it is?). I’m a learner myself, as the students often ask me questions that I have to look up, before I can definitively answer them. I’m a mediator, as I field rude and often dismissive parent emails (seriously, when you email your child’s teacher about missing work, don’t accuse him/her of losing your child’s work. It happens, but it’s rare). When the day ends, I very rarely just go home. I take home papers, lessons, I work on new ideas. My job doesn’t end when the bell rings.
Yes, I get the summer off, but do you know what I do during the summer? I go to curriculum meetings, I rework old lessons, and soon enough, I’ll be taking college courses to renew my license (which I must do, yet pay for out of my own pocket). Sure, there are days that I do nothing, and those days are blissful. Not only are they blissful, but they are necessary. Can you imagine spending a straight year with 8th graders? I joke that I’ve lost my mind, but if that really happened, I WOULD lose my mind. No doubt about it! I love my job, but I need the summer to refresh and recharge, to get ready to face another year.
So if this isn’t a real job, then I guess I’m glad I’m a teacher. And if you still don’t believe me that it’s hard, that it’s real, then I’d love to trade jobs with you, just for one day. Especially if you happen to be a professional wine and chocolate taster.
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12 comments:
The former teacher and current stay at home mom in me SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO gets this. Ugh.
Of course this is a real job. And are the moms that stay at home and eat bonbons? Is that even possible? I guess if you have hired help it is but I assume that they are small segment of the population.
I admire your work as a teacher and our children benefit from people like you that are committed to their positions.
WOW. I so feel for teachers because I have seen first hand what they go through, and wonder why they don't get paid more.
Oh and don't get me started on the SAHM, being one myself. I have had plenty of people ask me what I do all day. and I give them the strangest look as if that isnt a job in itself
My favorite part is that we are required to take classes on our own dime (or $800/class) with our huge salary, after spending the day educating the future.
It is sooooooo a real job! A hard one, too!
I just did a post tonight complaining about all the crap that is involved in teaching.
Seriously, I want to punch people in the face when they make comments about summer/vacations. I guaran-damn-tee we teachers work WAY more hours a week than the vast majority of people, yet we get paid a lot less because of "summers off". I say it works out to same amount of hours worked, just for less money.
Yes, I'm feeling a little bitter tonight.
A-M-E-N is all I have to say. IT IS SO HARD!
I totally hear you on this one. "You get summers off!" is the argument that always made me want to kick people in the butt. Even if teachers truly got the whole summer off, which they don't, they need that time to recuperate from the year before. Teaching is hard work!
Same for the SAHM situation. We were playing video games with my husband's friends a few weeks ago and one of them told me that I am only so good at it because I probably just sit around playing them all day. Oh yeah! That's exactly how I got good at them. I'm not busy during the day, taking care of the baby or anything, I'm playing video games. Riiiight. No, I got good at them during college LOL. These days, if I have a rare 5 free minutes I'm catching up on my sleep!
As a former substitute teacher (whose absolute worst fear is 8th grade girls...I'm still not over BEING one), I can attest that your job is emotionally exhausting, trying, and very hard. And quite possibly the most under-appreciated job ever.
I bless you everyday because while I LOVE my kids, Im not so fond of others. I taught Junior High Sunday school once... NEVERAGAIN! You are a SAINT.
Oh, Erin... how true your words are.
This is what I finally began to say to friends, family... or anyone who dared insinuate that my teaching career was easy. I would always address the profession of the offender; a plumber, for example. I would say...
This is what it would be like for you. Someone asks you to fix his sink. You show up. But there is not 1 sink. There are 20 sinks. You are given 45 minutes to evaluate the problem with each sink. Then you must begin to work on each problem... and of course each sink requires different tools, different amounts of time, etc. You get to 4 or 5 sinks... then you are told to stop. You are sent to another room and there are 20 new sinks before you. Begin again. Repeat 5 times.
You are an attorney... you are given 20 individual cases. You walk into court and all 20 clients are waiting for you. You must deal plead each case, represent each client, takes notes on each case SIMULTANEOUSLY. You get through 3 cases and a bell rings. All 20 clients leave and 20 more take their places. Repeat 5 times.
Painter. Automotive repair. Physician. Psychiatrist. Chef. It doesn't matter. I dare anyone to walk in a teacher's shoes for one hour of one day... I know. I did it for 30 years. Yes, I did love my job, and I figured out how to do it well. But for all the critics... I repeat. TRY IT FOR ONE HOUR OF ONE DAY.
Wonderful post!
Great post Erin and oh so true. I get so tired of hearing the same things. It's funny though because the parents who actually come into the schools to volunteer are always quick to say "I don't know how you do what you do." How I wish I only had one job of being a teacher rather than parent, nurse, counselor, and all those other hats I wear. It definitely is worth it, watching the kids grow, but how I wish other people only knew!!
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