Friday, October 06, 2006

on teaching

I'm exausted. Every time I hear someone say that teachers work wimpy hours, with summers off and all sorts of holidays, I want to scream, "yeah, you do what I do and then say that." Teaching is not only mentally hard (you grade 100 essays on the Lewis & Clark expedition without turning to vodka) but hard on the body as well. Teachers have to be perky and "on" all day - no coffee breaks, just there. 110%, all the time, whether in front of a blackboard, in the elevator, walking along the main path of campus, etc.

I love what I do, but it does wear me down. Right now I'm really looking forward to a hot bath, a large glass of merlot and an early bedtime.

Then I do a blogroll check and read about Xy's work as a teacher in New Orleans and feel quite ashamed of my weakness. I may invest heart and soul into what I do, but my students do not face the same challenges or dangers, God willing.

2 comments:

Sarge said...

It's amazing though, by April you want to curl up in a ball in the middle of the classroom, but by mid-July you actually end up missing 'em.

Why should Americans be held to a higher standard by the way?

What makes us better than the Spanish? Or Algerians?

The U.S. has more power, but having abused this power terribly, and clearly unable to make it right, shouldn't the U.S. think about withdrawal?

There's the famous quote: "who's going to be the last person to die for a mistake?" It sure as hell won't be George W. Bush.

peace and good luck with the teaching!

Anonymous said...

Teachers have much in common with nurses, always being"on" or "up" except that people can die if a nurse isn't "up."