Heyas,
So, full disclosure here...
I'm a Democrat. And more or less a liberal (though my philosophies lean more towards the Libertarian school of thought--government should be responsible for our national defense, our infrastructure, keeping the economy healthy, and stay the hell out of our personal lives). It pisses me off that two people I consider brothers in all but blood can't get married in most states because they fell in love with someone who has the same plumbing as they do and are essentially second class citizens in the eyes of the government. I voted for Obama and though he hasn't delivered on everything he promised me by a long shot, I'm gonna give him another year before I lose faith and I still think we're a lot better off than we would be with McCain and the Queen of the Alaskan Frontier doing the driving. I don't think that global warming is quite the immediate crisis Al Gore (who I also voted for) depicted, but I do believe with all my heart that we are having a terrible effect on our environment and we need to work now to protect it and yes, that means sacrificing some comforts and profits. I believe that the Great Designer of our lives and Universe doesn't give a flip what name we call it or how (or even IF) we worship it so long as we do our best to be good people and live good lives.
Am I a bleeding heart liberal? Not quite, but okay, pretty damn close.
And I am a teacher.
A MIDDLE SCHOOL teacher.
A MIDLE SCHOOL teacher of ENGLISH.
I get up every day and stand in front of 60 plus 12-15 year olds for seven hours and for nine months try to teach them how to read, write, analyze text, punctuate their sentences properly, and create smooth transitions in a five paragraph essay. Beyond that, I try to teach them to love literature, how to understand it, how to apply its lessons to their lives. I try to teach them responsibility, respect, self-worth, tolerance. I have to teach them to fight with their words, not with their fists, and how to stand up for themselves, but not go looking for fights. I have to teach them that what their friends are all doing is not necessarily what's best for THEM.
I have sat with children, CHILDREN, and held their hand while they waited for pregnancy test results, I have calmly promised an eleven-year-old girl that if her mother's boyfriend (who had started molesting her) wanted to get to her, he'd have to go through me first, all the while praying that her biological father could make it to the school before her mother did so I wouldn't have to test that promise against custodial laws and the Las Vegas police. I have been thrown up on, peed on, bled on, and pooped on. I have had a gun brought into my classroom, taken knives off students three times, I have had a desk thrown at me. I have waded into fights between boys twice as big as me (and I am not a small woman), waded into fights between girls twice as mean as me (and I can be a bitch, when I choose). I have been kicked, punched, elbowed, and had my eye blackened.
Any given day I am called on to be mentor, teacher, surrogate mother, friend, psychologist, nurse. I keep extra cash in my car in case lunch money and bus fares are forgotten. I quite often spend my one planning period counseling, tutoring, subbing, monitoring, chaperoning, WHATEVER, even though that's the only free period I have and the only time I have to eat lunch. I get paid for a work day that lasts from 7:30 to 3:30, five days a week. Factor in lesson planning, parent contacts, grading, record keeping, copy-making, and I put in an eighty hour work week, easy. More if we're doing projects.
I am expected to keep my license current with research, continuing education, summer classes, and am expected to advance my degree...all at my own expense, with little to no reimbursement and during my "free" summers.
During the course of the school year, I can expect to have my heart broken countless times by the situations my students come from, grit my teeth through frustration of Herculean proportions, and have at least one day where I have to lock my classroom door, put my head on my desk, and just CRY. I can also expect to receive countless hugs, a ton of artwork scrawled out on looseleaf paper (usually some theme of "Ms. E Rocks!" I am proud to say), and the knowledge that I help children to believe in themselves, and am often one of the few people in their lives who believes in THEM.
I do all this for a pittance of a salary that qualifies me for welfare in several states.
And I am bloody SICK of people harping about lazy, evil, liberal activist teachers who don't really care about their students.
Are there some bad apples in my profession? Of course. Same as there are in any profession. Are we all like that? HELL no.
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