Of memes, trolls, and tee shirts--

The battle of the memes and the trolls has commenced. Not the political ones (those never end), but the ones about teachers. "Not in it for the income, in it for the outcome" irritates me so much, as does the perennial remark about having summers off and being paid. 

Ugh. Teachers are educated and dedicated professionals, often with as much education as many legal and medical professionals. I hold two Masters degrees and 37 years of experience, but that does not carry a lot of weight with the general public. The state governmental restrictions on what teachers can say and do, what they cannot say and do, and what the g-pop thinks we ought to be saying and doing comprises a long, long list. The expectations hover somewhere between being a parent, a social worker, and a magician. But if we do any of those jobs well enough, then we are criticized and castigated for "over-reach" or indoctrination. Ya can't win. Never mind, there's a thing call the curriculum, and those actual learning expectations... it's mind-boggling. When testing season comes around, all eyes are on the "lazy teachers," and the cycle begins again. Never mind, the participants in the tests --students-- often come to us with improper diet, rest, or scary-as-hell home lives. This situation would never fly in a real "testing" situation in any form of research. Too many flaws, too many variables, for any data to be accurate. But there it is. Every year. 

And the whole hoorah about summers off with pay. Um, no. Teachers who get a summer check have voluntarily had money with-held all year, without interest, to be given a means of support until the next school year comes around. Teachers are, in effect, ten-month employees. Our professional development requirements often eat up much of the "time off" as well, not to mention the prep time. I saw a meme the other day that went something like this: We work outside of our paid hours in order to have work to do during our paid hours, to be able to take work home again to finish outside of our paid hours. I try to limit the amount of work I bring home, because when I was a new teacher, it was all I ever did, every evening. I get some done here or there at work, but really, there's little actual time (and being a part-time teacher, there's even less paid time for me to accomplish anything). I tend to dedicate my Sunday afternoons to getting work graded and making notes of what the "Monday conversations" will entail. It works okay, for the most part. I read essays and yell at football. 

So why do I do it? Well, it's a strange thing. Teaching is, at least for most of us, a vocation, not just a job. Well, it's a vocation (a calling-- check that Latin, eh?), but it's often treated as a job (journey of the broke). But it is a thing I feel mandated to do by training, by interest, by the "lightbulbs" that pop on in a student's eyes when they make connections. I like young people, I like being challenged by the literature and what they see in it. I like talking about ideas with kids. I feel compelled to share what I've learned with the next crew of people, even if it's just MLA formatting (kinda boring). Where else can I wear a t-shirt that says HWAET! and have it be relevant? I bought a new one lately, too. It says "Unreliable Narrator"-- that would mean very little to anyone outside of what I do. It makes me laugh, like we are sharing an inside joke. If it's not too presumptuous to say, I like knowing that I'm doing my part to preserve and hand down some essential cultural truths, my contribution to humanity's survival beyond the digital detritus that will remain in the landfills. 

So, the memes can join that pile, as can the ignorant trolls, including, but not limited to, some highly-placed people in our state government. I have a job to do, one that I am called to do, and it's almost time to get those tee shirts out of the drawer.

C