I'm eating waffles with strawberries and whipped cream as I am writing this. I assembled my plate at the waffle bar that was set up in the Staff Lounge to kick off Teachers Appreciation Week. I love feeling appreciated, and I love waffles. It's nice to be appreciated. It's especially nice to be appreciated when you work in a field that is largely considered a thankless job and is notoriously short on resources, leadership and pay. However, of all the thankless jobs that are notoriously short on resources, leadership and pay, teachers have one of the largest armies of vocal support and action to further their cause. That's why as a teacher, I have a really unpopular opinion about Teachers Appreciation Week: I think we should chill out about the whole thing. Over the last few years, I've been a bit embarrassed by the social media presence of educators during Teacher Appreciation Week. Sure... you've got some really positive, uplifting tweets coming from educators reminding us what Teachers Appreciation Week is all about. It's comforting to be reminded that we are doing great things and even if they don't show it now, our students will possibly realize our impact later in life. The ones that make me uneasy are the ones that make us look like we are treating the week dedicated to appreciating us as nothing more than novelty, and that we expect full-time appreciation. They turn Teacher Appreciation Week into a platform to complain about how unappreciated we are the rest of the year. Like I said, teaching is considered a thankless job that is too often underfunded, short on resources, lacks quality leadership and a paycheck that matches the hours, experience, professionalism and skill of the people receiving them.
But don't kid yourselves fellow teachers. You knew all that when you signed up. I had no illusions of becoming comfortably wealthy in this profession. I had no illusions that every student would be a joy to be around 24/7 and would give their absolute best effort in response to mine. I had no illusions that I would be led by administrators and district offices with deep pockets and a willingness to reach into them. So on Day 1 of Teacher Appreciation Week 2019, I'll skip the snarky attitude about how little we are appreciated and share some more unpopular opinions about my chosen profession. Unpopular Opinion 1: I am OVERPAID. I get paid to play dodgeball sometimes. I get paid (extra!) to go outside at lunch and play football. I get paid to sign yearbooks and give awards and play kickball on the last day of school. Heck, I get paid to run a fantasy sports-themed current events program, like, for REAL CLASS. I get paid to make music videos with kids. I get paid to create fictional sports franchises and futuristic cities and zombie apocalypse survival plans. I get paid to pretend to be a dictator of my own made up classroom country. It's not like I'm against raising pay for teachers and it's not like I think teachers don't deserve it, but I also know that I my paycheck is enough to live on. I can meet my needs and that's more than people in some other professions can say. Unpopular Opinion 2: The "perks" make up for the lack of pay My health insurance could be better. Everyone's (outside of Finland) could be better. But when I look at it relative to other people, like self-employed dairy farmers responsible for paying their own way while doing a more dangerous job, it's pretty darn good insurance. I have never been forced to do work over the weekend. Outside of voluntarily coaching sports or holding events outside school hours, I have never needed to work nights. My schedule aligns with my childrens' school schedules. And I have a glorious summer off to hang out with my wife and kids and be a moderately successful amateur age group triathlete. Teachers work outside of contracted hours, but so do other people. And even though it's not truly a "summer off" (which I previously wrote about)... let's be serious, we get a couple months away from the regular routine. Unpopular Opinion 3: Kids are not any more difficult than anyone else's coworkers People tell me all the time how fast they would be fired as a teacher because they would swear at the kids, hit the kids, or do whatever else to the kids that would be one of many fire-worthy offenses in this profession. Again, it's not like we didn't know what we were getting into. Mrs. Honish makes realty look easy, and I don't think I could do it. I hate talking on the phone and I can't keep a mental schedule to save my life. She has to do those things constantly. If we signed up to work with kids, we shouldn't act like they are such a special and unique challenge compared to every other field. So Happy Teacher Appreciation Week. I truly do appreciate what all of my fellow teachers are doing, and I like to feel appreciated to. Those waffles were really really good! But I bet my garbage truck driver would like some waffles at work sometimes. I bet I earn more than my garbage truck driver too, and probably have a more comprehensive health insurance plan. The garbage is collected each week, no special summer schedule. There is no Waste Management Professionals Appreciation Week, but talk about a thankless job! So as the week progresses, let's keep it all in perspective, remember how amazing this job is, and not act like we need constant validation for our hard work every week of the year. Considering all the other fields with people working hard and doing important things to help humanity, in my opinion one week of official appreciation might already be a little much. And you can't make this stuff up... as I was finishing that last paragraph, a student walked up to my desk, handed me a box of chocolates and said "Happy Teacher Appreciation Week". I say again, when do the garbage truck drivers get their boxes of chocolates?
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AuthorJohn Honish: Archives
June 2021
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