You haven't met me. I said, I'm the strongest person you've ever had the honor of KNOWING. But, either way, it doesn't matter. You truly have NO idea what I'm like, as many times as we spoke on the phone, or for as many hours -you got a version of me, but not the whole picture. Just like this forum gets a version of me.
That bolded statement is so full of shit. I never said my life is tougher than anyone else's, but I get pissed off when you walk around all high and mighty like NYC is the ONLY place in the world people can live and work, and that the things you say are the ONLY truths that ever were uttered. Your truth isn't MY truth, it isn't anyone's truth but your own. I share my experiences to provide perspectives on the ridiculous opinions you seem to believe as FACT, and try to tell everyone are FACT over and over again. I think everyone else is just used to or bored with your shit, so they don't bother to comment. TreePixie and I call you out on your shit because we're not afraid to put our lives out there in that way, and because of that...we're 'victims'? If I was a public speaker and went around the nation talking about my experience with domestic violence and rape, would you then call me a 'victim' because I was sharing my experiences? I would hope not.
And actually, Charlotte IS a city (there is no city in Charlotte, as you said above). It is also a major U.S. financial center, whether you like it or not. It's actually second to NYC, so it's not exactly like comparing Easter Island to Wall Street. And no one is expected to work 60 hour weeks. Anyone who works those hours chooses those hours because they truly believe it's what's expected. As I said, there's a precious few companies out there in which it's corporate culture- but places like Google, where they have the highest productivity and the happiest workers- those people are NOT working 60 hours per week. I don't get this mindset that the hours you put in are worth more than the work you put out. Stupid.
Yes, I work for a non-profit....so, I work. In a white-collar job. For money. In a company that requires educated folks to do things. I'm sorry, how exactly are you trying to discredit my experience there? I'm unclear about that.
Dude, you flat out said that no teacher works as much as an accountant, (PLEASE SHOW ME WHERE I SAID THAT)which I was SO thankful for, because I totally had S. on my mind when you tried that BS. She would have chewed your ass up one side and down the other for trying to say she didn't work harder than she did as an accountant(This anecdotal and one accountant/teacher's experience). I actually had to send her a message on Facebook after I wrote that post to you earlier, because it was so hilarious to me that you truly believed what you were writing. Her classroom was across the hall from me the first year we were teaching together, and she and I used to talk all of the time. She had had two kids, so she figured working as a teacher would be easier work and hours than working her old job, which is a common misconception. She worked her ass off the first year, and told me often 'Girl, if I'd known I'd be pulling 100+ hour weeks and getting paid for only around 30 of those hours, I'd have parked my ass right where I was until I retired!' It does get easier as time goes on- you learn tricks, you get solid lesson plans that you keep because they were successful...but it takes time. And every second of every day is completely different. Nothing is ever done the same. You live in a constant gray area. You don't get to sit at a desk and plunk in some numbers. There aren't rules and regulations for HOW to teach kids- you're just told WHAT to teach them. The 'how' is up to you, and you might do it 50 different ways in the span of two days because kids aren't getting it and need different approaches. You don't get paperwork done when you're teaching. Those 90 minute blocks of time, you're up out of your seat, teaching and interacting with those kids....and while you're teaching, you have to keep your eyes peeled for kids texting, writing notes, rolling joints (no joke!), and any other things they shouldn't be doing. You have to make sure they're not talking, eating, flicking the kid next to them or in front of them with a pencil. You have to engage them and listen to them. And you have 20+ kids at a time that you have to do that with- simultaneously. There are no 'easy' days. As soon as those kids go to the next class, the next group is in. You get 20 minutes for lunch, and if you're lucky, you might finish your food, if you get a chance to eat at all. By that time, it might just be that you decide to use the 20 minutes to make a few extra copies and pee for the first time all day because you certainly can't go when the kids are in your classroom.
And then, at the end of the day, when all of the kids go home- you're left there. Sometimes, you're the adviser of a club, so you have to take care of that...but if you're not, you get some time to straighten up the room, erase the boards, write the next days' work on it, see if you can find a free copy machine to make 150+ copies of worksheets and hope you're not past your copy quota for the week (yes, they exist in some places!) so that your kids get all the information they need for their work. Once in awhile, you might get a kid staying after school for help, or one who comes to you for advice and perspective on a problem they're having at home or at school. You might also have a faculty meeting, which is required attendance, and will last for two hours. Or you'll have a team planning meeting to start working on lesson plans for the next week or so. If you're lucky enough to squeeze in time in your classroom correcting some of the 150+ papers you've collected, you're there writing grades down in both your grade book and in the online grade book. Then, you realize it's almost 6 and you're starving because you haven't eaten dinner, but you can't leave until you update the homework website for the evening, because the kids will be wanting/needing a reminder. In the midst of all of this, you have e-mails and phone calls from parents to return, discussions with administrators and co-workers on the mundane and not-so-mundane parts of the job- all while trying to get some work done. So, you take it home to finish it up, and then you sit up all night long until midnight or 1am correcting papers (because it doesn't take 5 minutes!), go to sleep, and get up at 5am to start it all over again the next day.
Now, is that true for everyone? No. Are there shitty, lazy, useless teachers out there who don't do a thing? Absolutely. If you sat through a day of that and saw this unfolding in front of you, it might change your perspective on how much teachers work and what they actually do....am I whining or complaining about the work I did as a teacher? Fuck no. Do I think you owe teachers in general an apology for making the baseless assumption that they don't actually work? Yes. I'm sure the various teachers wandering around this forum would agree that your lack of respect for the educational profession leaves a sour taste in their mouths. Mine included. Just because I didn't work for a Fortune 500 company, doesn't mean I, or any other teacher in the world, was worth less than those people.
Sentences like these are exactly why I call you a victim. When did I say being a teacher made anyone less than? When did I say that their work didn't matter as much as someone in a Fortune 500 company?
Without teachers, there wouldn't BE Fortune 500 companies. Without teachers, there wouldn't be doctors, lawyers, artists, athletes, or anyone else. Teachers are the ones who encourage kids to think for themselves, to explore things, to never stop learning and engaging themselves in the things they're interested in and passionate about. Teachers give kids the tools, and the knowledge they need to use those tools, and to try to discredit them over and over again is about as serious as disrespecting and trying to discredit the work of one's own parents.
I'm sorry that you're in so much pain.
artyman:
Hope it doesn't rain for her, she's really looking forward to it.
