Yep, we're the most selfish people around. I only keep teaching so I can keep drawing my big, fat paychecks.
My brother makes more money bartending 5 nights than I make in a month, with my Master's degree. And yet, I wouldn't trade my job for the world, and neither would any of the other teachers I know. Maybe it's because it's all about us, and we enjoy all the glory that comes along with being a teacher. Maybe we enjoy the elevated societal rank or the fact that, with Masters degrees, the taxpayers still see fit to give us a lower salary then the average grocery store assistant manager. Maybe we enjoy the fact that the whiniest, dumbest, trashiest parent in the world, can march into the school demanding a conference and complaining because little Jimmy, who turned in 2 of his 27 assignments this quarter, got an F. Maybe we like the fact that everyone and his brother feels like he's our boss and knows our business best and can tell us what to do and how to do it.
Or maybe, just maybe, we're actually dedicated PROFESSIONALS who take all of this trash and file it in the "not worth our time" category, because we know that we're darn good at what we do, and we love the kids, and even parents like these aren't going to stand in the way of the education that we know these kids can get. Does that mean we don't have bad days, or days when we're feeling poorly ourselves, or days when we wish we had smaller classes so we could get to know each child the way we want to know them? Heck no, but most of us do our best, and if we didn't, we'd go into another, more lucrative field - take your pick - stripper? factory worker? subway driver?
Grrrr... I don't know you or your daughter's deal or how often she calls in sick or whether she does her makeup work when she's out or whether she's got a meanspirited warlock for a teacher or whether she's got a teacher who has to deal with 80-100 children each day (standard fare for a middle school) and doesn't know or have time to know exactly what was wrong with her.
All I know is that I don't believe comments like the one I quoted above are appropriate, and I absolutely believe that such comments are the reason this country is facing a critical teaching shortage. We have difficult enough working situations as it is, and I invite anyone who thinks otherwise to walk into their nearest school with 50% or greater numbers of kids on free & reduced lunch, and spend a week in a classroom.
And, to answer the OP's question about explaining this attitude, how many of you know 80-100 of your coworkers on such a personal basis that you care deeply about each and every one of them and wonder what is happening when they don't show up to work for a day or two? Unfortunately, crowded schools mean that middle/high school teachers don't have time to develop the relationship with children that elementary school teachers can afford. Sad, believe me, it saddens us, too, but until the taxpayers are willing to fund the school system adequately, it's something we're all having to live with.
Cheers!
Heather W
to her.
