My kids' Open House was tonight at their school. It's a great opportunity for them to meet their teachers and see the classrooms before school starts in a couple of days. It's nice as a parent to put a face with a name, too!
After we arrived at the school, I ran into a friend of mine who asked if we'd heard the announcement. None of the teachers were there; apparently they're in the midst of ongoing contract talks and were advised not to show up for this unpaid time.
As a parent I was disappointed and I know my kids were too. As a teacher I'm proud of their efforts to stand up for themselves.
We went to a local chili place for dinner where there were a couple of tables of families talking across the restaurant to each other. The one dad was pretty vocal about how those teachers want $100,000. Heck, four years ago his son's kindergarten teacher made $87,000 for teaching red, green, and 1,2,3. Their pediatrician doesn't even make that much. (Said kindergarten teacher just retired after what I'm guessing is 30+ years and a master's degree. But remember, she only taught colors and numbers.)
And then I came home to find someone commenting about it on Facebook. Most of the discussion was that parents would have liked to have known that he teachers weren't going to be there beforehand because some left work early. Unfortunately, then I saw this and I couldn't resist.
When will the struggle for respect be over?
ETA: I couldn't stop.
Teaching--especially at the elementary level--is still considered by many to be a "woman's" profession consisting of little more than care giving, and women still make 70 cents on the dollar compared to men. Not until all three of these issues are addressed will we be treated like professionals. And really, does Mr or Ms Kitty have doctors and lawyers that work "for a couple of hours" with no expectation of being paid?
ReplyDeleteI remember once walking into a professor's office and he was there in an old T-shirt and shorts. I said something like, "You look comfortable today" and he took some offense to it, inferring that I was belittling his profession. (I wasn't.) He looked at me and said, "Oh yeah, well if you like what you see and think it's so easy, join me. Go get a PhD and join me." I'm reminded of that whenever I hear non-teachers explaining to teachers how easy teaching must be. If they really think it's so great, why aren't they doing it? Some might have good answers, many won't, but either way it seems like a fair question.
ReplyDeleteThank you for standing up for all of us. It seems to me that everyone thinks they understand what we do because they went to school when they were children. I just try to remember that being loud doesn't mean they're right or even in the majority, it just means they are loud.
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