OT: For My School Teacher Friends

After being interviewed by the school administration, the prospective teacher said:  
'Let me see if I've got this right.
'You want me to go into that room with all those kids, correct their disruptive behavior, observe them for signs of abuse, monitor their dress habits, censor their T-shirt messages, and instill in them a love for learning.  
'You want me to check their backpacks for weapons, wage war on drugs and sexually transmitted diseases, and raise their sense of self esteem and personal pride.  
'You want me to teach them patriotism and good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, and how to register to vote, balance a checkbook, and apply for a job.  
'You want me to check their heads for lice, recognize signs of antisocial behavior, and make sure that they all pass the final exams.
'You also want me to provide them with an equal education regardless of their handicaps, and communicate regularly with their parents in English, Spanish or any other language, by letter, telephone, newsletter, and report card.  
'You want me to do all this with a piece of chalk, a blackboard, a bulletin board, a few books, a big smile, and a starting salary that qualifies me for food stamps.  
'You want me to do all this and then you tell me. . . I CAN'T PRAY?

Love, love, love it.... so true... teachers rock and need all the help they can get...
Sheri

 I agree......  especially with the low pay

As long as there are tests given in school;  there will be prayer...   lol


Millie

so very true darlene- point well taken!!!!!!!!!!!
i believe in freedoms -however, i also believe in fundamentals..call me "old school".....all i'm gonna say....

  Bless you Darlene!!!  Teaching is, in my opinion, and I'm biased cause I am a teacher, is one of the hardest careers to attain, keep and we receive the worst pay.  We do it because we love teaching and kids.   And believe it when I say..we may not do it out loud but , we teachers pray every day... let me get to school safely, let my students have good days, please God let them succeed (cause if they don't we get the blame) etc.

  Thanks for this feed that sticks up for the teachers..WE do appreciate it!!!

  Marcy

Amen!!!  This world is so screwed up. I wish this country could turn around to what it once was. Taking prayer and God out of schools, business' etc is just plain wrong!!

Love ya....hugs too....connie d

Thanks Darlene- I'm a speech therapist, so my job is slightly different from the teachers and I totally appreciate what they do- and they have the HARDEST job. I am making the same salary as I am on the same contract. I think that it is a crime that California is #50 on how much we spend per student. Our salaries are higher than many state's teacher's salaries, but we live in a very expensive state and our housing and taxes are high. I believe it all comes out in the wash. I do firmly believe in a separation of church and state... especially now... if that ruffles feathers then I can handle the heat. The children still say "under God" in the pledge of allegiance which I like because it's the way it has always been. I hate to hear people say that our schools are terrible.... maybe they are somewhere, but every shool that I've ever worked in has been very good. There are breakdowns in our society that show up in children. It's very easy to blame schools and teachers but you need to spend one day in the classroom NOW (don't remember the one-room schoolhouse as your model) and you will understand the difficulty that teachers face. Add to that parents that are not helping in any way and even attacking the schools and teachers in mean-spirited ways... I hate to say this but I rarely recommend it as a career choice. I suggest a person spend a good amount of time volunteering before they make it a career. I have seen several young women and one man last less than a year because they were not prepared for the reality of teaching as opposed to the fantasy that most of us have. We should shower our teachers with praise and help them to do this most important job. We should be trying to attract the best and the brightest by offering a great salary, good working conditions and the adoration of the public. These women and men frequently have Master's degrees. Because it has always been a female dominant profession it is a lower-paying job considering the education that is necessary in order to do the job. I will get off my soapbox now. There are many changes that I would like to see in our country and this is one subject that is dear to me. I am seeing a negative undercurrent in our people's attitudes that hurt our world....we have fear and anger running rampant and our country is suffering. Thanks for listening.
Julia

Okay, here goes and please no flamming but I'm a teacher, love teaching, and don't pray.  In fact, I don't consider my job all that difficult.  I don't check them for lice, nor do I look for abuse.  I am open to any who need my help but I am not their parents and don't pretend to be.  In fact, if you teach high school math, you teach them to balance a checkbook; if you teach high school English, you teach them to write.  Never do the two meet.  There are so many fallacies in this little ditty that I wouldn't even dare begin.  And, if you aren't familiar with teachers' pay, in Arkansas, starting out pay for a BA, that is a teacher with only a BA, in NW Arkansas is 34000; not hardly food stamp criteria.  Now, in the delta, it runs about 23000 and I'm thinking that still keeps you off of the chairty lines.  Starting all over the state for a MA, that is a teacher with an MA, is 40000, not hardly food stamp either, and starting for a PHD, is about 65000.  We don't do all of those things on the list and I know because I work with the elementary and highschool teachers in the poorest part of the state.  They, in fact, are not to teach those delicate areas that are considered cross reference.  Coaches teach fair play, civics teaches good citizenship, ect....  No one teacher does it all and if she or he is doing it all, he or she is just making way too much work for him or herself. 

So, while we do work hard, I'd hardly say that we are any more or less hardworking than say a nurse or a bank teller or a walmart checkout worker.  I'm just saying, teachers are good but don't make us out to be martyrs.  That's all.

Oh, and to add a little:  The reason that there is no prayer in class because if they allow one relegious persuassion to pray outloud, then they have to let all of them pray out loud and read religious texts to our children.  I, for one, don't want my grandchildren bombarded with the religious gambit we call our right.  Why should they be confused by Christianity, Muslim, Buddahist, Satanists, Wiccans, and any other religious front going on in our communities.  So, yes, teachers can pray; no they cannot pray outloud.  And why would they want to pray outloud if they are truly Christians?  Didn't Christ say to pray unlike the religious over righteous zealouts of the day and do it in their closet; hence, praying to ourselves in stead of grandstanding in front of our students. 

That's all.  Now, tear me a new one.