Yesterday, one of my state’s leading newspapers published an editorial which described “most” teachers in my state as “lazy.” It didn’t take me but a few short minutes to hammer out an electronic rebuttal via a “letter to the editor.” I thought as I hit the “send” button: “It will be my luck that this hastily written, gut instinct response will appear in tomorrow’s newspaper.” And it did. My 75-year-old aunt phoned me today and left this message, “Way to go girl. You really let them have it.”
Stereotypes and name calling are never good. Especially when I and all of my colleagues are the victims of either. Oh well…we teach, we struggle, we accept low pay and even lower public opinion.
At least I didn’t take being called “lazy” laying/lying down!
After spending my first year as a teaching assistant, I have an entirely new sense of respect for high school teachers. I’m teaching one 3-hour section of one class, grading and lecturing only occasionally, and it’s still exhausting!
I’m convinced that a high school teacher that works an 8-hour day five days a week with multiple subjects and classes of 30-40 teenagers has one the most difficult - and least appreciated - jobs imaginable.
You’re anything but lazy, and the opinions of those who suggest otherwise are misinformed, misguided, misleading, or all three.
