There Is More To Being A Teacher Than You Think

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Teachers are supposed to be dedicated individuals, devoted to giving more than they receive. Teaching is an unsung “profession.” “Public servants” are expected to go the extra yard, tutor “students” after school to prep them to pass standardized tests, and “voluntarily” agree to do other activities like chaperone a school dance, organize a school assembly, give an in-school workshop or plan and moderate a spelling bee for gratis.

Twenty-eight times during my teaching career I accompanied eighth grade classes to Washington DC, to Williamsburg and to Luray Caverns, Virginia working two eighteen hour days without receiving any additional remuneration. These “professional” extras come with the territory.

Teachers are expected to go above and beyond the call of duty. That means beyond the “unprofessional” responsibilities of cafeteria duty, early morning duty, office detention duty and monitoring the halls and bathrooms between classes duty. In education, “duty” means teacher exploitation by administrations and boards of education. “Duties” have little or nothing to do with education, and they are things that aides or parent’ volunteers could easily perform with little on-the-job training.

Duties require little professional ability, and they are a major factor in keeping today’s teachers unprofessional and subordinate to administrative fiat.

Faculty members must set good examples for the students by demonstrating the spirit of self-sacrifice for the good of the school and the betterment of the community.

Administrators always emphasize to teachers, “Doing extra is part of your professional responsibility,” they lecture at faculty meetings. “Now we still need three more teachers to volunteer for the Six-Flags’ Great Adventure’ trip. You’ll be getting back at eight p.m. Friday night. That’s not too bad. And we need another volunteer for the after school volleyball program and two more chaperones for the Halloween Dance.”

First of all, let’s get the record straight. Teachers are not professional people. They are school employees who are usually only told by administrators that they are professional when something extra or something unprofessional (a duty) needs to be done. Public School instructors follow administrative orders just like janitors, school secretaries, cafeteria workers and aides do. Faculty members have little choice in matters when ...

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... terms of professional incomes, but in terms of professional autonomy. They must escape the obsolete factory-manufacturing model of nineteenth century factory management- (administrators) employee- (teachers) product- (students) mentality that has dominated public school education for the past hundred years since the introduction of the Industrial Revolution. That archaic “factory’ business model” must be dismantled, redesigned and renovated. Teachers need more voice and power in school management to ascend to the distinction of professional persons.

How can the public assist in making teachers feel as if they are appreciated professionals? That’s easy. Respect what teachers do in the classroom. Don’t base your opinion of a teacher on one unfavorable incident and ignore five hundred positive experiences a particular child had in an instructor’s classroom.

Teachers have bad days, too. Parents should not treat classroom educators as if they are their employees because property owners happen to pay taxes just like teachers do. And finally, taxpayers and parents should not act like they know more about education than teachers do. The job is not half as easy as the public thinks.

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