Today was day 2 of post holiday break. It seems like the rest of the civilized world opened their schools up again on Monday or, at the latest, Tuesday. Our schools started back yesterday, which seemed a little wasteful being it was Thursday and that only leaves two days for this week, and nothing gets done on Fridays anyway and nothing gets done on the first day back anyway.
A couple of years ago, I had a temp job in the school district, working part-time with special ed. kids at the elementary school. I enjoyed working with those kids and I liked my co-workers and all, but I can't say that I was particularly sad when the job was done. It was my first experience working for a government entity and I found it quite different from the private sector.
The main difference, I felt, was that with every other place I've worked, the focus was on the customer. Whether it was retail or the hotel biz or manufacturing. Even now, as a teacher, my job is very customer focused, but the education service I work for is private, not public.
At the public school, there was just this atmosphere that the schools mainly exist for the school district employees. Call me crazy, but that's what it felt like. I didn't like it, and I don't think that it was just because I have kids who go to school in that district (but that certainly didn't help). On an individual basis, I like my kids' teachers for the most part, but I saw too much while I was on the "inside".
Just a bit of pondering. I have yet to meet anyone who "just loves!" their kids' schools. Well, except for those brown noser types, but they don't count.
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6 comments:
what about the people that shell out big ole fat stax of cash to go to private school, surely they love their kids' schools?
awww man! Brown nosers don't count!? I guess since we live in a 'small' community, it's different here maybe? I DO love the schools here. The staff, and teachers all seem to put your kid first.
For example, I got a personal phone call from my son's math teacher just this morning telling me Kody passed his test with flying colors and that he was sure it was due to having studied. He just wanted me to know that I had a good kid. How cool is that!?
I'm going to refrain from commenting.. I am almost to bite my tongue off in TOTAL agreement, hence one of the reasons I homeschool... :)
~Tracy
Having worked at my kids' school after several years of them attending, I have to say I'm not surprised by your realization. What I found out is that what the parents see in the teachers is often an act. Behind the scenes, there were often very different (and very jaded) personalities. A rare few teachers were truly as genuine as they had always seemed prior to my employment. And this was a private grade school.
Well, I was hired into the public school system in 1988 and learned all about tenure. I dealt with reality until 1994 when I left, shook the dust off my feet and never turned my head to look back. It's actually quite sad because I think that I was a good, caring teacher who loved her subject and loved her kids. It was just too much to take and the call of a new baby at home was so much stronger than the catterwalling at the school.
My city has JUST annexed itself from the giant Mobile County School System. This is our first year as a separate school district. I have high hopes. We shall see.
I renovated the public school that my first born was going to attend...after three months of being there everyday, my wife and I started the homeschooling conversation and we haven't looked back. She is an amazing teacher and mom...all wrapped up in one!
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