Dialogue #1: The Work-Life Divide and Classroom Realities vs. Ideology

However, I think the biggest take-home message has been your distinction between work and home life. I have always struggled with how I can cater to my students’ needs without sacrificing my own. I think your advice and encouragement to take time when I need it has been the biggest lesson this week. But where do you draw that line? When do you decide that you need to shut your phone off, or leave the classroom for the day? How do you tell a student that you need to leave and take care of yourself when they are asking for more help?

One of my greatest frustrations with the ideological mindset in education is something I would, for lack of a more politic name, describe as "the calling."  

Teachers are, in effect, given the responsibilities of a CEO: we have 120~300 employees whom we are responsible for directly managing, both professionally and personally.  We must create a mission and vision for our company, and a culture that will drive us towards those goals.  We must personally create all of the strategies and systems that make business possible, and are responsible for monitoring their success.

We can not fire our employees, many of whom do not even want the job - or to do the work, since the currency we pay in is not of value to them, currently.

But regardless, we are treated as, at best, middle-management.  Oversight is critical, intense, and demands demonstrable top-performers - in both numbers and employee satisfaction.  Pay is little better than for a line worker, though the hours usually run from a minimum of 50 to upwards of 90 a week.

I am a relatively successful and very happy teacher, but I would not be able to support my wife and our unborn son on my salary alone - either in terms of money or time.  This is not a complaint; it is simply true.

So how to incentivize young, intelligent, energetic people to come into the career?  The only answer is to sell them an identity.

Teaching has been destroyed as a profession.  Instead, it has become a CALLING.

Young teachers - and I count myself as one - are sold the idea of teachers as crusaders, as saviors, as noble beings sacrificing themselves for the good of the children.  This is about the only part of the job that is appealing, and it offers something to offset the intense stress and effort and low pay.  When I mention that I teach High School I hear "that must be so rewarding" about as much as I hear "that must be tough."  In our culture, the concepts are linked; to make the job worth doing, we attach a social significance to it.

My problem with this ideology is that it permits many of the more dire issues in education to persist and worsen.  Teachers, as we have a "calling," are EXPECTED to sacrifice.  Starting in education programs and persisting into the workplace, teachers are inculcated into a culture of guilt - if you're not exhausted, overworked, and ready to give up, you're probably not doing enough.  

Ultimately, it's a recipe for disaster.

50% of new teachers quit within the first three years.  Most report that they felt under or even un-prepared for the reality of their jobs, and that they learned almost none of the practical skills that they needed in the classroom.  The stress and the pay were not worth the effort.  The self-image, while appealing, does not last, and leaves many teachers bitterly disillusioned when it fades.  Finally, those who succeed ultimately have their hard work dismissed as some sort of "talent" - an extension of the "identity vs. skill" dilemma students face.

Happy, confident, rested, energetic, and  teachers foster success in their classrooms.  As a skill-set, teaching is, as we've discussed, learned by DOING.  Driving young, energetic and creative professionals out of the profession before they're able to develop mastery is a surefire way to ensure a lack of quality instruction in our schools.

Until our society shifts culturally to value education as a profession, paying and respecting educators accordingly, one of the most important survival skills a teacher can have is the ability to draw a firm line between the personal and professional.

My students nearly always need me.  I do not turn off my phone, but I may cut a conversation short - or call a student back if I'm busy.  I will not answer the phone after 9 pm - something I make patently clear.  I will stay late on certain days during the week; if I am contributing those days to my students, they must arrange to be there to receive help - if they do not, it is not my responsibility.  

The "calling" ideology cripples students as well.  In lower grades, their teachers are self-sacrificing, compassionate, always ready to give exorbitant amounts of time and resources to help.  Students learn to rely on this.  They push themselves less and let the safety net woven by their caring teachers catch them.  Assignment late?  It's accepted.  Last minute life drama?  Don't worry, the teacher will accommodate.

By the time they reach college, they have every reason to expect personal consideration and accommodation for all their needs.  They are shocked and often unable to adapt when they find it isn't so.

As to where YOU draw the line, you'll have to find that answer, like your recipes, by cooking in the kitchen.  But the best suggestion I can give you is that you need to remember that what you're pursuing is not a calling, but a profession.  A noble one, to be sure, but a job like any other - and without a rewarding and well-guarded personal life, your work will suffer, as will you - not to mention your students.