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By the way, bless the dedicated professionals who are! Teaching in itself can be a challenging career, but I think it’s even more true for teachers of Kindergarteners, like my fiancee.
This week, my fiancee returned to the classroom and the hustle and bustle of school – after three weeks of vacation. I’ve now visited her school and classroom four times. Officially, I’m a volunteer, but I end up being her assistant for the day. One of the best perks is a very delicious lunch that comes with all sorts of sides, all for $4. That alone is normally enough to convince me to go, provided I have some vacation time available to join her.
So here are the reasons I am not – or maybe could not be – a Kindergarten teacher:
- Having to go in to the classroom on vacation. It’s called a vacation because you’re supposed to be away from the office. Yet, she went in to her classroom for three days last week. She started her position just after the Fall Break, but she still had to go in during that break to get her class set-up. My office knows that when I’m on vacation, the most I will do is respond to an email; but even then, I will only check it once a day. What good is it to have long vacations if you only have to go in to work on them? Oh, and don’t forget that this is on top of already having to stay pretty late everyday when school is in session.
- I don’t have the endurance to be constantly supportive. If a student draws three big circles that never touch each other and tells me that’s a turtle, bear, or any other animal, it’s hard for me to feign interest and somehow come up with the wherewithal to spit out a half-hearted “good job.” To me, praise should be reserved for good, or even exceptionally good work, not just anything that someone comes up with. Not so in education, apparently.
- It’s a lonely profession. And it doesn’t help that I’m a very social creature. In fact, eating lunch alone is one way to ruin my day. Yes, the teacher is surrounded by a whole classroom all day, but the dynamic is off when you are the authority figure in the room. I for one like attention, but would find it a challenge to assume that authoritative role. Even when I’ve been a manager or supervisor, I’ve always tried to form a collaborative relationship with those I manage or supervise.
- Sometimes, Kindergarten teachers can be a little more difficult to deal with than others. It makes sense. They spend all day with little kids who listen and follow their instructions – not always, but in general. So, to interact with other adults, I find these teachers to be bossy and condescending. Not that they do it on purpose, just that it’s what they’re used to. Although, if you had to chase around those little guys during the day, you might be bossy, too. I tease my fiancee that when she’s at home with me, she’s no longer in school, so she can’t expect that I’m going to comply with every order, let alone request. Some would argue that I should, either way.
- It’s mentally, physically, and emotionally draining. After a long and hard day, the fiancee barely has enough energy to come home, eat dinner, and get ready to do it all again the next day. And this is despite the help that her mother and I provide, doing things like preparing her supplies, the classwork, and the homework.
- And finally, but maybe most notably, they only have enough time to check email once in the morning and then after school. I don’t know if I would want to go on if I had to be disconnected for that long. I have an iPhone and a Blackberry and am constantly connected. The only times I’m disconnected for more than an hour are when I’m in a meeting or sleeping.
Again, I salute anyone who goes into teaching, so please don’t take these comments the wrong way. I’m just saying that I couldn’t do it, not to impugn their hard work and dedication.
Despite all these reasons, I do have to admit that on the other hand, those kids are gosh darn cute! So much so that I really think I’d get more done if I didn’t gaze into those precious (and sometimes precocious!) little eyes of all those students. It makes me think about the day – a couple years down the road – that I’ll have children of my own. All the mommies and grandmas around me keep saying I’m going to have a big change once I do get my own children.
Could that finally be the cure for my rigid, OCD tendencies? I’m sure I’ll blog about it if it does happen, but don’t hold your breath.
Mahalo!
[...] may have already seen this, but as someone who wrote about AQ so extensively and the husband of a dedicated teacher, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this in this [...]