Natalie Munroe, if you're unaware, is the only real teacher I've seen in a long time.
Why?
Because she spoke the truth about her students and their parents and did so bluntly. She called her students idiots, blames parents for poor parenting and spoke what every teacher knew was the truth deep down inside.
Now, of course truth gets you in trouble, no matter how truthful truth is. And it definitely gets you in trouble if the primary goal of your employer is not educating children or preparing them for the real world, but merely milking taxpayers in an elaborate baby sitting operation void of drama, tough fatherly love, and genuine production.
Now I bring up Natalie Munroe because I believe there are going to be more people like her. People who just cannot stomach lying day in and day out, maintaining the facade of political correctness, while they see not only what the reality is, but feel compelled to speak bluntly, truthfully and plainly because they genuine do care about society and our future. And this will not bode well for their careers.
Of course, I'm of the theory the whole ship is sinking anyway and there was never any career to have. Either because in order to have one you must drive yourself to insanity for 30 years to get a retirement (which isn't worth it), or because if the pretty lies are upheld long enough the whole system will collapse anyway (for example, my outspokeness of the banking industry has not won me many lucrative employment offers, but like the banking industry has any kind of long term viability and therefore ability to provide employment on par with say, the energy industry). But regardless, people like you, like me, like Natalie are going to suffer a veritable "truth" discrimination and our careers will suffer for it.
I have a solution, but it will be in a future (and I hope to be) ground-shaking post.
In the meantime, I strongly recommend you sacrifice the career for the sanity of being able to speak bluntly, truthfully and honestly. It isn't worth $75,000 a year to lie all the time and act "Minnesota Nice" 8 hours a day to people you utterly loathe and have no respect for.
Usually your pessimism is warranted Captain...but not this time.
ReplyDeleteWe're winning! Be happy!
You and this chick are merely the few, tiny, scattered pebbles that roll down the mountainside before the landslide. The avalanche will come, mark my words.
It was bad when I was a kid. By the time I was deprogrammed I was in my late 20's. I developed a hatred for public school teachers and educators that was hotter than a thousand suns and many of my peers did too. Now you young ones are now coming into the game too...only you are facing much bigger problems than us old Gen X guys did.
Those dog f***ing unionized parasites are going to be carried away when that avalanche breaks. The decline is all fun and games until a generation loses its future. Folks like you and this lady will get it back for them..eventually...
You don't get fired for stuff like she did, you get your state license revoked. If you are in a program yourself (particularly a grad program) and show these tendencies, you will be ejected, period.
ReplyDeleteI should know - I was almost ejected from my MAT program for disagreeing with the teaching "theory" being shoved down my throat. I had a PhD-wielding professor tell me I shouldn't teach grammar, I should instead teach someone how to think. This is because, according to his genius, you cannot have a complex thought without complex syntax, and the rest comes on its own. That's leaving out all the other tripe about how the broken English "dialect" of "students from poverty" is "culturally sacred" and therefore we shouldn't correct it.
But yeah, they tried to toss me based on an email that I was never allowed to read, nor was I ever allowed to confront my accusers. When I hinted that I wouldn't go down without a very public and very legal fight, they backed off and let me finish the last few weeks of the already costly degree program. But they got their bodycount in the end - at least 8+ others were ejected from the 50-something cohort for reasons unrelated to their academic performance.
More to the point of the post: Teachers have to pay the bills. The vast majority of people giving us money to teach children are local governments / BOEs. We will continue to play by their rules and tow the status quo because we enjoy the prospect of not starving to death. Granted, I live in Georgia where the Teachers Union dues amounts to paying for tort insurance and that's about it - no massive collective bargaining / strikes / benefits / etc.
Throwing your hands up and saying there's not a career in education when you just spent the last 4+ years getting a piece of paper to get into the field is NOT an option. You make it work, adjunct, scrape by, whatever. If this means closing a blind eye to the horrifying shit going on in your school (and I have my stories like any teacher worth their salt) then so be it. Rocking the boat gets you fired. Getting fired gets you bankrupt pretty quick, especially when you don't get fired from a school, you get fired from the county / district.
Maybe I should read "Worthless" to find out what your solution to this is, because I don't often see it posted much. I'm to "enjoy the decline" while writhing in poverty? But hey, I will have told off my boss and told them just how terrible their system is - protip: Principals and Admin play along just like anyone else. Very few inside are blind to the reality that public school is just public baby sitting. There are a few idealists, but they're mostly delusional and about to retire, so they have no real skin in the game since their pension will hit like clockwork until they hit the dirt.
I spent a costly price in time and money getting those degrees in English and MAT - no going back now, and since my degrees are worthless, guess I'm fucked. Let me know - what was the answer to this problem again?
@ Anon "The decline is all fun and games until a generation loses its future."
We're called Generation Z (ZERO) for a reason. We've already lost it.
Become a cop. US Customs is hiring, your education degree will make you $100k/yr as long as you don't actually try to teach with it.
ReplyDeleteHaven't had time to read much of her stuff-so I have not formed an opinion about her yet-but I clicked through to her husband's campaign website and he is obviously NOT a fan of Marcellus Shale gas drilling-which is a big black mark in my book.
ReplyDeleteIt's not the political platforms that should be criticized. It's their freedom of speech. Employers should have no right to lord your job over you if you participate in a public forum and voice your political opinions. Period.
ReplyDelete