Teachers Suck 727,000 Times

Current mood: cranky

Today one of my friends sent me an e-mail telling me she is thinking about becoming a teacher and did I have any advice for her, etc., etc. This is not the first time I've been approached by a young, intelligent, talented woman and asked, "What do you think about me becoming a teacher?" At first, I used to tell them what I thought. How demoralized we are. How being blamed for everything wrong with society gets old fast. How being an inner-city junior high school teacher, a job I held for eight years, was once considered the number two most stressful job in the U.S. (second only to inner-city police officer). In other words, that being a teacher sucks.

However, when I glimpsed the shocked look on their faces, I realized that perhaps truth wasn't the way to go. See, people don't really want to hear about how much it sucks to be a teacher. They want to hear about how "noble" and "rewarding" it is. Well, it can be. Sometimes. But not most of the time. Not even if you're a good teacher. Not even if you're a great teacher.

I gave this friend of mine encouragement to follow her dream if, in fact, teaching is her dream. I told her that I wish her all the best and welcome her to my profession with open arms. But, out of love and respect for this young lady, I didn't want to lead her down the primrose path, either. Lying is not in my nature. I am almost Cassandra-like in my desire to speak the truth, set the record straight, right the wrong impression, etc. So, I gave her examples (At my high school, each teacher was given $20 to buy supplies this year and told we could only make 1,000 copies.). Statistics (According to the U.S. Public Health Service, 1 in every 20 teachers is assaulted.). Facts (The National Education Association found that, when compared with workers in 16 professions requiring similar skills, teachers earned 14.2 percent less.). But maybe I could have saved us both a lot of time and simply told her to go on Yahoo! and do a search for "teachers suck". It got 727,000 hits.