I kept it light last night with my snow day rant. (For the Love of Snow Days) Then, we got another snow day. Then, people lost it. Then, I got mad. I tried writing about other stuff tonight, but I've given up and decided to just let the sequel to last night's rant flow.
The level of ignorance people display openly on social media can make us all shake our head from time to time. The past two weeks, however, I've actually had my jaw drop a few times. I make a point to never purport knowing how someone else should or shouldn't carry on their professional duties in a job that I have no training or experience in. As it turns out, though - the world abounds in education experts. Shocking.
Despite how many people seem to know everything already, I thought I'd attempt to shed some light on things that seem to have caused confusion.
1. The tax payers are NOT being cheated out of my services due to snow. I won't bore you with the details of my contract, but my work gets done with or without a snow day. The students are also meeting their required number of HOURS of educational instruction per school year, regardless of a few extra days off. Rest assured, I shall still earn my salary this year despite the weather. IF, however, you are interested in paying me overtime for all of the EXTRA hours I'll work, I'm all ears.
2. I sincerely apologize that you feel slighted by my NOT working, while you ARE. I get the temptation to declare "No fair!" when you see all the teachers posting about snow cream and drinking coffee in their pajamas as you toil away at whatever it is that you do. I get it, man. I do. But in case you were wondering what *I* don't think is fair...
A) School buses being on the road when there's any chance of them wrecking, thus endangering the lives of YOUR children. In case you've been misled, we do NOT have Hollywood stunt drivers for those things. We have regular people, like you and me, who are not black-ice proof.
B) Children being expected to stand in the snow and wait for the bus in 2° temperatures. We live in the South, people. Some of these kids don't own (and can't afford) anything thicker than fleece. Some of them don't have parents getting them ready in the morning and telling them to wear layers. Don't go all vigilante on me here, I'm just telling you what is.
C) At the risk of going off topic - this is where I'm going to offer you a suggestion of what you SHOULD be mad about and say "No fair!" to. How about all of the students being required to perform at the same level academically and achieve success at the same pace, regardless of ability level (or disabilities)? See - THAT'S not fair. Now, let your indignation be of actual use and go campaign about that.
3. This is my favorite: "If teachers have the gall to hope for a snow day, then they obviously don't want to do their job, and therefore don't care about their students." Do I really even need to justify this with a rebuttal? No. Am I going to rip it to shreds anyway? Yes... Any HINT that I don't genuinely love my students makes me see red. I refuse to list all of the things I do and sacrifice for them, because I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO. I would not have gone to college, taken umpteen expensive tests for my license, maintain said license, and keep showing up every year if I didn't love teaching and my students. I'm sure as hell not walking into that classroom and fighting the good fight every day for MY benefit.
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♥M
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