Today I end a 24-year
teaching career. It’s not because I can
officially retire—I have enough years of service but not age. It’s not because of ill health—thank
goodness. It’s not because I don’t like
my job—I’m passionate about teaching and since I was a high school sophomore,
it’s the only career I ever thought to pursue.
It’s not because I don’t have good colleagues—I have the best team on
campus. It’s not because I don’t like my students—I think I relate well to them
and I truly care about them.
After 24 years, I am leaving
because the DOE is making it impossible for me to stay. As a teacher, I knew I would be subject to a
top-heavy bureaucracy and there would be cumbersome policies that I would be
called upon to implement. I’ve seen a lot of change in the two-plus decades
I’ve been at Farrington (my alma mater, by the way) and though I didn’t always
like the policies, I was always willing to roll with it and give it a try.
Not anymore.
The system is abusive to its
teachers and the worst part of it is it is the better teachers who are most
affected by this abuse. Bad teachers go
on doing what they always do: NOTHING. They don’t relate well to the kids, they ride
on the coattails of their colleagues and when called to task, they plead
ignorance. They must do it well because
there are too many of them and they make the same amount of money, or more,
than I do.
Yet it’s never been about
the monetary angle for me. It’s the
inconsistencies and the contradictions; rather than take care of these “educators,”
the system passes policies across the board; policies that make more work for
the good teachers who are conscientious professionals and policies that don’t
truly serve the population they claim to:
the students.
Dear DOE, I am tired of you. I am tired of you poking your nose into my
classroom and telling me what you think is best for my kids. And they truly are
“my” kids. I am the one who identifies
their weaknesses and tailors my teaching to them. I am the one who challenges them to excel and
holds them to a standard that is high, but realistic. I see them as the
individuals they are and you judge them based on STANDARDIZED tests? How dare you!
Though I would like to say
that I am personally unlike the DOE, I’m afraid that’s not true. You see I, too, have STANDARDS, professional
and personal standards that do not agree with the changes being made. I refuse to be a part of anything I cannot
support. I refuse to go through the
motions. And, I refuse to put aside my
personal values for the sake of a job.
People keep asking me if I’m
sad. Of course I am. I will miss teaching and I will certainly
miss my kids. But mostly, I am sad that it had to come to this; teaching should
have been my only career.