21st CENTURY TEACHER APPLICANT
Let me see if I've got this right. You want me to go into that room with
all those kids and fill their every waking moment with a love for
learning.
Not only that, I'm supposed to instill a sense of pride in their
ethnicity, behaviorally modify disruptive behavior, observe them for signs
of abuse and T-shirt messages. I am to fight the war on drugs and sexually
transmitted diseases, check their backpacks for guns and raise their
self-esteem. I'm to teach them patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship
and fair play, how and where to register to vote, how to balance a
checkbook and how to apply for a job. I am to check their heads
occasionally for lice, maintain a safe environment, recognize signs of
potential antisocial behavior, offer advice, write letters of
recommendation for student employment and scholarships, encourage respect
for the cultural diversity of others, and, oh yeah, always make sure that
I give the girls in my class 50 percent of my attention.
I'm required by my contract to be working on my own time summer and
evenings at my own expense toward advance certification and a master's
degree; and after school, I am to attend committee and faculty meetings
and participate >in staff development training to maintain my
employment status. I am to be a paragon of virtue larger than life, such
that my very presence will awe my students into being obedient and
respectful of authority. I am to pledge allegiance to supporting family
values, a return to the basics, and to my current administration. I am to
incorporate technology into the learning, and monitor all Web sites while
providing a personal relationship with each student. I am to decide who
might be potentially dangerous and/or liable to commit crimes in school or
who is possibly being abused, and I can be sent to jail for not mentioning
these suspicions.
I am to make sure all students pass the state and federally mandated
testing and all classes, whether or not they attend school on a regular
basis or complete any of the work assigned. Plus, I am expected to make
sure that all of the students with handicaps are guaranteed a free and
equal education, regardless of their mental or physical handicap. I am to
communicate frequently with each student's parent by letter, phone,
newsletter and grade card.
I'm to do all of this with just a piece of chalk, a computer, a few
books, a bulletin board, a 45 minute more-or-less plan time and a big
smile, all on a starting salary that qualifies my family for food stamps
in many states.
Is that all? And you want me to do all of this and expect me NOT TO
PRAY?
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