Taylor the Teacher

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 photo by oskay

When was a student teacher I vowed to myself I would have nothing to do with sports. I am not hateful of sports. ~just intensely annoyed~  But, learning is fun. So I would rather be associated with something academic.

But of course, sports are the only things our society is willing to pay for. I learned this vividly when L., star cheerleader, and J, star football player debated it in their freshmen year honors class. L was convinced that cheer leading was a sport, and J. insisted it wasn’t. I thought they had a thing for each other, but then L. set me straight. I had thought that cheer leading was much more of an art, which was wayyyyy better.

She explained that only sports get money.

And since that makes me sick, I’m annoyed at sports.  

I have since learned that in terms of cutting funding, we’re not just talking about drama & photography here. You know, the “worthless” stuff. ~either of which I would lie in front of a tank to preserve~ But it’s academic & debate teams, too. You can’t convince me that debate team isn’t at least as important for student learning as football, but our debate team has to beg for parent and teacher involvement.

But when sports needs something, the power in the front office can wave a magic wand and make it happen. If we’re here to promote student learning, why does the magic wand come down for football, basketball, baseball, and other sports but not for debate team or the environmental club?

But I’m not allowed to feel this way. I can be punished for not working 4 hours outside of contract time to sell tickets at their sporting events. And I don’t even get to pick the day to serve my sentence.

Don’t get me wrong, here. I have put in at least 7 years of work in the last five. Regarding the Puritan Work Ethic, my conscience is clean. But when I started this thing, it was my understanding that those would be self-imposed burdens, borne of my desire to explore my own learning, both of the world and of what makes enlightenment more accessible to students. ~since there’s so much cool shit out there to know about, i can hardly contain myself~ And if you think I can teach students without continuing to learn myself, I apologize. Nobody in the school system ever showed you what true learning is. ~they were probably at some meeting where the guy with the finger up his ass was reading them a power point~ 

Our debate team won state. Our football team has a strong tradition, but, truth be told, isn’t doing well. Neither of these things should matter. Students are learning in the football program and in the debate program. So why does football get all the money? ~and administrative hammers, much as i hate those who rule with hammers~

I never realized how much they would expect me to lose my whole self in getting kids to learn ~myself being the only thing i ever had to offer students in the first place~ with no time to prepare because of paperwork and documentation that serve only to cover someone’s ass or generate statistics for the next election cycle. Or take tickets at football games for free, at their behest, rather than take the time doing what I need to do to run my classroom, continue to learn, and still be a human being.

So, the bottom line is this: In Taylor’s school there would be no magic wand, and everyone would be funded equally.

Oh yeah, and teachers wouldn’t be squeezed in a vice grip.