The “ism” I am describing is classism. People think that teachers are wealthy or
make great money because they only work 9 months on average, have great hours,
and get holidays off. They often make
statements about the great benefits and such that we receive and how “rich” we
are. This is very much not accurate,
especially for early childhood teachers who get paid significantly less than
k-12 school teachers. Most
people/families do not realize the amount of money each teacher spends on
her/his own classroom – taking money away from his/her own family. Not to mention all of the donated time they
don’t get paid for…
This attitude towards teachers affects his/her own temperament
towards people that make these statements and therefore gets overheard/seen by
children either in school or in the home. Parents often complain of buying
supplies for schools – children hear this and think, why doesn’t my teacher
just buy them? “Children receive messages that material things are proof of
love and approval” (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010, p103).
Also, if a teacher is stressed about money (either for
school or home because of school) that can have a negative effect on his/her
teaching and professionalism, possibly taking it out on the children or not
feeling successful at what he/she is doing because of lack of feeling
supported.
I think that most teachers try to educate other people when
a comment is made but often we also just smile and “grin and bear it”. I would just want parents to donate if and
when they can and for schools to be able to supply teachers with what they NEED
not anything outrageous. I am lucky in
my early childhood position to have a decent budget each year, but it is still
never enough and I spend hundreds of my own money (which my husband gets very
upset about). It’s not that I shouldn’t
purchase the things, it is the mentality that most other professions do not
require people to buy their own supplies for things like tape, staples, paper
etc.
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias
education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National
Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
Most of my friends are teachers, so they understand the personal sacrifices that teachers have to make. But, I have this one particular friend who works in corporate. She makes those exact, same comments about how I only work ten months, get off of work early, and look at all of the holidays that I don’t have to work. What I tried to explain to her is that the summer time is often financially challenging, because I don’t get paid. Usually, I stay at work late to tutor, complete lesson plans, or volunteer for school events. I consider the holidays and my days off as recuperating time. My answer to my friend is that I am rich. Rich from that feeling I get when I realize the impact I have on children’s lives.
ReplyDeleteSome of my friends are teachers and the understanding the amount of time and money that goes into each classroom. I wrote about something similar in my blog this week as well. I talked a little about how some of the families in my center look down on us as educators, to them we are simply babysitters. I talked about how my staff can sense that and then they start to feel like just babysitters, but it's good to have friends and colleagues in the field, so you can always bounce ideas and feeling off of. Having these people make you feel like you're making a differences.
ReplyDeleteThis blog rang so true for me! I have attempted to comment on this about four times now however, the electronic powers that be are trying to stop me. I wanted to say however, that I dislikie it when people play out this stereotype to the opposite and throw a pity party because you are a teacher or, when they ask you if that was your first career choice. This burns me up. There was a great poem done by a gentleman about this and althought it has some strong language in it, he proceeds to tell off anyone who scoffs at his career choice. He is a teacher, he says adamantly! I feel the same.
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