Everyday, thousands of good teachers go to work to teach the children of the nation and to change the world.  We waltz through our days with smiles on our collective faces; beautiful little birds tweeting about the room, flowers in full bloom, harps playing and angels singing.  Our students, bright and shiny and eager to learn greet us at the door, well rested, groomed, fed, and prepared for another day of learning.  As their minds open to the tremendous value of cultures long ago dispatched to the annals of history like the Phoenicians, the Babylonians, and the Clevelanders, you can hear the greats being played in the background, Mozart, Bach, Clapton.  (It is a well known fact that listening to Eric Clapton makes kids infinitely smarter.)  

When the day is over, students file out of the room in a controlled rush that resembles Black Friday deals on 60 inch LED TVs.  As they sprint past us, they thank us for imparting such knowledge as will change the course of their lives.  Ok, some of them grunt at us as they leave.  A few even make eye contact but we know what they mean.

After school our students enter many different worlds.  Some go home to loving families who eagerly await their arrivals, some will go to less stable homes.  Others, when they are old enough to work, will begin internships to gain college training, some go to jobs where they will engage in important career training. They learn things like:

1. other people’s children are often as easy to care for as a hungry wolverine
2. grown adults, despite being grown adults, are not always pleasant when ordering food at a drive through
3. you can get a great tan life guarding, providing you are life guarding outside

Still other kids will be engaging in what we like to call “extra” or “co” curricular activities.  These are often activities that students engage in at an early age, perhaps as young as first grade, in order to learn how to:

1. work as a team
2. enjoy the company of others who hold a common interest as the student
3. gain a greater depth of understanding of a particular topic or sport
4. endure the maniacal rantings of people on the sidelines (we often call them “cheering parents”)
5. learn to become strong in body and mind as they compete in what appears to be a rebirth of the Roman Circus
6. most importantly, pad their resume in order to become President of the World Council on Everything

As teachers, we have a wonderful job.  It is a privilege.  We get to change the world.  As with many career paths, teachers have to take the good with the bad.  Also as with many professions, there is A LOT that teachers want to say but can’t. (OK, perhaps don’t.)  There are many reasons we don’t say anything, decorum, professionalism, fear of being burned at the stake by parents masquerading as angry villagers.  For whatever reason, we don’t say them, but this blog is here to offer a little peak at what those things are.