The Dallas Independent School District is in dire need of teachers. Any teachers. All teachers. Do you have a pulse? We want you to teach.
If you haven’t gleaned by now, I’m one of the guys that wag my finger at the suburbanites. They drive minivans! Or worse! Hummers! Their kids are on coke! Their football players are rapists! They’re eating up precious land with their shitty houses! They’re diverting resources away from the needy! They’re short-sighted! They’re giving their children hair extensions and boob-jobs!
Yet, as soon as I saw the amount of positions needing to be filled, I started looking at the job boards of the suburban cities. It was barely a conscious decision. It went thusly.
- I looked at the huge list of positions available, including a position to teach English AP, the position I most want to hold.
- I said, “Whoa.”
- I started looking elsewhere.
You’re saying, “But Alex. Wouldn’t a lot of positions available make the DISD a desirable place to work?” Yes, in theory. Being a curmudgeon, many job openings mean fewer interviews in which I lie about liking people.
However, add in the “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is” factor, the mark of a true curmudgeon. And then add in a latent, ne’er-to-be-admitted racism - the kind of reverse-backwards-flipped-and-griddled ironic racism of well-meaning but caustic white liberals - the kind of racism that makes one think about locking the car doors when driving through a rough part of town, not do it, then do it, then undo it, then turn to the spouse and say with an irony turned back on itself so many times that one can’t decide if one’s being purposefully ironic or accidentally sincere, “Look at all the people different from us. They make me nervous.” - add all that in, and then you’ll understand where step 3 (above) came from.
Now you’re asking, “At what point did you start looking for a teaching job?” I’m looking - in theory. I’ve created a construct of me as an English teacher, Mr. Sloan, my 12th grade English teacher, to be exact. And I’m trying to find my job. It doesn’t matter to me that I have no teacher’s training or college-level English education. I thought it would be best, more prudent, to find the job I want and then educate myself to that level. I’m assuming that they’ll keep the jobs open for me if I ask real nice.
But back to my self-flagellation. I’m shitty. I’m scared. I’m a scared, white liberal who knows exactly where his next meal is coming from. At the expense of children who are in need of a good teacher.*
*In my construct, I’m John Keating. John Keating teaching a multicultural soup. I’m teaching to the waiting room for a casting call for an 80s Benetton ad.** And they’re calling me “Captain, My Captain,” each in a different language.
**For some reason I imagine my multicultural students with shaved heads, wearing Buddhist robes.
saltine | 17-Jul-07 at 7:49 am | Permalink
Alex, are you looking for a school to teach in or a movie to act in? Also O Captain! My Captain! is shitty Whitman. However, it does work well in movies…
alex | 17-Jul-07 at 7:55 am | Permalink
A movie to act in? Wouldn’t that be glamorous?
saltine | 17-Jul-07 at 8:02 am | Permalink
I’d buy that ticket!
m_rturnage | 17-Jul-07 at 8:33 am | Permalink
Now that they’ve cleaned up all that corruption, so Dallas teachers no longer get Visa cards with unlimited-no-consequence credit limits, what’s the point?
Seriously, when my wife was unemployed, she applied for a job as an English teacher. The job interview lasted excatly one sentence long. After reviewing her Corporate America resume, the principal said, “So, you’re tired of making all that money, huh?” Then he told her she was over-qualified and showed her the door.
I also had a high school History teacher who found out that garbagemen made more than high school teachers. He applied for a garbageman position but didn’t get the job because he failed the psychological exam. He would then tell this story to all of his students as a cautionary tale, letting them know that teaching was not a viable career because not only do you get paid diddily, all of your co-workers are going to be a step beyond garbageman crazy.
HOWEVER, if this is a serious career move consideration, I can arrange for you to talk with some working teachers about what the job is like. Because the movies don’t always line up with reality.
-RT
alex | 17-Jul-07 at 9:11 am | Permalink
M. Robert, I seriously might take you up on that.
I want to spend a day with a teacher at some point, though figuring out the how will be a challenge.
And I’m an architect. The salaries - right now, at least - are comparable.
winrit | 17-Jul-07 at 11:11 am | Permalink
Here is my school of thought: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_pedagogy
alex | 17-Jul-07 at 1:51 pm | Permalink
Sounds a bit extreme, Ang. I’m all for questioning authority, but it’s gotta be balanced out with respect for tradition. I think that’s the fun and frustrating part of life: figuring out the best balance for yourself.
Junior | 17-Jul-07 at 7:55 pm | Permalink
To make this all about myself, I was thinking that I might check out Teaching (capitalized for a reason) in college. I, too, was thinking about high school English. Weird.
alex | 18-Jul-07 at 7:00 am | Permalink
There’s a shortage of them. You’d be doing a service.
I wonder how you’d deal with the first student who has a crush on you. And there will be one. Maybe even a boy.
Junior | 18-Jul-07 at 8:56 pm | Permalink
I’d just punch em. AGGRESSION!
karlwinslow | 21-Jul-07 at 1:11 am | Permalink
it’s a sad state of affairs when teachers, people who directly influence our generations to come, are making poor scratch. they have essentially the most important job there is. all professional athletes (or maybe just a-rod) should take a pay cut so we can pay our teachers more. c’mon. anything past the 5 million dollar mark is just superfluous.
i will also say that i went to a sub-urban high school and i think that it’s important to get a range of ideologies in the teachers. our city is something like 98% white and is about 16,000 people. there were some teachers at my high school (a few not a lot) that really challenged people’s thought process. i think that a lot of students gravitated to these teachers and they definitely had an impact on me. i think that even if you don’t thin you’d like the suburban areas, that you would be good for them. i think kids today are progressively forward thinking (or i like to think that me and my friends were). i wouldn’t lump everyone in with the traditional suburbanite.
facedown | 30-Jul-07 at 12:28 pm | Permalink
The teaching profession is not what it used to be. Fear was part of the discipline in learning. Now it is intellectual challenge a teacher possess to the student. What are you going to do when the class doesn’t meet your high expectations? Can your authority be questioned? You’re out of a job if you touch, verbally abuse or throw something at a kid. Or another teacher, administrator, et al. Even your blog disqualifies you!
alex | 01-Aug-07 at 8:17 am | Permalink
Meh. You peoples don’ know nuthin’ ’bout me.
I’s be a good teacher.