Actually, there's a core of good students underneath it all but the outer layer of thugs and (yes) idiots is obscuring those good ones. It's really frustrating to have to tell the same students the same things over and over and over again. Please stop yelling. Don't use those words. We're not talking about that right now. Please do your work. Shut up before I have to bodily throw your obnoxious, foul-mouthed, just-here-to-get-your-grandma-off-your-back self out of this second floor window.
You know, the usual teacher basics.
Anyway, the real source of my frustration today is my boss. Both bosses actually. It's one thing to have to struggle with the students when you have wise, competent employers who are attentive to the needs of the organization, who set a good example for others to follow, who demonstrate a grasp of what's required to do the work. But when you have to struggle with willfully, forcefully, aggressively ignorant students and have to contend with bosses who aren't here half the time, who do a poor job when they are here, and who constantly contradict themselves, each other, and the rest of the staff, it feels a little like you're on a small boat in big water and there's no dry land around for miles.
Sigh.
So that's where I am -- small boat, no dry land. I don't want to complain because just having a job in Detroit is a blessing. A job with benefits and a fair amount of flexibility is even more so. There are a lot of good things about working here. It's just that today, the students and the bosses aren't among those good things.
The thing I have to keep telling myself is that this job is not forever. I will not be here forever. This is not the best or last teaching job I will ever have. It will be fine. It will be fine. It will be fine.
For now I'm just going to sit here quietly and meditate and think of happier things.
No comments:
Post a Comment