Nelson Mandela had a teacher. Rolene Strauss had a teacher. Queen Elizabeth had a teacher. Ted Bundy’s teacher tried.
Today is World Teacher Day. For a few hours, they are appreciated worldwide. But when the bell rings to announce the end of the school day, it’s back to reality for these underappreciated backbones of society. This made me think.
The life of a teacher:
Earlybird catches the bad coffee
Their workday starts at 07:00. That’s more or less when I snooze my alarm for the 11th time. At 07:01, he drinks a cup of cheap coffee in the staff room.
Feeling down? Great! Give us a smile.
At 07:30 or 08:00, they crack their first compulsory smiles. Remember – they are supposed to love children and look stable and happy all the time.
The pupilrazzi is watching.
The teacher keeps up the cheek-to-cheek smile. The pupils are watching his every move.
And then she cracks.
Teachers tend to hide their emotions. They are not supposed to crack under pressure. As a result, a teacher is a human pressure cooker. At some point, they must crack. It’s either that or a teacher explosion.
High school pupils excel at driving educators nuts and waiting for them to crack. And when that happens, the stare. Highly entertained, they sit on the edges of their chairs and look on as Ms Brown suffers from a breakdown.
Break time FM
Teachers are discussed in detail. Their outfits, appearances and conduct is analysed by the ultimate character testers – their pupils. If Ms Brown had a breakdown, re-enactments of the incident become a break time trend.
What glass of wine?
One does not simply drink wine. More specifically, one does not simply survive being a teacher without the odd glass of wine. Teachers carefully pick out their partying spots. And they still find high school pupils there. Some even offer to buy them drinks.
They deal with nerds
A learner with top marks is a teacher’s dream. Until the dream turns into a nightmare. The odd straight A-student questions his teacher’s decisions and triple checks his total marks, revelling in the opportunity to point out that Mr Jones had made a mistake.
They deal with the rebels
The rebels don’t care. And they make it perfectly clear. Some rebels sit on their 22nd vertebra, from where they launch stare offs, challenging Mr Jones to look away first. Others regularly find new ways to wear their school uniform. They add the belt, and then remove the belt. Then they pull their socks up to their chins only to go without it again. Hair rebels decorate their heads with so many clips and headbands that they end up looking like walking gardens.
And don’t even think about punishing a rebel – he will prove that it does not bother him in the least.
The parents
Whatever you do, don’t. Some parent somewhere will phone the school to complain about your conduct.
The law
Teachers often complain that they feel as if the law disables them in many ways. Childrens’ rights are considered more important than that of their teachers. Where a child’s behaviour borders on being criminal, the prosecution system dissuades teachers from getting them arrested. Only policemen may do that. Yet, schools are expected not to threaten pupils with the police.
Oh, and being a teacher is not a valid defence for killing a problem pupil.
Their work becomes adults
A teacher’s work influences people that are growing up to become adults. They are expected to teach their pupils life lessons and some end up seeing their pupils behind bars. This elicits the feeling of failure.
07:30 – 14:00 is not 07:30 – 14:00
Teachers’ working hours are not what they appear to be. They teach until 14:00 and facilitate extramural activities until 17:00. Then they go home and prepare for the next day’s lessons.
According to society, they work 07:30 – 14:00
Few people sympathise with the true state of affairs. Rather, they’d say: “I wish I was a teacher. They work six hours a day.”
Stereotyping
Teachers suffer from stereotyping daily. Regardless of what Mr Jones and Ms Brown may have studied and how they have proved themselves, people will say: “Oh what do you know? You’re just a teacher…”
Ask yourself: Would I be willing to be “just a teacher?”
I won’t. It simply takes too much. And I’d probably get arrested for kicking a difficult pupil. Or indulge in wine…
Now ask yourself: Do I appreciate teachers enough?
Also read: The Mistaken Journalist
Also read: ADHD – Do not miss the signs
