Sometime I feel as though this blog has become my safe-haven for complaining, because unlike people in other professions, I'm just not allowed to complain. My profession is just far too politically charged to make a public criticism of what is going on in my profession.
I'm not allowed to complain about my boss:
While I have amazing administrators who are teachers, teachers, they are not my "boss". They do not tell me what to do and how to do it. That would be my state appointed superintendent, the Governor, and the legislature. If I complain about my"boss", then I am in fact complaining about my state's political system. If I mention the horrible decisions they are making, it becomes some kind of political debate.
I can't complain about the money I make:
After all, I am "under-worked and over-paid", at least according to public opinion. Case in point, I bounced a check this summer. When I went into settle the debt with cash, I simply apologized for the over-sight saying, "Sorry, I'm not working this summer and things are a little tight." The debate ensued over how I "chose" to have Summers off, blah, blah, blah. I'm not allowed to mention that I only make 55k a year with a Master's degree after 12 years teaching, or that I get two weeks vacation, and one sick day a month like EVERYONE else. Or that even if you factor in my "Cadillac Benefits" it would add about 10k to my pay check. I pay for my pension. The state hasn't put in any money is almost 20 years, so YOU don't get to mention that. Those 10 weeks in summer don't count either because I NOT PAID FOR THEM. Believe me, I would love to work those weeks and be paid the extra 10-20K. But I can't say that. After-all, tax-payers pay my salary and they feel I am somehow personally responsible for their every growing tax burden or how the schools spend the money.
I can't complain about my work, the students, or their parents:
It's just not politically correct to call people out as crap parents who make my job 10 times harder because they want me and the school to raise their child while taking away our authority to do so. It's a very small population, but it does exist. I can't complain about students who have no desire to learn and do everything in their power to disrupt learning for everyone else. Again, a very small population, but they do exist. I especially can't complain about my work load or how it has tripled over the last 10 years because of mounds of bureaucratic paperwork that has nothing to do with what I'm actually teaching and everything to do with proving to someone else that I am teaching. You can never understand the burden of having to write down every thought that comes into your head or every one of the hundreds of decisions that you make just to prove you are doing your job.
I'm just not allowed to complain about anything, not to my family, my friends, even my husband. They just don't want to hear it. They all think we are some how living the good life.
So I am sorry if I complain too much. This seems to be the only forum where I can complain without it turning into a political debate over party lines, taxes, or school policy; as if I have influence over any of it. I'm just another cog in the wheel, another brick in the wall.
