Teaching -- If you don't love it, leave it
SAN DIEGO -- It's the beginning of a new school year, and already acrimony is in the air. America's teachers are mad as heck, and they're not going to take it anymore.
That's the message from a recent cover story in Time magazine that no doubt left many readers wondering why anyone in their right minds would enter the classroom these days.
Judging from the article, the No. 1 gripe today, yesterday and forever is salary. We don't pay teachers enough, according to most teachers. So what else is new?
Each sob story was worse than the one before.
One teacher said: "I have a master's degree, 16 years of experience, and work two extra jobs and donate blood plasma to pay the bills. I'm a teacher in America."
Another asserted: "My child and I share a bed in a small apartment, I spend $1,000 on supplies, and I've been laid off three times due to budget cuts. I'm a teacher in America."
Another shared this: "I have 20 years of experience, but I can't afford to fix my car, see a doctor for headaches or save for my child's future. I'm a teacher in America."
Depressed yet? I can relate. I'm a working journalist at a time when -- despite the so-called "Trump bump" that helped make media more profitable in some ways -- newspapers are still contracting, radio stations are still declaring bankruptcy and cable television networks are still laying off employees as they work out the kinks in their digital strategy.
You think I don't know what it's like to want to earn more money? But journalism has never been about the money. The same goes for teaching -- and law enforcement, and farming, and any number of other professions your accountant would advise you not to pursue but which none the less find takers among those who consider the work meaningful and satisfying.
When talking to groups about immigration, I'll offer myself up as part of the reason the country needs so many immigrants. As a typical American, I tell the audience, I approach every job opportunity and contract negotiation with the same goal: higher salary, more vacation. Of course, this approach leaves a lot of work left undone. Nonetheless, for me, the American Dream is all about earning more and working less to earn it. I tell the story as a laugh line in order to loosen up the crowd.
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