Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Commitment Ceremony (Journal Entry 15)

Topic: Teacher Pay

Central Question: Why does no one ever rally for teacher pay like they do with other jobs?

Mini Questions:

  1. Why are teachers paid so little in our state?
  2. Is it important to pay someone based on work ethic/outcome of the occupation?
  3. How come teachers are not allowed to protest in the state of North Carolina

Examples:
Only protest I've ever seen is wearing red on Wednesdays
Still below poverty line even when dad had a job
Everyone always tells me to change my major or that I have so much to look forward to if I wasn't a teacher. 


In pop-culture such as coming of age movies and shows or Young-Adult novels recently published, there has been a recurring joke since nearly anyone of any decade can laugh at. The joke brings up that awkward feeling a person gets when seeing their teacher outside of school. Running into your math professor at the grocery store, or seeing your old PE teacher at an unlikely concert. We have just become accustomed to seeing a certain person in a certain place, and it can be a little unsettling to change up that scenery. I remember my 8th grade math teacher standing in front of the class, joking that teachers were robots that lived at school; and once all the students left, the instructors would climb into their respective cabinets and “power down”. I remember all the kids laughing at the way our teacher pretended to mechanically move and lose his robotic battery percentage. The joke is funny because we can all agree: teachers aren’t actually people. Are they? I mean, when you think about it, it can be hard to define that question; for normal people are paid for the jobs they do in accordance to how their occupation affects the nation. Teachers aren’t normal, not like other professionals. Teachers are held at a higher standard, having to still be under occupational scrutiny even when clocking out, so to speak. They are constantly under magnifying glasses, pushing their limits as well as the envelope- the one that holds their paycheck, that is.  

No comments:

Post a Comment