Tuesday, March 30, 2010

What is "a long time" anyway?

I absolutely love the lead for this article:

There wasn't a single incident. His frustration had been building for a long time.

In early November, Gibbs High School world history teacher Neil Cammardella realized he had to get out. Well liked by students and teachers, the 26-year-old quit his first real teaching job after just two years.

So which is it? "a long time" or "just two years"?

*sigh*

Stories (and teachers) like these are IMO a significant reason that people see teachers as incompetent martyrs. We suffer through a rotten situation because we're not capable of doing anything better.

In fairness, I don't know anything about the situation beyond what's reported in the Times, but that article sure makes Cammardella look like an idiot.

(And part of it is my bone-deep conviction that honor is Terribly Important: you don't break a contract in the middle of the year. I can understand, if not excuse, breaking contract your first year because you honest-to-God didn't know what you were getting into, but "after just two years" means he was - what - in the middle of his third year?)

My parents were always involved in my education... I thought that's how all students were. I didn't know such a large majority of students had so little parental involvement.

I think he lived under a rock. I feel like Hermione: "Don't you READ?!" I hope like anything we didn't graduate from the same university.

And the administrator who hired him ought to get a serious pay cut.

4 comments:

Tom Roth said...

Must be a slow news day when a teacher quitting their job is newsworthy. It almost seemed like I was reading an article from "The Onion News Network."

Dana Huff said...

I absolutely hated my first teaching job. After long weekends or breaks, I cried on the way to school because I didn't want to go back. But I had signed a contract, and I was going to honor that contract. I didn't teach there a second year, and as I drove out of the parking lot the last time, I didn't look back.

Clix said...

I didn't think it was possible for me to admire you more, but I do! That just made me smile. GOOD FOR YOU!

(And hopefully you have found a teaching position that's much more fulfilling!)

Dana Huff said...

Oh, I'm much happier now.

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