Bad Time to be a Teacher

Wouldn't it suck if you got a pay cut that would have otherwise paid for your monthly electric bill, phone bill, internet bill, and water bill? And wouldn't it suck even more if your boss tells you that not only do you get a pay cut but you have to put in more time at work?

That's exactly my husband's situation as a public school teacher in Wisconsin. He recently got his first paycheck of the new school year, and that was when we realized exactly the extent of how Scott Walker's Act 10 will affect our family's finances. We will have to pay for those bills somehow and try to also save some money, if that's possible.

My husband already works three jobs. He teaches high school during the day, teaches on Saturdays at the technical college, and does home presentations selling knives on occasion. He is now thinking of being a referee in the evenings for volleyball leagues as a fourth job. As for me, I adjunct for three colleges and I'm constantly keeping an eye out for any new openings. I used to advise after school clubs and work at the local newspaper too, but with little kids at home, it became too hard to balance. Next year, when my youngest child is old enough to go to school part-time, perhaps I'll get another job to work during those few hours each day when she's at school or try to add a fourth college to teach for. We'll have to see how things go this year with our finances. It's stressful and we have to make every dollar stretch.

But what else are we supposed to do?

True, it's nothing new. My husband and I, as educators, are used to working multiple jobs. We're used to being underpaid (despite both of us having masters degrees) and having to always supplement our income with other jobs. We do it and have done so for the past 10 years. Why? Because we enjoy teaching. It's a fulfilling career, and personally, I don't know many people who can say that about their job.

But after seeing my husband's first paycheck of the school year, the first since the implementation of Scott Walker's budget bill, I'm beginning to wonder what other sacrifices we can possibly make.

What more can be taken from us? What more do we, as educators, have to give up in order to keep teaching and doing what we love? And of course, the underlying question...at what point do we give up being educators?

**sigh** Just had to complain for awhile there.

9/11

On 9/11/01, I was on my way to my morning college class and then I would be heading over to the nearby school to put in some teaching practicum hours. I turned the radio on in my car and some guy was talking about airplanes hitting buildings in New York, and I thought, "What the hell? This has gotta be fake." I flipped to another radio station only to find that ALL of them were reporting on the twin towers being hit. I walked into my classroom and it was dead silent. People were gazing off with the hollow, distant look of confusion, fear, and sadness. I remember my professor getting up in front and trying to start class, but within 15 minutes, it was clear our minds were elsewhere. He dismissed us and sent us home.

I still did not really grasp what the situation was, but I remember later that night, the full force hitting me as I watched the video clips of the planes hitting the towers, another one slamming into the pentagon, and one burning in that field in Pennsylvania.

I remember the goosebumps rising on my skin and crawling to the back of my neck as the video footage played over and over again on my television screen. Later in the darkness of my bedroom, it would play over and over again in my mind. Part of what hit me the hardest was that an attack was actually happening right here in America. But another part of me thought, "So this is what it feels like to be all those other countries."

Let's remember those in America who have been impacted by the attacks of 9/11. But let's also remember those all over the world for whom war and attacks are a regular part of life.