Music Monday: Teacher, Teacher by 38 Special

In the US, students return this week; they may have returned earlier. (Why? I am honestly intrigued.) At the college, it’s the first day of classes, while K-12 and the universities open after Labour Day. I hold a degree in education and never thought of it as a waste of time. I learned more outside the classroom, encountering different people than in most classes. I always “taught” in some way. I was an assistant catechetics teacher at my church and found myself teaching way, way too young. (I was in junior high or what they now call middle years.) It was the 80s what can I tell you?

In 1984, the film Teachers was released to mixed reviews. It was a satire about the teaching profession, and I remember Nick Nolte playing a popular but burned-out teacher. At the time, Ralph Macchio was a delinquent student and an “it” actor. I managed to rent it from a video store and found many of the archetypes around my school. I didn’t have an out-patient from a mental institution as a substitute teacher, but I did see some burned-out teachers. When I took my final year, I was posted at a high school, and I needed to learn one more lesson about the politics of getting a job.

Am I ready for the real world, will I pass the test?
You know it’s a jungle out there
Ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me, I won’t be second best,
But the joke’s on those who believe the system’s fair, oh yeah

The former high school alumni returning as student teachers took International Baccalaureate courses while my high school began offering AP (Advanced Placement) courses. I was the first to take AP English and fell short of the AP exam. I was the bored kid in high school and discovered why bored kids act out, drop out, or consider doing it. (I know I did.) I saw the favourable treatment they received while we tried to get mentorship. The history department, Serv would have loved to get her two cents on this one, was run by men. The student teacher majoring in history had to advocate to get decent opportunities to practice teaching. I quietly asked for one history course to teach as it was my minor and got it. I subbed afterwards, watched who got jobs and remained on the sub rolls, and learned it was not who I thought. Add a quarter-life crisis before the term was ever coined, and I left the profession after three years.

Just when I thought I finally learned my lesson well,
There was more to this than meets the eye
And for all the things you taught me, only time will tell,
If I’ll be able to survive, oh yeah

I facilitate library instruction sessions, one-shots really, trying to give students enough skills to search databases or evaluate information well. Not an easy thing. However, I do like things like Mentimeter to engage students without hearing crickets. I write learning outcomes not just “learn to use X database.” In 10 days, my next teaching adults certificate class will begin, and I will start another class on the 17th. I want to finish my certificate and move on to taking one on teaching EAL. Why bother? People would say.

I am curious.

Despite bad teachers and discouraging moments, I never stopped being curious, and I realized it’s an exception. I watched students do minimal work because it was never noticed, or they believed it was not for them. Many shake off those beliefs as adults and return to school, something I see in the library as I help those coming to the college for upskilling or retraining. I wonder if the students in ancient Greece felt bored by their studies or would leave comments about Plato’s classes (too philosophical) or Socrates (just about killed me with his questions) on those review sites.

So, another school year dawns as students take another step toward the”real world.” I don’t believe in formalized testing. In fact, some of the dumbest people I have met hold graduate degrees. (Not all, of course, especially readers of this blog who hold those degrees. I bet they met those people.) These individuals confuse getting an A, doing assignment after assignment, with intelligence and critical thinking. They believe the learning stops, and they know more. Trust me, the learning is just getting started.