A Misunderstood Job

I was reading newsfeed on Facebook when an educator friend posted a poster reading:

I have been a lousy friend because I have been busy being an awesome mother.

Her sister posted a sarcastic comment.

My friend tried explaining her exhaustion: after school, she had to attend a workshop till 5pm, then rushed to pick up her younger kid before going home to cook dinner. After that, she had to revise work with her P6 daughter. Her legs were swollen and hadn't the time to rest.

Her sister commented that she was a 'complaint queen'. The 'hero' in me acted up again and I commented that I wouldn't have done all that she did because so many hours at work would have tired me out.

Her sister retaliated by saying that my friend had 'company' and that she hadn't taken a leaf out of their teacher-mothers and grandmothers' book.

I left my comment saying that my sisters are also stuck in the days of their teachers.

Teaching, like motherhood, is such a misunderstood job.

People who are never teachers still see teaching as a half-day job that only requires you to sit in the class and talk to yourself, and after that, mark a little and go home at 1pm!

They thought that children these days are the same as their generation, fearful of teachers, quiet as mice in class.

They don't realise that their mothers and grandmothers didn't need to attend workshops and trainings or even meetings after school.

They don't realise that teaching is a lot more demanding these days.

They don't realise the teachers of yesteryears didn't need to do EPMS, SEM, CIP, TRAISI, Weekly lesson plans, Reflection, detailed lesson plans, lesson observations ... Those teachers probably haven't seen or heard of those terms even, and these are just random terms and things that I just plucked off my head!

For curiosity's sake, I did a count on the number of teachers I have on my Facebook. 20 out of 45, excluding the 2 that were pending on Friends' Request.

And I counted the number of teachers who have left the service. 11. Out of these 11, 5 are mothers who quit as they could not cope with the demands of teaching and the load of motherhood. Interestingly, the other 6 are singles (still single) who were disillusioned or unhappy with the system. Most of them have switched to another field that has nothing to do with teaching.

I am left with 9 existing teachers on my Facebook. Out of these 9, only 1 seems to be genuinely happy with the charges under her. No surprise at all, as she is teaching gifted children in a top school.

I know, I know. I am too old to argue with someone outside the field about the job.

I have had my share of being criticised by my sisters like how my friend's sister did her.

I guess I am still protective of the job, like how I would stand up for motherhood when people with no kid try telling me how to teach mine.