Dear Editor,
Do you ever wonder why so few teachers write letters to the
editor refuting all the inaccurate information about teaching?
Maybe other teachers’ thoughts are similar to mine. I tend not to
write letters for a few reasons: a feeling that there is no real
point
– people will believe what they want to believe; a lack of time
due to the abundance of job-related duties; a desire to avoid
repercussions; and finally, an awareness that I would feel like
upchucking over the inevitable, unoriginal response about
”
another whining teacher.
”
Dear Editor,
Do you ever wonder why so few teachers write letters to the editor refuting all the inaccurate information about teaching? Maybe other teachers’ thoughts are similar to mine. I tend not to write letters for a few reasons: a feeling that there is no real point – people will believe what they want to believe; a lack of time due to the abundance of job-related duties; a desire to avoid repercussions; and finally, an awareness that I would feel like upchucking over the inevitable, unoriginal response about “another whining teacher.”
So, as I read letters and columns in the Dispatch about the perception of teaching in Gilroy, I just shake my head … then go out the door to do my job, which is to teach my students to the best of my ability. I’ve done a lot of head shaking lately. Three of the comments that I thought were particularly uninformed were the following.
“The students (in Gilroy) are the same, biologically speaking, as any other students, across the county, across the state and across the decades”; and “One thing that handicaps our math instruction today is that our teachers were instructed in any one of a number of math programs, but few of them ever learned arithmetic.” The third comment was from a letter writer who thought teachers should tutor during their lunch break because, after all, they get off work at 3pm.
Without belaboring the issue, may I briefly inform this person that my workday usually begins at 7am and ends around 8pm? I do stop working earlier on Fridays, but I work several hours on at least one weekend day.
During conference and report card weeks, I work three additional hours per day. Oh, and I usually work during most of my break and lunch. I may not be representative of all teachers, as my schedule is probably on an end of the continuum, but I see and hear much the same from many other teachers.
This is not the point of my letter; nor is the point to refute the other two misstatements mentioned above. My purpose here is to point out a wonderful column about teaching written by Anna Quindlen, author and columnist. I believe the article will enlighten a few of the good people in Gilroy. Quindlen has written a succinct, yet eloquent piece. Her column was printed in the Nov. 28, 2005, issue of Newsweek. The article is easy to obtain on the Web at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10116331/site/newsweek/
Sue Gamm, Gilroy
