Civil Servants, Teachers and "Goofing off"

Yesterday I visited my visiting aunt and uncle. They're the most "elderly" by age close relatives I have. They're even older, by only a couple of years, than my parents, bli eyin haraa, ad me'ah v'esrim, to them all. (That means, the "evil eye" shouldn't attack them and they should live to 120.)

Believe me, they're both excellent ads for growing old, past eighty, that is. When I was growing up, and a younger adult, we didn't have such role models. The very few relatives who reached their ages had to relinquish their minds in the process. So I must say that my generation and my kids' generation are very privileged.

During this visit, besides family updates and politics, we talked about (or mostly I listened to) my uncle's recollections about being a government employee, a civil servant in New York in the 1950's to 1970's, if I remember correctly.

Earlier in our talk he was criticized by me and my aunt for calling teachers "goof offs." My aunt, who although not a teacher, has no illusions about what challenges await teachers in the classroom. And I've been a teacher for enough decades to have no patience for those who think we can get away with anything other than hard work. The modern generation of kid doesn't do anything "he doesn't want to do," so we have to make the unbearable "fun" and enticing.

In yesterday's reminisces, my uncle talked about the corruption in the civil service and how promotion was via, what's called in Israel "Vitamin P," for protexia--whom do you know... In addition, there's was always tons of waste, including time. That reminded me of how my father established his private business as an accountant. He was a civil servant and had to finish a specific "weekly route." He didn't need the entire week for it, so he plenty of time to handle private clients and only quit the civil service when they wanted to "promote" him to a desk job. It would have restricted him and prevented him from taking care of his business.

Now, in most parts of the world, teachers are also civil servants, government employees. But they can't get away with same things other civil servants can do. A mailman who manages to deliver everything to his route in less time than officially estimated or an inspector who gets everything checked in less than a day can find ways of "keeping busy," or "goofing off," without letting their superiors know that they can really handle more.

Teachers can't do that. If we finish the lesson plan early, we can't just take it easy. The students must always have something to do. We're part of large system, and in most schools, kids can't just walk out early.

Actually, where I teach, I do have more freedom, and I find that sometimes the best motivation is letting my students know that once we finish everything planned, the lesson is over. Of course, that's just a matter of minutes and seconds. I can't cancel entire lessons, nor rearrange schedules. I have to make sure that my plans mesh with what the school gives me. I have to be in the classroom and take attendance and report back to the administration.

And there's certainly no way I can "goof off." For every lesson plan, I must be prepared to adjust to the moods of the kids. Sometimes, just a minor change, and I can keep them on track, and sometimes I see that due to events beyond my control I have to find something else to do in a split second.

Honestly, it's really annoying when people think that teaching is an "easy job" with great vacations. We're pretty busy during vacations and before and after lessons with all the planning, checking and extra professional courses. That's because the bureaucrats are always coming up with new, impractical teaching ideas.

but that's another story...