Think about that. These people
- earn bachelor’s degrees, maybe even a masters
- spend their own money on materials for their workspace, sometimes even on food for the children in their care
- can’t even go to the bathroom when they need to
- sit at kids’ tables in empty classrooms or in staff rooms (if there is one) to eat their lunch in 20 minutes or so
- can never meet a friend for lunch unless they work in the same building
- can’t run errands during the day
- can’t make appointments during working hours or take phone calls
- deal with kids who don’t know why they are there
- and don’t make nearly as much as people think.
And the hours? Not much different from regular office workers: 7 or 8 to 5, some more, some less. It’s not 9-3 unless you think the classrooms clean themselves, that materials are made and distributed by fairies, that curriculum planning is easy, and that managing kids, their learning styles and needs, is trivial. Add to this the bureaucratic overhead and the constant attacks by people who haven’t been inside a school since their own unsuccessful school days and it’s a wonder anyone bothers with it as a profession.Â
Most days the kids make it worthwhile, bless ‘em.Â