Dear All,
We're finally out for the year and not a moment too soon!
I found this thread interesting because I'm sure there are people that we
work with in schools who are not happy with or well suited for their jobs.
However they continue every day until finally they retire. Some of you might
wonder why. I think the reason is two fold: lack of opportunity and
tenure.
Back when I graduated from high school (mid 60s), there were few career
options for women: secretary, nurse or teacher. The teachers were the girls who
went to college. Once we began our teaching jobs and married, we usually left
the career to raise a family. In the 70s that changed with women entering
other professions because the teaching jobs that we had been trained for
were no longer open. Why? Because women who got getting married
and had the first child were returning to work in schools. My husband
worked at a NYC bank with several recent college grads who had student taught
and had teachers licenses but could not find teaching jobs.
These and other women were the pioneers. However some who did have teaching
jobs realized how lucky they were and kept them even if they weren't happy.
These women are now approaching retirement age and the education schools can't
train their replacements fast enough.
A second reason for some teachers who are disenchanted with their job is
tenure. No matter how bad or good a teacher you are, once you attain tenure,
your job is secure until you want to leave it. So you have tenured people who
are "burned out" and miserable but would rather hang on until they can retire
with a nice pension.
I don't want to sound pessimistic on the first day of my summer
vacation. Some of the new teachers that we are seeing in my district are people
who have tried other careers, decided that they would like to teach, gotten the
certificate and are doing great jobs. I guess that gives me some hope.
Personally I love my job and almost everything about it. It is what I wanted to
do from the age of 15 and I am thrilled that I get paid to do
something that gives me this much personal satisfaction.
Jo
Josephine Dervan, Library Media Specialist
Strathmore Elementary School
Aberdeen, NJ
rderva@infionline.net
school-jdervan@marsd.k12.nj.us
He who has a library and a garden wants for nothing- Cicero
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