This is a reaction to the podcast "How Does a Principal Work?" as well as the readings "Rose Hoffman, Public School Teacher" and "Pat Zimmerman, Alternative School Teacher" from the book "Working" by Studs Terkel. These three passages all describe the jobs of different people working as educators at different levels.
In the podcast on slate.com "How Does a Principal Work" David Plotz interviews middle school principal Andrew Rubin, who runs a charter school for low income students in Texas. He takes a lot of pride in his job and identifies himself as an educator completely. He said that even when the day is over, he works from 7am-6:30pm, he goes home and returns parents phone calls and grades papers. It is evident that his life revolves around his job but he does not seem to mind that.
In the chapter "Rose Hoffman, Public School Teacher", Terkel writes from the perspective of a fourth grade teacher named Rose. Rose has been teaching for 33 years and has been in her current school for 20. She complains of how the neighborhood has changed since she started working there. Originally most of the students were Polish and she thought they were polite and good students. Now the school is mostly Puerto Rican and she believes them to be lazy and rude. She says about the parents: "They watch their kids eat free breakfasts and lunches. There isn't any shame, there isn't any pride." (p.485). She also dislikes how the Spanish speaking students speak Spanish in school. "As long as they're in this country, English should be the first language" (p.484) Throughout the passage it is clear that she favors the white, English speaking students. This seems unfair and could be a big problem if it effects how she educates them.
"Pat Zimmerman, Alternative School Teacher" is about how Pat runs an alternative school for troubled children outside of Chicago. He also dedicates a huge amount of time to work even working weekends. He says "The people we work for- The National Institute for Mental Health- once wanted us to do an honest time sheet. After they saw our honest time sheet they said 'Just please put eight hours a day on the time sheet'" (p.491) However, he seems to enjoy working these long hours. "I'd rather die for my work life than for my personal life" he writes (p.491). Pat's dedication to teaching is amazing, Considering he has almost no connection to the kids outside of teaching.
Questions:
Why do all of these teachers give their free time to help kids they really don't know?
What is with Ruth's hostility towards immigrants?
Good, Mike.
ReplyDeleteHow could you have made this a cohesive essay instead of three short responses to three different pieces?
One clarifying points. You write, "Terkel writes from the perspective of a fourth grade teacher named Rose." That's a graceful way to try to explain an oral history, but it's not accurate. Just about everything in _Working_ (remember to italicize book titles) comes from the mouths of the interviewees.
Terkel's art is in arranging and asking the questions, I'd say.
Grade: 1/1
DW
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree in your opinions about Rose. Personally, I think she kind of sucks. Who loves Polish kids that much? And then talks about it? I think it's inevitable for teachers to have favorites, but I think the way she classifies them is appalling.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteWhen looking at your questions at the end of your post, I had somewhat the same thoughts appear in my head when I was finished. To answer your first question I believe that when individuals want to become teachers it depends on what type of person they are in whether on not they take their work home with them. Some people want to be involved in their students live and some don't. Overall, as long as the teachers are doing their jobs and teaching the students, I don't really think it matters whether they are involved or not.
Next, I couldn't agree more with why you would write the second question. I was more or less shocked that she would have such derogatory comments about different ethnicities in her class. I am not sure if that was just how it was back in the old days but I'm glad to see times have changed.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said about Rose. What is her deal? She seems like she doesn't like her job. She also expresses she doesn't love all of the kids she teaches. So why does she stay? I'm not sure that we could answer that but I do think she is just over it. I think it is just rude and wrong the way she talks about her kids.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteI think your point on Andrew Rubin was eye opening. He gets to work at probably 6:30am and doesn't leave until around 6:30-7:00 at night. THEN he gets to go home and return phone calls/grade papers. There's not many people who are that dedicated to their job as he is, so I am glad you brought that up. I couldn't imagine doing that much work every single day, even if I loved my job as much as he does. I believe there should be a time for work, and a time for play. Otherwise, one would eventually go crazy.