Educated Guess
Feb. 24th, 2004 04:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
talktoolooseIn one week, Snake and I are going down to Florida to my parents' place for a week of R&R. Since we have spent all of our money for 2004 already (new roof, dog, insulation, legal costs on renegotiating mortgage, lump sum mortgage payment, new couch, paint) we will do nothing but read, walk on the beach and let my mother feed us. Luckily, this is precisely the vacation we both need.
I mean, life is good, but shit is it hectic. I seem to be in a place where I can accept my responsibilities and not resent them. Okay, I have to clean the house, okay I have to bargain with roofers, okay I have to organize my taxes, okay I have to hunker down at my day-job, okay I have to actually draw to deadlines if I want my dreams to come true. But it actually like I'm living my life these days and the responsibilities are what come with it. I'm not waiting for my life to begin anymore. I'm not buying lottery tickets which will magically transform it all with no investment; I am my lottery ticket and the odds ain't bad.
Snake is at crossroads with his employment. For years he has taught ESL as a sessional teacher at various community colleges. He gets a good salary, but no benefits, no pension and no long-term security. His other choice is teaching elementary school and he has the teaching degree to do it. However, his every interaction with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has been equivalent to voluntarily having his face repeatedly slapped with a rotten haddock.
But he decided to bite the bullet in January and try to get into the hiring pool. The paid summer, Christmas and Easter holidays and the healthy pension plan appealed to him, especially since he was raised to believe he has to find himself a safe niche in the universe and hole up there until retirement.
Side note: The Ontario Teachers Federation pension plan is the largest single investor in Canada and, among other things, has controlling interest in the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club. Seeing as this fund represents the highly ethical segment of society--teachers--it follows that it is highly ethical in its investment choices and avoids environmentally or socially problematic investments and, in fact, uses its clout to push for corporate social responsibility in the companies where it has share holdings. Yeah, right! One of my colleagues is currently leading a fight to prevent pollution from hog farm on the shores of Lake Erie that is creating extreme local hazards. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan is one of the main investors in that hog farm.
Actually, this paucity of philosophy at all levels is one of the saddest things about the education factory. In Snake's BEd training, more time was spent on reminding you not to ever be behind a closed door with a student than on higher ideals of teaching or the fact that you can change somebody's life and indeed the future of society through your role as a teacher. The one inspirational professor he had in the program, who taught the fledgling teachers the importance of literature in education, was thought of as a bit of a kook by the rest of the faculty.
So, back to now. Snake applies online as he is supposed to. The tech is sketchy at best (as he had heard from others) but the TDSB is in denial about this. Finally, he hits submit, gets a reply that it's all been successful. He also mails in a resume and cover letter. He then awaits an interview. It should be mentioned that he doesn't want to teach French but realizes he may be forced into it because they need French teachers (official bilingualism and all) and it's in his credentials.
They call and say, please come Friday for an interview; you will be required to write a short essay in French. Funny, he thought, I never said I wanted to teach French and they're not even pretending to be interested in me for anything else. He spends a few hours unrusting his written French.
On arriving, he is told that there will also be an oral test. Hmmph, his Hungarian blood is already starting to simmer. Doesn't the TDSB know that it is bad paedagogy to surprise people with tests? He does, in fact, surprise himself by writing really well, but when they ask him to discuss actual teaching techniques and philosophies in French, he loses it. It's one thing to be able to talk about everyday subjects, but to be expected to be bilingual in industry buzzwords in order to teach nine year olds "Je m'appelle Cory" is a bit much. Perhaps unwisely, he declines to speak on that which he cannot. They say, "So, you're declining to teach French?" They repeat this question several times until he snaps, "No, you're declining me."
The interview improves as it switches to English. They seem amazed that a candidate actually has intelligent things to say about why he wants to teach and how he will approach life in the classroom. But then they throw up their hands and say, "Mr. Snake, we're at a bit of a loss. We have nothing here from you. You haven't submitted an application and we have no covering letter or resume." Snake is dumbfounded and explains that he has submitted everything. Then he notices that the folded pieces of paper one of the interviewers is gesturing with is, in fact, the very resume and cover letter that they claim never to have received.
I told him: stay with ESL. Actually, that profession is filled with refugees from the TDSB who eventually ran screaming. It's not that the ESL programs are run particularly well, but the bureaucracy is made up of only a few at each college. It's easier there to just roll your eyes, get on with the day's teaching and then go home.
Life is too short to live it for your pension. And there are other benefits than those that come in a glossy binder from an Insurance company.
I mean, life is good, but shit is it hectic. I seem to be in a place where I can accept my responsibilities and not resent them. Okay, I have to clean the house, okay I have to bargain with roofers, okay I have to organize my taxes, okay I have to hunker down at my day-job, okay I have to actually draw to deadlines if I want my dreams to come true. But it actually like I'm living my life these days and the responsibilities are what come with it. I'm not waiting for my life to begin anymore. I'm not buying lottery tickets which will magically transform it all with no investment; I am my lottery ticket and the odds ain't bad.
Snake is at crossroads with his employment. For years he has taught ESL as a sessional teacher at various community colleges. He gets a good salary, but no benefits, no pension and no long-term security. His other choice is teaching elementary school and he has the teaching degree to do it. However, his every interaction with the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) has been equivalent to voluntarily having his face repeatedly slapped with a rotten haddock.
But he decided to bite the bullet in January and try to get into the hiring pool. The paid summer, Christmas and Easter holidays and the healthy pension plan appealed to him, especially since he was raised to believe he has to find himself a safe niche in the universe and hole up there until retirement.
Side note: The Ontario Teachers Federation pension plan is the largest single investor in Canada and, among other things, has controlling interest in the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey club. Seeing as this fund represents the highly ethical segment of society--teachers--it follows that it is highly ethical in its investment choices and avoids environmentally or socially problematic investments and, in fact, uses its clout to push for corporate social responsibility in the companies where it has share holdings. Yeah, right! One of my colleagues is currently leading a fight to prevent pollution from hog farm on the shores of Lake Erie that is creating extreme local hazards. The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan is one of the main investors in that hog farm.
Actually, this paucity of philosophy at all levels is one of the saddest things about the education factory. In Snake's BEd training, more time was spent on reminding you not to ever be behind a closed door with a student than on higher ideals of teaching or the fact that you can change somebody's life and indeed the future of society through your role as a teacher. The one inspirational professor he had in the program, who taught the fledgling teachers the importance of literature in education, was thought of as a bit of a kook by the rest of the faculty.
So, back to now. Snake applies online as he is supposed to. The tech is sketchy at best (as he had heard from others) but the TDSB is in denial about this. Finally, he hits submit, gets a reply that it's all been successful. He also mails in a resume and cover letter. He then awaits an interview. It should be mentioned that he doesn't want to teach French but realizes he may be forced into it because they need French teachers (official bilingualism and all) and it's in his credentials.
They call and say, please come Friday for an interview; you will be required to write a short essay in French. Funny, he thought, I never said I wanted to teach French and they're not even pretending to be interested in me for anything else. He spends a few hours unrusting his written French.
On arriving, he is told that there will also be an oral test. Hmmph, his Hungarian blood is already starting to simmer. Doesn't the TDSB know that it is bad paedagogy to surprise people with tests? He does, in fact, surprise himself by writing really well, but when they ask him to discuss actual teaching techniques and philosophies in French, he loses it. It's one thing to be able to talk about everyday subjects, but to be expected to be bilingual in industry buzzwords in order to teach nine year olds "Je m'appelle Cory" is a bit much. Perhaps unwisely, he declines to speak on that which he cannot. They say, "So, you're declining to teach French?" They repeat this question several times until he snaps, "No, you're declining me."
The interview improves as it switches to English. They seem amazed that a candidate actually has intelligent things to say about why he wants to teach and how he will approach life in the classroom. But then they throw up their hands and say, "Mr. Snake, we're at a bit of a loss. We have nothing here from you. You haven't submitted an application and we have no covering letter or resume." Snake is dumbfounded and explains that he has submitted everything. Then he notices that the folded pieces of paper one of the interviewers is gesturing with is, in fact, the very resume and cover letter that they claim never to have received.
I told him: stay with ESL. Actually, that profession is filled with refugees from the TDSB who eventually ran screaming. It's not that the ESL programs are run particularly well, but the bureaucracy is made up of only a few at each college. It's easier there to just roll your eyes, get on with the day's teaching and then go home.
Life is too short to live it for your pension. And there are other benefits than those that come in a glossy binder from an Insurance company.
