Feel The Love

When a school division is run like a business, human resources suffer. I know this to be true. Today, I once again played witness as the company - I am uncertain if I can call it a school division in good conscience - I work for treated its teachers with a whole lot of disrespect. As I walked the hallways, I saw the upset, the heartbreak, on the faces of my colleagues, heard it in their words. Many of us at my school were "must place" this year. The phrase I heard over and over was "leftovers". Only one teacher was placed in their first choice school. Most of the rest of us were not even given a position in a school we requested, regardless of the number of schools we gave, or if we simply chose an area of our city, leaving many many options open.

A friend of mine, a retired teacher, noted that unhappy teachers are less effective teachers. Would it not be in a school division's best interest to make their educators as happy as possible? We are the people entrusted with educating future generations. Isn't that a job where you want happy people?

I guess not. Not in a business model of education.

I read something on a friend's Facebook status last week which said something along the lines of, "I care more about the people my students become than the score they get on a test." I agree, but I fear I am now employed by a company that cares less and less about students, and teachers as well.

It is a sad sad day.

Q