I was called
to a middle school, not a favorite choice and too far away, but since the
school is located in a good neighborhood, and I also know the principal, I
thought it would be OK.
I arrived a
little late, which didn’t seem to be a problem, and was directed to a classroom
on the second floor. On the way there I tried to locate the nearest bathroom and
couldn’t find one, a fact that didn’t bother me much until I glanced at the
bell schedule. It consisted of five classes, (4 + homeroom), back to back, with
only five minutes passing periods. 8:00 to 12:30, no breaks.
Well, I came
to the teaching profession after a long career in an office, long enough to
know that labor laws entitles you a ten-fifteen minutes break after two hours
of work, and a lunch break of thirty to sixty minutes. In an office, most
people can eat, drink, and tend to personal matters without much scrutiny, and
smokers can go outside at their will. There is no limit on bathroom visits, of
course, and unless you are in a middle of a support call to Puerto Rico, or in a
closed door meeting, you are free to go to the bathroom whenever you need or
want.
Life of a
teacher is completely different. For one thing, you cannot be late to work and
sneak to your desk, hoping your boss is too busy to notice, or not there yet.
If you are a teacher, and late to work, everyone is fully aware of that. Forty
students gathered at the hallway, outside a classroom, is noticeable by every
neighboring teacher, all the administrators and each of the office staff.
Even more
important is a rule teachers have to follow, of never leaving students
unsupervised in a room. It means, then, that no matter how urgently you need to
leave the classroom for few minutes, you can’t if you have students in the
classroom… Thus, if there are no
official breaks, and especially if the passing periods are too short, next
period’s students arrive before previous students leave, and there is no way
you can visit the bathroom for four and a half hours!
This, by
itself, makes me want to scream of frustration, and ask every education
‘expert’ if they happen to know what five classes, back to back, do to
students’ attention and ability to learn, or what the poor working conditions do
to teachers’ ability to teach, or to their motivation?
By the time
I reached lunch time (30 minutes, not a minute longer), I was already fully
charged with rage and frustration, which I poured on an innocent teaching aide
who, naively, invited me to join them… I was furious with the bell schedule,
the class size (40-45 students), a counselor that was not supportive, and principal
who pretended not to know me, interrogating me about a text message sent to a
student’s parents (couldn’t have been me as I don’t have access to that
information), while the only person I called, the counselor, didn’t even answer
her phone…
Legislators?
Education experts? Administrators?
Parents? Am I the only one who feels that something is very wrong with this
system, and it is NOT the teachers?
