MrsHughey.com

Teacher vs. Teacher

At my workshop on Monday I was reminded of an interesting element of the culture of education. There is a certain friction between elementary and secondary teachers.

The workshop was scheduled to begin at 8:30 and was located at a school board building which was very hard to find and not in any phone book. I found no directions on how to get there, nor any address, online, so I had to rely on directions to an adjoining Boys & Girls club (last week a woman had told me it was just behind one and I knew what neighborhood it was in).

Anyway, despite the headaches trying to figure out where I was going, I managed to arrive on time. The facilitator and two participants were there when I arrived. I signed in and put on my nametag: Erin Hughey - Brandon H.S. When 8:30 rolled around, the facilitator said she was going to go ahead and get started even though a few others were scheduled to arrive. The other two participants were both elementary - one was a teacher and the other was an administrator. When the facilitator said she was expecting a few more people, the woman to my left said, "Oh, they must be high school. They're always late to everything."

"Uh, excuse me, I was here on time!"

She laughed, "Oh, well, you know what I mean. It's just different. We elementary teachers are early for everything."

It kinda made me mad, but I just let it go at that. At the first break, I started thinking about the stereotypes teachers have about one another. While we'll all vehemently defend the profession against outsiders who say idiotic things like "Those who can't teach," there's an ugly side to teaching that I think people don't often see.

I can't speak for elementary school teachers other than the above anecdote. Actually, I was surprised to hear her say something like that. But then I remember that my fellow high school teachers and I have similar ideas about elementary school teachers. While their jobs are important, I tend to think elementary schools are not as smart as high school teachers. I also tend to think that, in some ways at least, their jobs are easier. They don't have to deal with teenagers or the amounts of grading and testing we have to deal with, especially high school English teachers. Of course, they're responsible for vast amounts of knowledge and guidance for their children, but they teach far fewer children at a time than high school teachers. Of course, these are probably my misconceptions - and I do understand where they come from. It's always hard to imagine life on the other side of the fence. I used to substitute teach elementary school all the time, and I know the teachers there were very caring and conscientious.

Still, I can't help but wonder what other misconceptions they have about us.
In addition to the elementary vs. secondary tension, a lot of blame goes around the education world. Elementary schools blame parents and preschool teachers for difficult students. High school teachers blame elementary and middle school teachers. College professors blame high school teachers. The fact is, and we all know this, a myriad of factors may or may not contribute to a student's success in school. At every level, we have the opportunity to try to build on what is there.

Depending on the school, there is also often tension between different departments, or even between teachers and other staff or administrators. For instance, I've been at schools where the English department looks down on the math department. Why? Because the math teachers have a lot less, and easier, grading than we do. So they get to leave a lot earlier. It's frustrating when you're stuck at school past 5:00 grading projects and essays, but it's not the math teachers' fault, either. Often, this kind of tensions just stems from the fact that we don't know or understand what other staff members' jobs entail. And we're all so busy we don't have a lot of time to find out, either. So instead we wind up getting frustrating and sometimes lashing out at one another. It is okay once in a while, but can become a real morale problem if it continues unchecked.

I suppose a lot of careers have similar rivalries - doctors vs. nurses, lawyers vs. legal assistants, etc. We just get so caught up in our own stresses that we lash out at others whom we perceive as having it easier. With teaching, I think we all probably face a similar amount of stress, at least between elementary, middle and high school overall. After all, I have to deal with a lot fewer angry parents than elementary school teachers, and I rarely have to teach a kid to read (if I do, I have a staff of reading specialists to help me).

I still sometimes envy the math teachers who leave at 3:30, but I imagine they have a bigger challenge making their lessons interesting for students. And I get to teach what I love and knew what I was getting into when I started. The long days are worth it as long as my students are getting the most from my class.

Posted by Erin at June 25, 2003 04:43 PM