I ran across this post and found it to be quite a revelation…you see I am a firm believer in increasing the diversity of teachers, and this might be a way to get some people into this business who might not have considered it.
There is a huge social divide between teachers and the rest of society, the act of teaching is an almost cloistered activity when compared to working in the greater economy. I don’t see much value in maintaining this wall.
This post contains some amusing perspectives about the value in taking jobs early in life with which to broaden oneself…there are few other reasons to get into food service beyond that!
But with regard to the values one can find in teaching, I think that the writer missed the important reasons…that is, while it may be of some personal value to have had an experience like this…it is for the students that the real value would be seen. As I already alluded to, there is far too much homogeneity amongst teachers…I’m not talking about gender, racial or cultural background, but rather of personality traits.
You would have to look very hard to find a more risk-averse professional group. There is nothing wrong with this for any individual. In education classes we were continually presented with the thought that we are role models, and that most of our work in classrooms should reflect this. Don’t you think that there should be more teachers who represent the rest of the populating in this regard?
In a strange way this coincides with some things I have written about this week (regarding the ‘need to teach entrepreneurship’)…maybe there is some tendril of common ground here to look into…
Why Everyone Should Be a Teacher
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/delia-lloyd/why-everyone-should-be-a-teacher_b_845375.html
There’s an old saying that there are a handful of jobs everyone should have because they teach you essential life skills. I’ve heard different variations on this theme, but they essentially boil down to these four:
Food service (empathy)
Retail (patience and respect)
Customer service (kindness)
Manual labor (diligence and a work ethic)
I’ve done all four of these along the way and agree with the analysis, although my first job as a waitress also taught me why it’s important to have a good boss.
But today I’d like to add a fifth to the mix: teaching a class.
1) Giving back is meaningful.
2) You learn by doing.
3) The best part of life is surprises.
4) You laugh at yourself.
5) They call you "Miss" (or "Sir").
