I hate it here…
Because I once felt such passion for it.
My allegiance to it felt almost spiritual,
I had a purpose—a place in this world.
I hate it here…
Because it is all made up,
And it is also real.
The dichotomy is the foundation of dissonance.
I hate it here…
Because I have to pretend.
I’m fine. It’s fine. Good morning at this ungodly hour.
Why does high school start so early--so developmentally wrong?
I hate it here…
Because research on sleep and learning is ignored.
We have always done it this way…
But here is a new curriculum, class, mandate, and rules you must teach, lead, endure, and enforce.
I hate it here…
Because I am tired.
Bone weary like my right calf muscle that wakes me up with a charley horse so painful I jump out of bed at 2 am.
The injury is worse because I must rise for the 30th cold January morning at 5:15 am to greet teenagers by 7.
I hate it here…
Because we live by a structure that is perpetually interrupted by
Workman digging a trench for the new entrance in the middle of a snowstorm.
Or by another meeting, a half day (which is truly a double day), or a new holiday like Lunar New Year, Juneteenth, or Eid that should be understood but are for most just another reason to sleep in.
I hate it here…
Because I teach young Americans whose futures seem bleak.
Why learn anything when there is the internet, a space of information, entertainment, and commerce? How does any teacher compete with that beast?
Why pursue careers when the American Dream appears as real as the Wizard of Oz?
I hate it here…
Because I used to love learning, school, teenagers, and America.
My life's work, Social Studies, the investigation of people's past and present,
But power and inequality are trending in negative directions.
The data is clear—people are the problem. It’s us.
I hate it here…
Because I am supposed to instill civics while a felon is pardoning Proud Boys with impunity.
While I teach the horrors of extreme nationalism, politicians chant “America First,”
And rich men speak nativist tropes while telling us they are not giving Nazi salutes at inauguration celebrations.
My heart breaks as I read. I understand why you have these wrenching feelings (I think I would too, if I were still with you in the classroom) but think back thirty years, when for all its ups and downs, history itself was a joy to teach, under the illusion that what we shared and taught would somehow make the world a better place where the lessons of history would defeat the worst of humanity. Reaching out in shared grief.
The whole world is changing. School isn’t easy as it was years ago. School didn’t start as early as it does today. Kids should learn to write their names, with more than a x