Last night I received an email from a former student saying that my class was responsible for shifting her view of writing to "semi-enjoyable;" she said that I am the first teacher to challenge her and her thought processes. That is the second such email I've gotten from a student within the last three years that I can document from two vastly different universities. Pretty good track record, right, so why the lamentation?
This morning I checked my bank balance hoping to find my usual meager net pay of $756 deposited; I found half that. I was explained to me that I'd have the rest by Friday, but that's not my point. The average burnout point for teachers--those who don't teach primarily upper division and graduate courses--is three years. I've been doing it for nearly ten. I discovered this weekend that the GAs' in my wife's office net pay is my gross, and I think they get benefits, I don't.
The private sector is dumbfounded as to why otherwise qualified people are graduating universities unable to write affectively. Maybe, if we were paid what we're worth, commiserate with experience, education and the value of the skills, practical and meta-cognitive, that we facilitate, that would begin to change. I currently teach two sections with a total of 44 students registered. How much money do you suppose the university is making from my efforts? You do the math.
Don't get me wrong, I love what I do and those for whom I do it. And I know that my current supervisor is doing all he can to remedy the situation, but little is changing. I'm livid.
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Dont give up on teaching. If you did it would be an absolute tragedy. You have too much knowledge to not share it with the world. Thank you for the knowledge you have bestowed to me. I hope that wherever your teaching takes you, you continue to care when you teach. Too many teachers dont care and only see the lecture as their paycheck. They dont care what the students will gleam from their lectures. You do and you try to know your students. That is why you are such a one of a kind teacher.
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