Vocation

A colleague and I were speaking recently and in the midst of our discussion she referred to teaching as a vocation. I've heard this term more than a few times before, but she had me thinking about it again as I close out my 27th year of teaching.

A vocation is a calling. For many, the term evokes religious overtones. Is teaching sacred work? It gets at something very essential and very very important. There's not much work in the world that is more important- though I cede that other work may be equally important.

As I said goodbye to a woman who taught me and my son and with whom I've taught with for now 27 years, it is clear that teaching is, in some ways, sacerdotal. There are rituals, there's a sense of self-sacrifice, and we can when we're lucky affect profound and seemingly miraculous changes. This woman helped do that for me. She made me feel I belonged at a school where I was struggling terribly as a young 9th grader.

But before I get so high-falutin, I also should state it plainly that I don't always do this job for such noble reasons because for me there is no rush quite like it. I had classes this year that were simply exhilarating and I know that I had both everything and nothing to do with it. I'll admit that as a younger teacher, my ego was also very wrapped up in being seen as an excellent teacher. It's less about that for me now as I purposely try to keep my ego deflated. But the rush, ah... it definitely keeps me coming back.

The pay ain't great. The hours are lousy- any teacher worth their salt knows this job takes hours and hours of work beyond the school day. We're not especially respected by society and my fellow teachers in public education are punching bags for the politicians. I'm still waiting for the day when they put a committee of teachers together to solve the problems of business instead of the reverse. 

I'm the dad of triplets who graduated from high school on Saturday and I'm so very grateful to their many teachers who felt vocations to enter this profession despite these downsides. They've helped shape my kids in profound ways.