Text
reflections on subbing
I hated substitute teachers when I was in school. They do things differently, or, at times, not at all. I never got the sense that they genuinely wanted to be in the classroom; it was maybe a case of being retired and not knowing how to truly retire (once a teacher, always a teacher), or being unemployed and just needing SOMETHING (*cough*). Let’s face it, it’s better than sitting in a chair for a couple hours giving plasma. You Asburians know what I’m talking about. I do (most of the time) enjoy the experience, however.
I’ve been subbing at two schools - one public, one private. There is a ridiculous amount of difference. If you strip away everything exterior to the student, they are all essentially the same, factoring in age differences. 7th-graders are 7th-graders no matter what school they’re at. But I very clearly get a sense of difference in both upbringing and student-teacher relationships between the two types of schools. Very clearly. This is not to lump all private schoolers and all public schoolers into two broad, judgmental categories…well, maybe it is. The majority of public kids seem downtrodden, unresponsive, and just plain detached from learning. The majority of private kids seem more interested, more “with it”, and better behaved. I have no clue how much of this is because of parents or teachers. One would think that a private school kid is at the private school kid because of the parents’ level of involvement with the kid’s life and education, but I really have no way to know.
However, I can’t help but remember my own personal public school upbringing. Granted, I think it was mostly because my parents couldn’t afford private school. My parents ALWAYS emphasized that I should put education first. I had some amazing teachers whom I felt genuinely connected to. This led me to the conclusion that public school is really pretty awesome, because look how I turned out! But now that I’m subbing in both, there’s a world of difference. And I’m not saying that in order to imply that I will most definitely be sending my own kids to private school one day. I think this whole scenario just takes me to a place in my mind where I’m not sure anymore, now that I have a slightly higher vantage point. Maybe this is the kind of experience that would make me want to be one of those phenomenal teachers I had in public school, who knows.
Thoughts?
