Why I am not a teacher

I went to grad school for secondary social studies education.  I dipped my toe in the teaching ocean for about half a second and then ran for my life.  Everyone always asks me "why don't you just teach?"  They always reminded me of the short days, the summers off and the holidays.  I do not want to teach!  Teaching is bad.... I mean really bad!  Maybe some people out there like it, more power to them, but it is not for me.  Let me explain to you all my experience "teaching" the youth of this country.

First I think I should explain my motivation.  I want to say that I did not initially go to school to teach.  I earned my B.A. in History, concentrating in classical and ancient history.  When I finished my undergrad degree I knew I wanted to continue my education but I was not sure what I wanted to do.  I debated going all the way with history and eventually becoming a professor, but that would be a lot of time and money committed to a career that I was not positive I wanted.  I thought teaching might allow me to experiment with grad school and writing subject curriculum, public speaking and so on....  All things I figured would help me in the future if I did eventually decide to become a professor.

I love history.  I love talking about history.  I love learning about how cultures evolve and interact over space and time and discussing new ideas and theories about how past events played out and how they effect us today.   I got into teaching because I like standing in front of a group of people and running my mouth about what I love.  I did not get into teaching because I like kids (doesn't mean I don't like them, it just wasn't my reason).

I will try to keep this as short as I can.  My love of history ruined my ability to teach high school.  Social Studies in New York State (and I would imagine in the rest of the states) is a joke.  Like other subjects the curriculum is based exclusively off of the Regents exam.  So as a teacher it is your job to teach the students the skills to preform well on the Regents exam (this will lead to potential funding for the school district).  The Regents exam consists mainly of multiple choice questions and a short essay on a ridiculous topic.  The "facts" that are learned are extremely "american bias"  they show very little if any perspective of any other cultures.  There is very little history taught of any other region of the world.  By far the most frustrating aspect of American High School Social Studies is the complete and utter exclusion of geography!  I once asked a student to point to Japan on a world map.  They responded "that is the capitol of China, right?" and then pointed to Europe.

I could no longer participate in the Americanized version of reality that schools cram into students.  American perspective certainly has its place, but, you can not reflect without a mirror.  We need to teach our students that other, foreign, different perspectives are not bad, but help us learn more about ourselves and our place in this world.  I certainly could not compromise myself and these children.  It was a nightmare.

Instead of hoping to have an accident on the way to work everyday so I could go to the hospital instead of to the classroom, I decided to change my career path.  That is why I do not teach!

Powder Keg Festival - Buffalo, NY

Over the weekend my husband and I decided to take Lennon down town to the Powder Keg Festival. It is suppose to be the "new" local winter festival. I was pretty excited. The idea reminded me of when I was a kid growing up in Saranac Lake, NY. Every February the town would put on a winter festival complete with parades, games, crafts, and an ice castle with fireworks! I remember looking forward to it every year. I was thrilled that Lennon might have a chance to be a part of a similar tradition in his home town. Unfortunately we were greatly disappointed.

My Issues with the festival:

1. Total lack of organization. It just felt like complete chaos! People not knowing where to go or what to do.

2. Lack of visual stimulation. The organizers of this event had a huge opportunity to make Buffalo a winter wonder land! Parades with costumes, impressive ice sculptures and street performers could have all played a part in this. Maybe even some reindeer? Or Sleigh rides? Any thing to make it a little more "magical". They did have Ice sculpture presentations, but compared to other winter fests I have been to they were not impressive. There was an Ice labyrinth... that is a good idea, but it could have been better. Put sculptures in the labyrinth! Maybe add an ice slide?

3. The organizers seemed to steer clear of the water front. All the money and effort put into making a beautiful waterfront, and no one ever seems to use it! The whole festival doesn't have to be there, but set something up... use it for something!!!!

What they should do again next year:

1. Closing an off ramp and turning it into a tubing hill was a really cool idea! The line to use it was kind of insane, but that was because it was the only thing really worth doing at the festival.

2. The beer tent with band (this is never a bad idea)

3. The boy scouts demonstration of building an igloo. Good job boy scouts! My only suggestion would be to maybe have multiple troops involved. Like a boy scout igloo making contest.

4. The ice labyrinth. Good idea, but like I said before it could have been a lot better.

5. Summer sports in the snow... neat! They should play this up next year and add more sports.

I hope they make another attempt at this next year, and I hope they learn from their mistakes. I think this could have the potential to be a lot of fun.