When I saw this, I was immediately reminded of a place I once worked as
an instructor.
As time went on, it became apparent that my students were very
happy in my class and made much progress.
The administration saw that and gave me more classes. However, they were mystified at my success
with my adult students. Yet, I was not
welcomed to be on the staff development committee for years even though I
expressed interest. That changed toward
the end of my time there when we had a director who was able to appreciate me. I didn’t doubt
that the staff could create lesson plans and curricula; it was the
relationships with students that needed attention in my view. Most of the teachers welcomed and enjoyed
what I did. Some administrators (who
also taught) looked very annoyed. Some
didn’t attend.
Eventually I was mocked by administration for being “passionate”
and
“sincere.” Yes, you read that
right. Everything my students loved
about me apparently annoyed some admin people.
It should have been a good experience working at that place, but at best
it was a very mixed bag. My joy was with
the students. They were generally so
appreciative. Seeing them excited about
learning and creating with the written word thrilled me and them. I approached many administrative tasks with
equal enthusiasm, but there was often resentment. Yet they seemed to like the good
results. Whether it was calling students
or making a celebration or working on a committee for a project with our parent
organization or planning a staff development session, I like to do my
best. Otherwise, it feels meaningless. Plus when I sign my name to something, I like
to feel proud. If that’s a problem, that
is sad.
I guess my point is I don’t know how anyone in the helping
professions can
do a meaningful job without
sincerity and passion. For those
depending on sincerity and caring, it is a nightmare to find neither.
In the acting part of my life, if there is no passion and
sincerity, bye, bye. They are not
interested in phony baloney. It’s so
disturbing that the education field would accept (and sometimes prefer) anything
less than sincere and passionate.
Since I also do comedy, and comedy often comes from unfunny
shit, here’s a clip of comedy about this crap.
Enjoy.
Please plan to come to my comedy show on City Island on 9/13 @
7:45pm.
Ten bucks to enter. Basket or jar passed around for the
comics. Lots of laughter and intelligent
comedy.
Love to CGG-M
