- Ivana Trump, on finishing her first novel
Updates
Jewish Settlers get dragged around
Abu Gharib prison photos reviewed
My super exciting trip to Chicago
hippie explodes in our basement
Governor Blagojevich puts teens to work
Presidential Hopeful Howard Dean exposed to gamma Radiation.
Left Lane Law Confusion is alleviated
Tetro-Phonic Instratrute Review uncovered!
2003 in 2003 heats up
Movies, YOU need to see
Bicycling: Remembering a weird guy from SIU
Asheron's Call: The best ten dollars a month you'll ever spend
Special Feature: Anatomy of a Cavity
Since I began my new job I am probably asked the question, "how do you like teaching?" more then any other question. A question that anyone starting a new job would be asked many times, a simple "small talk" question asked by acquaintances and friends, that demands a "small talk" answer like, "oh pretty good, but you know those kids." Well here is a non small talk answer.
Being an artist and a grocery store employee was in many ways easier then being an artist and an art teacher. That may sound Ironic but it's true. Imagine spending a day telling kids how to make art and in some cases trying to force kids to make art then trying to make art yourself, the desire just disappears. Imagine something you love doing, something you like doing so much that it becomes sacred. A sport for example, then spend a day making people do it. I bet you wouldn't meet your buddies for football when the weekend comes.
Its not that you lose interest in your art or sport, your interest becomes magnified and also impersonalized. I have replaced interest in my art for that of Suzie High School's. Which is crazy since half of the Suzie High Schools have so little interest in art that it resists measurement on a microscopic scale. Honestly it's the ones that don't care about art I worry the most about. How could something so great not matter. You start to second guess yourself, you wonder what you are doing wrong. How can I make it more interesting how can I make it better. Sometimes it works and sometimes it has the effect of smashing your head against a brick wall.
I'm sure that a science teacher doesn't have these problems. I can not imagine that a science teacher doesn't go home at night and not feel like running their experiments, or writing their research papers. I guess as a teacher, whether it be science or art, your job is not to work in the field but to teach which when you think about it is infinitely atrocious. To think that you will never really discover something new, never become internationally renowned, never win a Nobel prize.
Of course that's just the mildly depressing part. I haven't even got to the wages yet. Actually I think the wages are quite nice, but I've never wanted to be rich if you want to be rich I sincerely suggest to avoid the grocery or teaching industries.
