Wasted effort

Last year I started teaching in a Special Ed classroom. It's a behavior room. I get spit on and have chairs thrown at me from time to time. Anyway, I'm working under conditional certification from the state since I don't have a special ed degree. To keep it up I need to take six credits of special ed courses a year.

I got my grades back from the first class I took. I ended up with a C-. It was a little low for me. I've always been an A/B student. I rationalize it by reminding myself that I was a first year teacher with a 2 year old. I didn't have the time to put in.

Then it dawned on me that I actually put in too much time. All the state and my employer care about are the credits. The actual grade doesn't matter. As long as I keep up my certification my job is solid. To lose it I'd have to stop showing up or touch a kid or something like that. All this being the case, I figure anything above a D- is wasted effort. It is time I could have put into something else.

Friends are telling me that that attitude is what is wrong with America.

I suppose there's an argument to be made that if you were getting A's in these courses you might be armed with some knowledge that could help you make your teaching experience more enjoyable.

If however, you feel that you can do the gig just fine and pass their silly tests that don't mean a thing then I'd say you have the right attitude. Life and your time usage are all about opportunity cost. Realizing you'd rather spend your time on more important things is not what's wrong with America. It's just you utilizing your time more effectively.

How long do you have to take 6 credits a year for? That would get old fast, and I have to do a hundred or so hours of continuing ed a year(and that gets old.... super fast).

Are your friends still going to school while working full-time and raising a kid? I would say that is what is right with YOU, and America has nothing to do with it. Sounds like you have judgemental friends.

Wow. Special Ed teachers here are required by law, so your job is a lock. And summers off (mostly)? If that's the case, a few hours of school doesn't sound like that big a deal.

When I first got married I was working almost 7 days a week, going to college full time, remodeling a house and raising our first kid. Talk about not having free time.

As a special ed child, I appreciate the effort.


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