People look at teachers with pity.
Barcelona"Yes, I'm a teacher. A high school teacher." "Oh, sigh, I couldn't." Zero interest. Absent gaze. "I'm also a journalist." "A journalist? Wow. And where do you write?" "Exactly. I'm the same person, and I've dedicated my whole life to teaching, but I always end up talking about my journalistic side, which seems—only seems—more exciting. My real job, the day-to-day work, and my true calling doesn't generate any interest or isn't considered a prestigious profession. People look at teachers with pity and almost offer their condolences for having a profession that until relatively recently was admired, valued, and loved."
I don't know what's happened in such a short time that we've become second-rate professionals, so questioned. If you go to the mechanic and he tells you it's the timing belt, you accept it, keep quiet, and pay a fortune. If the mechanic says so, and he knows so much, then it must be true. On the other hand, what the teacher says is questioned absolutely all the time, from every angle. They're constantly telling us how we should do our job. Now it's projects, now it's learning situations, now it's emotional math. They can embrace division, but only if they want to, of course.
And from a private school.
Because you see the lack of recognition, I'll tell you—and here I'm opening a can of worms that's rarely discussed—that, despite the drama, I'm a teacher at a private school. This is truly outrageous. Let's be honest, everyone considers us less qualified because we haven't taken competitive exams. I have the feeling that we're treated like the generic version of education. Now I might receive a flood of messages telling me no, that we should be valued equally, and that our work in the classroom also contributes immensely to the educational landscape. The fact is, I've been in a private school for twenty-two years, and I still get asked if I'm going to put myself on waiting lists or if I'm going to switch to a public school. It's the eternal question, like when a couple doesn't have children and the topic always comes up; as if something's missing. It's hard to accept that this is our choice and that we've voluntarily chosen the less desirable option. All my life I've defended the right to choose, and choosing a private school just isn't the right answer.
Besides, you already know this. We earn less, we teach more hours with students, and we don't have the job security of a civil servant. Our hours are somewhat longer. And yet, most teachers in private schools aren't in our schools as if it were a backup plan; quite the opposite. We believe in the school's educational project, we've grown accustomed to the staff (most of my colleagues and I have been working together for two decades), and over the years we've grown to love our schools. Why should we change if we know we're adding value wherever we work?
That's why, despite being a journalist, I've never considered giving up teaching. Sometimes people tell me they're completely different jobs, and I always maintain that they're identical: the goal is to communicate and explain things as clearly as possible to people who don't know them. And if I'm writing these lines now, it's not thanks to journalism, but to the teacher who always encouraged me to never stop reading and writing. Without our teachers, whether from public or private schools, we wouldn't be who we are.
