Yesterday I got a call for an interview. This is a good thing, except that I've been very contented staying home with my young son for the past 3 years. Being a stay-at-home mom has allowed me to make my house a home. It has also allowed me to spend some very nice quality time with my son that I wouldn't have had if I was working.
So now I am faced with a decision to make, and it's a very hard decision to make. I'm not gonna gloss things over, so I will say that staying home has a lot of nice benefits. I don't have to wake up early, I can stay in my pajamas all day if I want, I can take a nap when I'm feeling tired, and I can work at my own pace. I am the boss! And I like it! On the other hand, a job will give me the extra money I'd like to have to spend on things like monthly manicures, pedicures, massages, new clothes and shoes, a big screen tv, a king size bed, money to pay off the visas, extra cash for vacations, and the list goes on. I love to shop and for the past several years I've had to curb my enthusiasm. This is my chance to get out and start spending again. So what do I do?
I am a teacher, and the job I will be interviewing for is working with adjudicated youth; kids who are taken out of the public schools and put into private, alternative education schools. I will be a history teacher at this school. Now you might be saying, 'hey you better take this job, jobs are hard to come by in today's economy', but you don't know those kids! They like to fight, and I refuse to break up fights at this point in my life. They also don't want to learn, and don't give a damn about the Great Depression, the Vietnam War, or today's war. All they care about is who is 'dissin who, who looked at them wrong, and what their girlfriend is doing at home.
One option is to take the job and say, hey, if they don't want to learn then I can't force them. So I could give them a passage to read and let them answer the questions at the end of the chapter. Easy. But could I get away with that every day? Yes, I have passion for history, and I like working with kids, but when they don't want to learn and don't care about school, I don't care how passionate the teacher is about the kids Or the subject, you're not gonna change that kids mind! All you can hope is that something that you say will one day stick in one of those kids' minds and changes his views on something. I have racked my brain at nights trying to come up with creative teaching ideas to get these kids interested and involved in history, but to no avail. So, this job would be different. I would be in it for the money. And trust me, it's not that much.
Life is full of decisions and I pray that I make the right choice on this one. Be well my friends!
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