Yahoo!!!
I'm officially RETIRED today.
(The first retirement deposit came in, so now it really IS true.)
18 years of 'trying' to teach high school science. Trying, because the vast majority of each class does not want to be there, does not want to learn, does not want to know the things they are required to know and actively fights against knowing. And, when they don't know...guess whose fault it is? A: never the 'students' fault.
Some won't learn. Some can't learn no matter how hard they try and that is heartbreaking.
Five or six (or one or two) (or none) in a class of 32 actually try to learn. But, you can't devote any time to them because of the six or 16 in a class who go out of their way to ruin the learning environment.
No more pregnant fifteen year olds with pierced tongues and five years of sex experience!
No more lies, deceit, stealing, vandalism, and attempts to hurt me.
No more 36 students and 26 seats.
No more witnessing human tragedy on a grand scale...daily.
No more constant, mindless babbling. No more insane arguing. No more insane parents.
No more SAT scores that show a bell curve shifted to the left by 23 IQ points and getting worse every year.
No more trying to teach chemistry or physics to people who can't divide...WITH A CALCULATOR.
No more watching a near heroic expenditure of resources on the very worst behaved, the bottom of the barrel, while almost nothing is expended on the best and brightest.
So, do I miss it? Ha, haa, haaa, haaaaa, hhhaaaaaaaaaaa. Not in the slightest.
Lets see, what will I do tomorrow, ahhhh, oh, I know, go shooting, or diving, or play on the computer, or ride the motorcycle, or ride the bike, or ..................................................................
Yippee!