Where I Want to Work

February 27, 2008 in How to Get a Job, The Way It Were
Tags: hire, job, never give up, never surrender, pedagogy, philosophy, student, student teacher, teacher, teaching, work

There’s something to be said for our principal. He’s a shortish man with a mustache; he’d look a little like Super Mario if he wore red overalls and a matching hat.

Principal of an inner city high school with the highest dropout rate in the district, he showed us this video at the latest staff meeting.

Then he gave a little monologue I decided to transcribe about halfway in. Here are the excerpts I ended up with:

“This video represents our kids. This guy was, what? Some guy with a regular job? He went all the way to the top. Our kids have hidden talents. We may not see it all the time; sometimes we never see it. Never stop believing in them. I don’t care if they don’t do anything all year long, but never stop believing in them.”

And:

“I had three students in my office today. They weren’t all good students. In fact, they were all pretty poor students. But they all told me, ‘Don’t give up on me. I know I’m screwing around, but as soon as the teacher writes me off, that’s when I really give up.’”

If there’s a school this supportive of the students, and has this approach when dealing with teachers, it might just be one of those rare flocks in the education world worth joining and worth sticking with.

Inner-city setting be damned, I want to work here.