Daily Mood Quotes
Day 176 – October 27, 2011
“it is easier to prevent bad habits than to break them.
~Benjamin Franklin
Today I struggled with what to talk about, because there was so much. It has been an interesting 24 hours. I watched the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley last night and the material that was there was so incredibly overwhelming, I simply tuned it out after a while (there was a lot of bad news). Then there is my husband who completely lost his composure for a few days, after dealing with his family and his mother's death. My in-laws are not the easiest people in the world to deal with, a lot of anger and resentment, for no real good reason. Mad to just be mad, hmmm... Anyway, I had to say something, risking a possible disagreement between us. There were some hurt feelings of course, that is expected when people remind you that you are behaving badly. Moving on... Then there is the occasional teacher(s) you come across, who feel that their time as a teacher in years (tenure) is somehow more important than the fresh batch of children they are responsible for teaching each year.
Guess which subject wins? The bad teacher. Why do I feel this teacher warrants the “bad teacher” sobriquet from me. Because, it is clear that her focus is on her and not the children, a very bad habit. It appears that her teaching is more about going through the motions, choosing her favorites, separating the herd (the students she wants to teach-vs-the students she doesn't, due to challenges or other discrimination's) all aimed at making the job easier for her. Unfortunately, this bad habit causes good students to be left out in the cold, or lost in their studies through no fault of there own. Lazy teachers just piss me off.
Rob Gilber said, “First we form habits, then they form us. Conquer your bad habits or they will conquer you.” In this particular case, it seems that 20 years of teaching may be a little too long. In any career you have two choices; move forward or backward. There really is no good option to stay put, where you are. It's like being afloat and rudderless on the ocean, trying to remain completely still. Not going to happen...we begin to drift, slowly at first, but surely as the tides of time and winds of fortune drag us, one way or the other. I think another analogy might be a spiral stair case. We can chose to climb up toward better performance and greater accomplishment, or down toward mediocrity and eventually failure. Its our choice, but one we must make. The one unique thing with the spiral stairs viewpoint, is that we so often find ourselves repeating cycles and habits (including bad habits), only spread out in time and space. They can be cycles of growth, or decline and it is up to us. We always have the option to look inward to review the previous cycles and preview what may be ahead. Its the effort that makes the difference and when you are dealing with the fate of future generations it had better be forward, not backward. Like I said lazy = bad and bad teachers piss me off. Now you know why...
In the movie Kindergarten Cop with Arnold Schwarzenegger (Detective John Kimble), Joyce (played by Penelope Ann Miller) said, “You know, kindergarten is like the ocean. You don't want to turn your back on it.” You should never turn your back on students. My husband once told me a story about one of his college professors, he said, “you should be nice to your B – C students, there the ones who will come back and build a wing on your school.” I think that just about says it...
Now, as to my husband, I understand he is going though a tough time right now and had been deeply hurt by venomous anger that is unfounded by my in-laws (his family). It is really out of character for him to be so abrupt and sullen, but we don’t want any of their old bad habits to take root here. Let's keep the big picture in mind and move forward also. Lets continue to climb up and not stumble down to their level. We moved for a reason and it is clear that was a good choice. Enough is enough.
How will you move forward today?
Tune in tomorrow to read the daily mood quote
Thank you for reading
