Blue Mass Group

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A Shout out to the Teachers

By

A little poem from Slam-master Taylor Mali to read on your lunch break:

What Teachers Make, or

Objection Overruled, or

If things don’t work out, you can always go to law school

By Taylor Mali

www.taylormali.com

He says the problem with teachers is, “What’s a kid going to learn

from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?”

He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true what they say about

teachers:

Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his

and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests

that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite company.

“I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor,” he says.

“Be honest. What do you make?”

And I wish he hadn’t done that

(asked me to be honest)

because, you see, I have a policy

about honesty and ass-kicking:

if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor

and an A- feel like a slap in the face.

How dare you waste my time with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall

in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.

No, you may not ask a question.

Why won’t I let you get a drink of water?

Because you’re not thirsty, you’re bored, that’s why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:

I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,

I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.

Billy said, “Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?”

And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are

and what they can be.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,

I make them question.

I make them criticize.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them write, write, write.

And then I make them read.

I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely

beautiful

over and over and over again until they will never misspell

either one of those words again.

I make them show all their work in math.

And hide it on their final drafts in English.

I make them understand that if you got this (brains)

then you follow this (heart) and if someone ever tries to judge you

by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:

I make a goddamn difference! What about you?

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Comments

  1. and just tell them thank you.

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    Big thumbs up to Mr. Mali.  Mister, because no teacher of mine has ever had — or will ever have — a first name.

  2. This is what public debate is reduced to – an 8-year old “poem” that has been circulating around the Internet for many years?

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    Base teacher salaries in the City Boston range from $42,355 for a first-year teacher with a college degree to $81,702 for teachers with doctorate degrees and nine years of experience.

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    Boston teachers, on average, make $67,632 a year.

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    How many here honestly think that’s way too little?

    • until you compare it to what lawyers make.  I was talking to one lawyer who was changing jobs and wasn’t sure if she should settle for one that might be cool, but would be a 100,000 dollar pay cut!

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      The thing this poem did for me was scare me away from becoming a teacher.  I don’t think I’d care enough about how hard my students tried.

      • I loved this poem.  I am thankful for my teachers and my children’s teachers.  I do wish we’d finally transform from the agrarian calendar and pay our teachers for full days and full year’s worth of work.  But there’s no need to dump on lawyers to make the point!  (He says as he wraps up a 60 hour week, not untypical of what lawyers work).

      • “until you compare it to what lawyers make”

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        An 8th grade school teacher can not help my firm sign a $50 million dollar realestate deal.  So yeah – A lwayer should make more.

        • is because lawyers made it difficult, purposefully.  Kind of like J2EE programmers.  They aren’t so much smarter than teachers, and they make mistakes too, and they end up costing us a lot of money.

        • A thousand 8th grade school teachers can’t do that either. So a lawyer should make more than a thousand school teachers.

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          Heck, a million can’t do that either. Why stop there? Let’s pay lawyers all the money in the world simply because they have a specialized skill that can’t be replaced by a school teacher.

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          I’m gonna ask for a raise tomorrow based on this argument. Think I’ll get it?

          • “I’m gonna ask for a raise tomorrow based on this argument. Think I’ll get it?”

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            if you are a school teacher….Of course you won’t.  You break up spitball fights in the cafe for a living.  Not sign 50 million dollar real estate deals.  But you may get that salary as a comedian. đŸ™‚

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            But seriously . . .

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            Let me simplify this for you —  you will get what the market demands for your talents. 

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            Let’s say you can hit home runs for a living.  And the Boston Red Sox wants you on their team so bad that they will pay you 5 million a year to come to Boston.  But at the same time the New York Yankees want to pay you 6 million a year.  The Red Sox and the Yankees just created a market for home run hitters with your level of talent… 5-6 million bucks. 

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            Now enter in a person who teaches 10 year olds how to spell.  Basically they are worth a very generous 40 – 50 and sometimes 60 K per year (School Year that is).

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    • How many here honestly think [$67,632 a year is] way too little?

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      How many here are only concerned with teachers in Boston?  How many here think that salaries in Boston are indicative of the state or the nation?

      • You misquote me by adding a bracketed phrase to my initial question.  I purposefully gave a range of salaries showing what 1st-year teacher makes and a very experience teacher makes.  The average is only part of the story.

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        We also run in to a lot of difficulties when comparing salaries across the state (with its’ many different costs of living) and this is compounded looking at nationwide averages.

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        Nevertheless, my point stands.

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        According to the Department of Education, the average teacher in Massachusetts makes $56,275.  Not exactly a pittance.

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        The national average seems more in dispute (it is more difficult to calculate) but it appears the national average teacher salary is around $48,000. 

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        Listen, I like teachers.  I believe they should be well paid. 

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        I just think the extent to which they are underpaid is routinely exaggerated, primarily because they are mostly unionized (unlike most workers), omnipresent (who doesn’t have a close friend or family member that’s a teacher?) and mostly municipal employees (who’s salary is naturally debated by the taxpayers paying them).  Most private school teachers make less because they are non-union, more rare, and not public employees.

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          • It was reading stuff like this that made me so reluctant to give the national average.  I purposefully tried to chose one of the lower reported averages, since I believe my points is still well made.

        • Here — I’ll quote the entire two paragraphs.

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          Boston teachers, on average, make $67,632 a year.

          How many here honestly think that’s way too little?

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          You’re going to tell me that me substituting $67,632 for that is a misquote?  Puh-leaze.

          • Once again, even here, you take certain words from my original post out of the context of my entire (failry short) post. 

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            The first time was worse since you added the paranthetical phrase but this second time still misquotes me.

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            Let me say again: “I purposefully gave a range of salaries showing what 1st-year teacher makes and a very experience teacher makes.  The average is only part of the story.”

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            I’m not sure why you don’t get this.

            • That is how you quote a line that refers to a previous section of your post.  The parenthetical phrase “$67,632 a year is” replaces the word “that’s” in your sentence because the word “that’s” was referring to the pay per year.  It is put into parentheses so you know it was changed by the person writing the quote.

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              He quoted you accurately. 

              • It is a misquote. 

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                I’ve explained twice but neither of you have even acknowledged my explanation, yet alone successfully refuted it.

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                My explanation of why I think it was a misquote is, and here I quote myself yet again, “I purposefully gave a range of salaries showing what a 1st-year teacher makes and a very experience teacher makes.  The average is only part of the story.”

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                The average is only part of the story.  See, get it.  I guess not.

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                One more try.  The “that’s” does not refer simply to “[$67,632 a year is]”.  Right, I said does not.  The average is only part of the story.

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                “Instead, I purposefully gave a range of salaries showing what 1st-year teacher makes and a very experience teacher makes.  The average is only part of the story.”

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                This is so exasperating! 

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                If you want to claim “this is not a misquote” again, I at least ask you to please acknowledge my original point, that “I purposefully gave a range of salaries showing what 1st-year teacher makes and a very experience teacher makes.  The average is only part of the story.”

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                That’s what makes it a misquote.  Not only was one sentence taken out of context but its’ meaning was distorted.

                • Go get a book or look up how to disect a sentence and paragraph.  If you were “misquoted” it’s because you wrote your post incorrectly.

                • That’s hilarious! 

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                  Your new argument (which once again fails to even acknowledge or refute my original explanation of why I felt I was misquoted) is that “If you were “misquoted” it’s because you wrote your post incorrectly.”?

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                  I was misquoted because I misspoke?  I love that.

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                  My original post, which was misquoted, included three paragraphs (the last two of which were one sentence each).  All I pointed out is that by taking just the last sentence, and adding a bracketed phrase pulled from the previous sentence,  the original meaning of my post was distorted by separating it from it’s context (“misquoted”).

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                  I would hope that even the best “discet”-ers don’t think the best way to “disect” a sentence or paragraph is to take a word like “that’s” and replace it with a bracketed phrase that refers only to a part of previous statements.  And I would hope that they would at least acknowledge that they erred in doing so when the mis-“discet”ion is clearly pointed out by the original author. 

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                  FYI, [from the web]: “The word is dis (Greek for separate or apart) sect (Latin, to cut). It describes a mode of investigation that teases structure apart carefully and thoughtfully. The word is not spelled d-i-s-e-c-t. You do not say dIssolve or dIscuss, so why would you say dIssect? Correct pronunciation also helps spelling.”

        • “I just think the extent to which they are underpaid is routinely exaggerated”

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          Well said . . . well said

      • From today’s WJS referencing the Bureau of Labor Statistics:  public school teachers earn $34.06 per hour in 2005. which is 36% more than the average white collar worker.

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        Detroit: $47.28
        NY: $45.79
        LA: $44.03

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        First glance, it’s tough to say that teachers are underpaid, even on national average level.

  3. Teachers really don’t bring much value to society, especially this society.  And I’m only talking about grades k – 12 of course.

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    That’s why we pay them so poorly.  If the teacher doesn’t like the pay . . . well fine – get out and let’s get someone younger in that can baby sit these kids for less pay.

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    They work what 9 months of the year

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    work till 3:00 in the afternoon???

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    come on?????

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    • I completely disagree with the tone and substance of this post. 

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      Teachers add an incredible amount of value to society. 

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      That’s why we don’t pay them poorly.

    • School starts when it starts and ends when it ends, but when do you suppose they grade papers, or plan lessons, or meet with parents, or students out of class?  After 3:00pm and on weekends, that’s when.  And the last 2 weeks of summer vacation, they are in school, planning for the new year, and two other weeks during the summer, they are working on continuing professional education.

      • “And the last 2 weeks of summer vacation, they are in school, planning for the New Year, and two other weeks during the summer, they are working on continuing professional education.”

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        1.) Congratulations on working a whole 4 weeks out of your summer vacation.  I don’t how you manage to do that and still find time to enjoy the other 8 weeks of summer.  But look on the bright side . . . at least you get a week off in the winter, than another week off in the spring. Bringing you up to 10 weeks vacation a year right???? To put things in perspective….I get 2 weeks Vacation a year.
        DOSE OF REALITY #1 – But you wont catch me beging for a raise (or going on strike for that matter, I would much rather EARN my raise).

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        2.) “School starts when it starts and ends when it ends, but when do you suppose they grade papers, or plan lessons, or meet with parents, or students out of class?  After 3:00pm and on weekends, that’s when.”

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        So basically you work the same hours I do.  WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD MY FRIEND.  – DOSE OF REALITY # 2… EVERYONE works past 3 pm.  And many work weekends too. But unlike you I don’t cry about it.  It is just a fact of life to a man like me.

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        Look – You will probably go the rest of your life and never understand this but, your typical school teacher thinks they are going above and beyond the call of duty just because they stay late and work until 5 pm. 

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        Most teachers are so out of touch with the rest of the work force that they say dumb things like . . .

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        “And the last 2 weeks of summer vacation, they are in school, planning for the New Year, and two other weeks during the summer, they are working on continuing professional education.”

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        • I’m married to a teacher, and we’re not begging for a raise, but your insinuation that these folks read the paper for a few weeks a year and get paid for it is droolingly ignorant.

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          School starts daily at 7, but kids who work after school need time for make up and extra help, so she gets there an hour and a half early.  After school, there is more time for make ups and extra help, plus the standard round of administrative meetings that everyone everyweher must endure, so she leaves work between 5 and 5:30.  That is a sixty hour workweek, without counting weekend grading and lesson planning for the four different courses that she teaches.

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          As for the February break, she will have the pleasure of grading 2500 pages of research paper this year, as she has every year.  Christmas break is usually devoted to making mid term exams, though this does not require the whole week.

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          Teachers don’t finish for summer when the students do, they usuallu start at the beginning of July, sometimes the last week of June.  Same thing in August, they start around the fifteenth.

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          So that is six weeks of vacation, two of which are devoted to CLE, leaving four.  If there two weeks left over from Christmas and Fuel week, that makes 6 weeks.  Whoop de ding dong do.  Two more weeks than I got at entry level.

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          So yes, we accept lesser pay in order to get a few extra weeks of vacation.  Few teachers would disagree with that. 

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          But your insinuation that this is some sort of cushy job is absurd.

          • “School starts daily at 7, but kids who work after school need time for make up and extra help, so she gets there an hour and a half early.  After school, there is more time for make ups and extra help, plus the standard round of administrative meetings that everyone everyweher must endure, so she leaves work between 5 and 5:30.  That is a sixty hour workweek, without counting weekend grading and lesson planning for the four different courses that she teaches.”

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            WOW – are you telling me your wife works 12 hour days mon – fri.  hey if that’s the truth . . . .

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            • If you were growling about how distinguish the teachers who work their posteriors off from those who coast, I’m right there with ya.

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              But you didn’t do that; the position you took was overbroad and asinine.

    • Based upon the numerous spelling and grammatical gaffes you’ve displayed in your posts here thus far, I’d have to agree that your teachers did indeed fail.

  4. I met Taylor Mali when he performed this August at BU for a Community Service program. To do a shameless plug, you should check out his CD “Conviction”.

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    ..and without teachers we’d be going to hell in a handbasket (faster than we are currently)

  5. I honestly don’t think I’ve ever been witness to such an ignorant, poorly educated group of posters until now.  You adults are the reason why children are so messed up these days and why my great great great grandchildren will be as well.

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    You are no nothing touchholes.  I hope some child who got crap for education because of careless, know nothing, tardhelmets like yourselves grows up to be a thug and mugs you on the street.  Even more, I hope it’s your own children who grow to be thugs and mug your sorry bums on the street.

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    More than anything, I hope that some smart kids start a revolution and run your useless bums out of this country.

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    What a waste of space and air you are!

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    You suck at life.  Cease to exist.

    • know nothing*

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      Don’t need you creeps getting my case about an error in spelling.  I know that’s something you would do seeing as you let yourselves get sidetracked so easily.  Oh, for the record… loquacious you were not misquoted.  I understand what you were saying, but it doesn’t apply because you were not misquoted.  Go back to school.  I hear third time around is a charm.  hahahahaha

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