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I am a retired English teacher and department head, the mother of three grand mother of four, and have been married to the same man for 52 years. I subscribe to Dr. PM Forni's concept of Civility. I was born in South Philadelphia and grew up in the 'burbs. I love soft pretzels and cheesesteaks, the Phillies, the Eagles, and San Diego. I love being Mom, Aunt Kathy, Nona Kathy, and Teacher. I spend a lot of time in my gardens in the spring and summer, and in the winter I plan what I'm going to plant. I also am an avid reader and photographer.

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Thursday, January 23, 2014

A Bully By Any Other Name

I remember the first time I had ever seen anything to do with Governor Christie of New Jersey.  He was at a meeting with teachers about their salaries.  

One of the teachers stood to speak.  She said that many teachers begin their days before dawn, teach a full day, then take home papers to grade and work late into the night.  She continued to say that teachers just want to be compensated for what they do.  I've been there.  My days were long, included department head meetings and trouble-shooting for a rather large department, soothing the bristled, managing the book room, and teaching four classes (as opposed to five).  Sundays were  spent planning  (I usually had three separate preps- some years more(11th grade, 12th grade, Honors, Regular, SAT Prep), grading, recording grades and placing them in an electronic grade book and hard copy back-up, producing transparencies for the week's lessons, and writing tests.  I did this out of fear.  (One of my re-curing nightmares, still, is standing in front of a class full of high schoolers totally unprepared.) 

Christie's reply?  "Start looking for another job."  I'm paraphrasing here.  The vitriol of his response actually made me gasp.  Effectively bullied, she sat down.  

Every action carries with it its consequences.  Those may not be realized immediately; but surely, they will.  In other words, I knew that his treatment of her, and the effective chastising of all  in that room, would eventually come back to haunt him.  I just never thought it would be this soon.


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Christie's facade is definitely crumbling!

Bilbo said...

He would benefit from the attention of some of the crusty nuns who taught me in grade school.

Kimberly said...

I think one of the saddest commentaries on our modern values is the general 'meh' about the education of our children. Good teachers should be regaled as the heroes and compensated thusly. I'd much rather throw millions at a person who helps form the brain, morals, and work ethic of a child than someone who kicks, throws, catches, or hits a ball of any shape or size.

Sally Wessely said...

Thanks for sharing. The sad thing is that this story never would have made the headlines. You are right, he is a bully, and he doesn't respect those who serve without being compensated as they should be. Sadly, we've experienced a lot of disrespect from the public as teachers, but one would expect the governor of a state to be respectful.

Forsythia said...

I can't believe all the things that the teachers do in my grandson's school. They all deserve raises. We have a new CEO of our county schools (I think the older term was "superintendent") and I wish him the best. I am glad you told your story about Christie. He's hardly gubernatorial, let alone presidential.

Purple Flowers said...

I completely agree with Kimberly. I wonder what his Mother was like, as he said (in that meeting) she was a Teacher. Would he have told her to find a new job? I have been calling him a Bully all along.

Mage said...

Yup, A bully indeed. LOL

Gilly said...

As I am in the UK I don't know of the 'gentleman' of whom you speak. But I really hope he gets his come-uppance for his bullying remarks. We have that sort over here too. Particularly in Parliament and other establishments where men rule. its not right, and its time it stopped!

Kay said...

He'd been looking pretty good in the papers after Katrina. This is all a revelation. What a shame! His being a bully is coming to the light. Thank you for this eye-opening post, Kathy.