5 A.M. I attempt to go to sleep, but no avail, despite the fact that my new medication is supposed to make me sleepy… Right…
Finally fall asleep at 5:45 and wake up at 6:00 covered in sweat. Must have been due to the stress that’s been fuelling me for the last two weeks.
7:15 A.M. Head to the car and drive to work, happy that it’s all over. It’s hard to concentrate while driving. The sun felt like it was burning holes in my cornea. Put on loud rock and sang along so that I wouldn’t fall asleep. (Apparently I shouldn’t be driving when “up” but I can’t help it.)
Got to school around 8 and calculated all the grades. Tons of students failed. I’ve stopped feeling bad for them. If they choose not to hand in assignments, if they choose not to re-sit their tests, if they choose not to attend class, and if they choose to do their exams really badly, then I don’t care anymore. In my opinion, they deserve to fail.
10 A.M. Meeting with the high school coordinator and homeroom teacher for grade 12. The vast majority were not just failing, they were bombing. 30%, 25%, 3%… Shockingly, they just added on grades instead of curving the grades. They decided to bring everyone up to 60% so that no one would fail. “By the time they get to grade 12, their parents have already spent millions on their education. How can we not let them graduate?” said the homeroom teacher. I was appalled to hear this; even more appalled to see that they desperately wanted everyone to graduate, despite the fact that they hadn’t done an ounce of work the whole year.
I decided to let the issue rest and went to collect my final pay cheque. Here’s where I start to feel the anger consume me. I was only being paid half my salary. Apparently I hadn’t been to school… during the exams… when I didn’t have classes… after all my classes had ended. Didn’t make any sense to me. I’m a part time teacher, who comes in for classes and leaves right after they end. I don’t understand how they could assume I wasn’t working. I was slaving my butt off to mark assignments and papers. How can I be penalised for it?
I refused to stick around for the meeting. I will not be attending graduation tomorrow. And I will also not return the exam papers until I get the money, in cash, delivered to me. I refuse to be exploited. I refuse to let this pass. I refuse to become the victim of a corrupt woman’s spend thriftiness. The woman in question is perhaps the only employer who asks for her teachers to cut their salaries. When she asked me come in again for the next academic year, she said that she’d like me to charge ten thousand less. Doesn’t make sense! Why on earth would I want to work for someone who doesn’t want to raise my pay every now and then, and instead, wants to decrease it? I’m glad I’ve left that pathetic excuse of a school. I’m glad it’s over. I can finally move on and work with decent and professional people.
