Oh, for heaven's sake

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Home : 2002 : April : 17

Oh, for heaven's sake
By Anne

I can't believe how huffy everyone's getting over Bev's observation that some teachers behave unprofessionally in the staff room. I worked as a corporate manager for 15 years before deciding to become a teacher. While I
have found many of my fellow teachers to be delightful and highly professional colleagues, I must say I have never seen a higher concentration of overgrown adolescents in any workplace than I've seen in the staff rooms of schools where I've taught. Vulgarity, dirty jokes, whining, complaining, rude comments about children, parents and co-workers--these things aren't venting. They're childish

and unprofessional If you're having a rough day, do what people who behave like professionals do--wait until the workday is actually over, leave the workplace, and then feel free to curse, complain, criticize all you want in language as vulgar as your friends and family members will tolerate. When you're at work, you're a professional, and isn't that what we teachers are always trying to get people to remember when we demand the compensation and respect we believe we deserve? And please remember, there is always a chance that a parent, child, district administrator, school board member or member of the community will walk in on or overhear the staff-room discussion.