The Faculty Lounge

by Jennifer Mathieu

Would she suggest to a young, bright-eyed college student that she should go into public education? On her worst and hardest days, probably not. Things had changed, and not for the better. This job now felt less like an art form and more like a factory line. That said, and all things considered, Amanda could say with total honesty that when she sat down and thought, really thought, about how she had spent the past twenty-six years of her life, she was glad that she had not gone into law or finance.

There was so much about their jobs that could not be explained well, especially to those who had never worked in a school. It often felt like trying to describe some strange supernatural phenomenon, some bizarre thing outside the laws of nature.

problem today, not hers. And the truth was, he wasn’t wrong. Teacher trainings and district-led meetings were often run this way, with an approach that treated the adults in the room as if they were children, not professionals.

“What’s that old saying? When I go, I hope it’s during professional development because the transition to death would feel so seamless?”