“The definition of insanity
is to do the exact same thing every day,
and end up surprised and disappointed
because nothing ever changes.”

My friend, Sissy, refuses to do committee work with public school teachers because of our renowned tendency to complain about everything and do nothing to change things. It seems that it doesn’t take us very long to “learn” that we really can’t change things and the best we can do is the work we do helping our students. Alas, enough negative experiences with that and many a teacher then reduces their expectations to just showing up on time, having a reasonable command on the curriculum and not fucking up over the course of the day.

It’s sad to think that the system has such a consistent knack for chewing up young energetic teachers and spitting out old bitter negative shells who are just hanging on to live to the day when they don’t have to do this fucking shit any more. Being a bit older when I came into teaching, and through my experiences with Pepperdine, I just can’t accept this idea that we can’t change things or that success by attrition is still success. I believe that there is no excuse for living ones life “in silent” frustration and disappointment. I’m too old for this shit. JBB