The Dumb Class

Imagine yourself, the first day at a new school.

“We’re giving you the dumb class, Ms. D.”

“The dumb class? What’s that? Why am I teaching it?”

Well, Ms. D., they can’t learn, and you can’t teach, so putting you together is a thing of beauty.”

It’s a long-standing tradition to dump the very worst programs on new teachers, and then fine-tune them to make them even worse. That’s what happened to me when I started. I toyed with an offer of driving a FedEx Truck, which actually paid a little more at the time.

My first job was awful. I started with 4 programs, and then they took one of my classes away and gave me a fifth—I kid you not. It’s a wonder I stayed, because my first semester was pure hell.

I think this—if you’re smart, and you like kids, you’ll probably be a good teacher. Lord knows NYC’s kids need you.

It’s too bad we still drive so many young teachers away, though. I got to really love it after the first 6 months or so.