{"id":36,"date":"2010-03-04T13:54:56","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T12:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hilarymoriarty.com\/blog\/?p=36"},"modified":"2010-03-04T13:54:56","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T12:54:56","slug":"what-do-you-do-for-a-living","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"What do you do for a living?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ah, there\u2019s the rub.
\nSome occupations are worth choosing for their kudos value in conversations with strangers. \u201cRocket scientist\u201d has a nice ring to it; instant respect; what enormous brains you must have. And these days, \u201cfootballer\u2019s wife\u201d has potential; what big \u2013 no, let\u2019s not go there.
\nThe rocket scientist may have the sneaky advantage of being a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing, like the really fast cars which don\u2019t look brassy and obvious, but zoom past surprising you.\u00a0 Exciting when they do.
\nBut how many teachers thwart or deflect enquiry with a not-quite-straight-forward answer? I know one who swore that saying he taught physics just ruined his holidays: strangers would then launch into diatribes about their own dismal days with dire physics teachers boring them to death.
\nSo he told everyone he was a scientist working for the gas board. Actually, I think he could well have stopped with \u201cscientist\u201d and skipped the gas board bit. \u201cScientist\u201d is fascinating and mysterious enough for most casual enquiries.
\nOh, the possibilities \u2013 neuroscientist, astrophysicist?
\nJust being a common or garden scientist is a step up from ordinary mortal-dom, even if the speaker\u2019s degree was a poor third from a less than top flight university. \u201cA scientist\u201d has achieved so much in their field, he or she has become part of the small, select army of \u201cists\u201d.
\nAs it happens, the \u201cists\u201d in any staffroom are quite a diverse group, including the artist and the classicist. Oh, especially the classicist; I\u2019ve always thought they verge dangerously on the elitist, too. They know, understand and can do things which mere mortals simply cannot comprehend. Like rocket scientists, but deep in history rather than the future.
\nHistorians bring us to the other handy sub-group for teachers who would rather not own up: the \u201cns\u201d \u2013 historian, mathematician, musician.
\nBoth historians and mathematicians \u2013 and probably a lot of the \u201cists\u201d as well \u2013 are surely often asked: \u201cOh, so what do you do?\u201d There is something about the statement of \u201cist\u201d-ness or \u201cn\u201d-ness which presumes that you must be capable of many things, that many worlds are open to you, including saving the one we live in. \u201cHow exciting! How interesting! Tell me more!\u201d
\nSadly, this is a rare response to admitting to spending one\u2019s life teaching. So who can blame those who could spend a lifetime in the classroom and would still rather define themselves \u2013 in the thumb-nail sketch demanded by casual acquaintances \u2013 by the subject they studied for three years when they were still wet behind the ears?
\nIt is a sad indictment of our lives and times that such a truthful answer is almost reluctantly given and perceived as giving us low status, making us less interesting, less useful, yeah yeah, whatever.
\nThe world has tried to change this, with jobs for advanced skills teachers, and awards like Oscars to celebrate excellence in the classroom. But you can hardly say, \u201cI\u2019m an advanced skills teacher\u201d \u2013 can you? It would be like saying, \u201cI\u2019m a really good accountant\u201d. Silly.
\nBut why do we have so little pride in the job, pride in what we do, pride in what we achieve by, with or from all those pupils whose lives we touch? Without us, in the classroom on a daily basis, actually doing the job we chose or which chose us, the next generation of \u201cists\u201d and \u201cns\u201d and \u201cers\u201d (lawyers and footballers) and \u201cants\u201d (accountants) and even \u201ckers\u201d (don\u2019t go there) would not reach their own dizzy heights.
\nSo where do I fit in to this pattern of \u201cists\u201d and \u201cns\u201d, sounding cool and suave and proud and mysterious and interesting? I have two degrees in English literature, and tried to teach the joys of our language and literature to as many children as would listen for 25 years. I never found it possible to recast my qualifications into an \u201cist\u201d or an \u201cn\u201d. So when anyone asked who I was and what did I do, I only had one answer: I am Hilary Moriarty, and I am a teacher.
\nOriginally written for SecEd and published at http:\/\/www.sec-ed.co.uk\/cgi-bin\/go.pl\/article\/article.html?uid=46870;type_uid=7<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ah, there\u2019s the rub. Some occupations are worth choosing for their kudos value in conversations with strangers. \u201cRocket scientist\u201d has a nice ring to it; instant respect; what enormous brains you must have. And these days, \u201cfootballer\u2019s wife\u201d has potential; what big \u2013 no, let\u2019s not go there. The rocket scientist may have the sneaky\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-sec-ed"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/j-moriarty.co.uk\/hilarymoriarty\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}