Here’s my newspaper article for this month – published yesterday.\u00a0 I suspect the newspaper holds a contest to find the blandest headlines possible for my articles – that’s the one part I don’t get to write.\u00a0 This one was entitled “Teacher Thankful for Summer Vacation”.\u00a0 That’s breaking news, right there!***<\/p>\n\n\n
I know a teacher who found herself\nin an awkward position a few summers ago.\u00a0\nIt was late July and she was in the midst of a group of friends at\nchurch making small talk when one asked her, \u201cSo how\u2019s it going with you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
\u201cWell, things are fine but I am so bummed\nthat there are only two weeks of vacation left,\u201d she replied sadly.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
Instead of pity, cold stares and\ndropped jaws greeted her comment.\u00a0 It\nquickly dawned on this teacher that she was speaking to some folks who received\na mere two weeks of vacation time in total each year in their own jobs.\u00a0 She wanted to crawl under a rock.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like\nmost of us teachers, I suspect, this particular woman had lost sight \u2013 at least\nmomentarily – of how very fortunate we are to have such a long break from work.\n[If I had more space available for my column, I would have mentioned that this particular teacher is usually a very upbeat person who rarely complains –\u00a0which is remarkable, considering she is married to my brother.]<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even non-teachers\noften claim that educators are underpaid.\u00a0\nThat may be so, but it wouldn\u2019t hurt to pause and factor in the very\nreal benefits of our ample time off.<\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0It is difficult to put a price tag on summer\nbreak.\u00a0 My family and I just returned\nfrom a three week trip.\u00a0 We flew to\nSeattle for a nephew\u2019s graduation and then rented a van for the journey\nhome.\u00a0 We drove through Montana, spent a\nday in Yellowstone, saw the Black Hills and Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota, and\nvisited relatives I hadn\u2019t seen in years.\u00a0\nIt was the sort of trip that will linger in our memories for decades.<\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And\nwhen I got back, did I have to jump out of bed the next morning and then rush\nback into the rat race?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 I still had six or seven weeks before the\nschool year starts!<\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m not\ntrying to rub it in \u2013 I am simply saying that I am likely to take such a blessing\nfor granted, while those in the 9 to 5 world might have a better appreciation\nof its true value.<\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Whenever\nI am tempted to grumble about my profession, I remember that I have students in\nclass only 180 days a year.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know\nif this has ever occurred to you, but the math is pretty simple:\u00a0 On average, I work every other day.<\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Not only\nthat, but my days off include each and every major holiday \u2013 without\nquestion.\u00a0 I have never been called into\nwork on Christmas Eve.\u00a0 And while many\nworkers must double down when the weather gets snowy, spending extra time at\nwork and in travel, I get a phone call telling me to sleep in.<\/p>\n\n\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I\nreally am not trying to make you jealous.\u00a0\nI guess my point is not just that I\u2019ve got it pretty good \u2013 but that I\nknow it.\u00a0\u00a0 And I am grateful.\u00a0 I just think the general public should hear\nthat from a teacher at least every once in a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here’s my newspaper article for this month – published yesterday.\u00a0 I suspect the newspaper holds a contest to find the blandest headlines possible for my articles – that’s the one part I don’t get to write.\u00a0 This one was entitled “Teacher Thankful for Summer Vacation”.\u00a0 That’s breaking news, right there!*** I know a teacher who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3626"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3627,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3626\/revisions\/3627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}