Today's lesson in etymology for the apple-polishers
May 9, 2017 12:06 PM Subscribe
If you're in the US, today is National Teachers' Day, a day celebrated around the world on different days. If you're wondering about the apples that teachers might get, the Smithsonian Magazine has a brief history of the apple in America, including as a present to teachers. A related musical interlude: "An Apple for the Teacher," by Bing Crosby & Connee Boswell. (And if you're wondering about keeping the doctor away, Phrases has the story of how Wales became the source of this commonplace English phrase.)
My school does Teacher Appreciation Week, and it was last week, because our 3rd-6th graders have standardized testing this week... all week, from 8:30 to 12:00. All my kids have to do is be very, very quiet all week. I'm betting the student body as a whole is not feeling very appreciative.
posted by Huck500 at 12:58 PM on May 9, 2017
posted by Huck500 at 12:58 PM on May 9, 2017
zach, it seems teachers have been paid less than they need to live, given that teachers were given apples because families whose children attended schools were often responsible for housing and feeding frontier teachers. Maybe it's time to take a page from the past? Kidding/not kidding.
This post was inspired by the framing of a story I heard this morning on the teacher turn-over rate (2015 article, reporting that national average is/was 17%, not 50%, after 5 years). Happy National Teachers' Day indeed.
(As always, we don't have to reinvent the wheel, but we can look abroad to how other countries retain their teachers.)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM on May 9, 2017
This post was inspired by the framing of a story I heard this morning on the teacher turn-over rate (2015 article, reporting that national average is/was 17%, not 50%, after 5 years). Happy National Teachers' Day indeed.
(As always, we don't have to reinvent the wheel, but we can look abroad to how other countries retain their teachers.)
posted by filthy light thief at 1:45 PM on May 9, 2017
I'm a high school teacher. My district/school/parents/students did nothing to recognize the day.
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:21 PM on May 9, 2017
posted by yes I said yes I will Yes at 3:21 PM on May 9, 2017
If you're in the US, today is National Teachers' Day,
You'd think so. But here we are.
Not to sound trite, but yeah, every day should be teachers' day. How do you fuck the only people, aside from maybe your parents, who ever really cared for you?
Yeah, firefighters will save your ass. Doctors. All laudable professions. Cops, military. All put their necks on the line for you.
But other than mom and dad - and not all the time them - who else in the world is there who is there for you - every - day?
And worse - who else in the world has your kids' back, every day? And these are the people we crap on?
We've got some messed up priorities. It's funny, go south of the U.S. into Mexico, south america, almost anywhere, you're a teacher or journalist and it's like you're a demigod. Here? How much can you be worth if you're not driving a Lexus?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:01 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
You'd think so. But here we are.
Not to sound trite, but yeah, every day should be teachers' day. How do you fuck the only people, aside from maybe your parents, who ever really cared for you?
Yeah, firefighters will save your ass. Doctors. All laudable professions. Cops, military. All put their necks on the line for you.
But other than mom and dad - and not all the time them - who else in the world is there who is there for you - every - day?
And worse - who else in the world has your kids' back, every day? And these are the people we crap on?
We've got some messed up priorities. It's funny, go south of the U.S. into Mexico, south america, almost anywhere, you're a teacher or journalist and it's like you're a demigod. Here? How much can you be worth if you're not driving a Lexus?
posted by Smedleyman at 5:01 PM on May 9, 2017 [2 favorites]
And if you're a teacher driving a Lexus, how did you manage that? Are you taking kick-backs? Getting bribes from parents or students?
Still, it's not all bad - my wife has been planning on how we'll attend all the graduation parties she has been invited to this year, which seems like the best sort of problem to have. Out of a class of less than 30 (it's a small school), she didn't get invited by to or three kids, and she wasn't expecting invitations from them.
In other words, the kids can be alright.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:50 AM on May 10, 2017
Still, it's not all bad - my wife has been planning on how we'll attend all the graduation parties she has been invited to this year, which seems like the best sort of problem to have. Out of a class of less than 30 (it's a small school), she didn't get invited by to or three kids, and she wasn't expecting invitations from them.
In other words, the kids can be alright.
posted by filthy light thief at 7:50 AM on May 10, 2017
« Older Why is your writing so violent? | Tactile maps of Greenland Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by zachlipton at 12:26 PM on May 9, 2017 [6 favorites]