gothcactus 
First Corona Teaching Post woo!
I decided to start this blog wayyy back at the beginning of the pandemic circa march 2020. But recently it occurred to me that it’s useful to have a sub-corona category on teaching, as I rant about my job lol.
Of course my rants are teaching specific, but it also connects to the overall politics of work and employment.
In this increasingly brutal capitalistic hellscape, the plight of labor is dire.
Dramatic yes.
All jokes aside, I’ll start with my job specifically.
Being in a public school setting, it amazes me that work conditions are as bad as a corporation. This pandemic highlights these terrible conditions, as we are forced to work despite unclear public health data and information.
And you know you are in an essential position when you get pushed back to work so hurriedly. Yet you get paid shit money with no promise of healthcare and hazard pay. On top of that, you are asked to bend over backwards to adapt to remote learning, hybrid learning while still meeting stupid ass standards that are even more stupid in this pandemic.
I can understand how tired we are. It’s so exhausting.
So many people have died from this pandemic. Their deaths were preventable. I don’t think I’m ever going to get over that. The propaganda media has gaslighted us to believe that it was inevitable. It wasn’t.
And thinking to the way that we were treated in this pandemic, I’m not surprised. We were pushed to do so many things without extra compensation. So many other jobs are the same. Employers are just so horrible by deploying high-paying admin to give fluffy speeches on “self-care”.
My coworkers are tired and want to be informed without all the secrets. We are the LAST to find out about cases and how it could impact our work. The level of anxiety working in this environment really crushed me today.
I was anxious all weekend after hearing about a case in our school. There was so little information. Only through the word of mouth did I find out more. It wasn’t provided freely.
These types of practices by employers divide the employees among themselves. People will start to blame others instead of seeing the bigger picture of a fundamental lack of regard for the safety and health of people.
It’s all about producing and maintaining the current status of work. In the public sector like a school, it has been corporatized where we serve as the customer service agents who must provide care for customers (parents). The flimsy excuse for the way we are treated is we are paid by “taxpayers”.
It is an absurd argument as schools receive massive cuts to their budgets year over year, especially for needed programs like special ed and ESL. While those at the top such as superintendents and fancy “leaders” can get away with massive frauds while still get pampered with bonuses and compensation even as they are cut. They are at no risk of future job loss because they can just “resign”.
The average employee all the while is afraid of losing their essentials such as housing and food if they lose their jobs. And future job opportunities as well. We aren’t allowed to make mistakes even of small magnitudes.
We forever have our livelihood hanging over our heads with the threat of homelessness and starvation, while the crumbs our employers throw us is less and less.