doing it, and doing it, and doing it well
Knowing this action would offend the parents of students in my class I dressed as Harry Potter. If you are going to sin, sin and sin boldly. Martin Luther was pretty clear about that, albeit a great deal was �tongue-in-cheek.�
Me dressing as Harry Potter is one part wishful thinking, one part good luck. I have a scar on my forehead, glasses, wild hair, and teach in an old ruin of a school not unlike Hogwarts. All I needed was a rugby shirt in Gryffindor colors and I was set. I do not have a firm staked out position on Halloween beyond, �Today I took the opportunity to wear jeans and sneakers to work.�
The Principal did not dress up and neither did the secretary, although she may as well have been because she was an absolute witch.
The woman who teaches first grade was talking about the foolhardy idea to raise the minimum wage by two dollars per hour. Why both of us agreed that the minimum wage might need to be raised, we believed it should be done gradually as to not shock the already fragile economy. Six out of ten Americans are employed by small businesses (source: Suburban Island Bureau of Statistics and Useful Stuff) and an immediate hike in labor costs would create more job loss and kill several small businesses.
I considered this anti-that-candidate ad but it set the Secretary off. She makes seven and a half dollars per hour, which is about forty cents above our state�s minimum wage. For the record, I have worked at my fast food part time/party time job for less than a year and already make more than she does while I am there.
She thinks, and we agree, that she should be paid more than she is but she was not looking at the big picture of what an immediate (as opposed to gradual) change in our labor laws could create. However, she yelled at us for a good fifteen minutes about it specifically targeting the first grade teacher for abuse.
The first grade teacher held her ground and pointed out that she has three degrees, a spouse and children to support and thinks she should be paid more � implying that if the secretary updated her skills (she cannot use a computer) perhaps she would make more. I pointed out that we had nothing to do with what she was paid but if we were involved, we would see to it that she got a raise because we were tired of hearing her complain. Everyone would like to make more money than they do or at least could find something to do with the money if given a raise. I also pointed out that without even a cost of living adjustment that we were taking a pay cut annually.
I thought about it for the rest of the day and decided that if I spent the rest of my life this poor but enjoying my work than I would be fine. I would hate to be making a lot of money but dislike going to work. I am willing to try out making a decent wage (for science, of course) just to make sure that I am really on the side where the grass is greener. I also need to update MY skills so that I can move to another job if I am eventually no longer happy doing what I am doing.
