The Teachers' Lounge

Recently, I saw a Facebook post concerning teachers. The poster talked about the wonderful teachers he had had. But when he became a teacher, he found many teachers gossiped and talked badly about students in the lounge. He seemed disappointed.

I spent a lifetime teaching, so I’m acquainted with teachers’ lounges. And my response was “What did he expect?” These teachers who “gossiped and talked badly” about students may actually have been wonderful teachers.  I know a bunch of teachers who were sometimes unbearable in the teachers’ lounge but were in fact excellent teachers. And I can pretty much guarantee that his “wonderful teachers” behaved very similarly when they were around other teachers.

Most teachers I know are dedicated, hard-working individuals. But we all have our own internal filters. These filters tell us what we should or shouldn’t say in any social situation. While I tried very hard to be the same person to my students as I was with my friends, there are still things I just couldn’t do or say. When a teacher is with his students, it is normally not a good idea, for instance, to talk about religion, politics, sex, or any of a zillion other topics. And also a good teacher will most likely go out of her way not to berate a student, even when a student is being a complete jerk, or just having one of those “where is his brain?” moments. As teachers, we filter those things.

But when we’re with our own peers, those filters change. We can say, and show, a lot more than we can when around students. So when in the teachers’ lounge, complaining just happens. Yes, it can get out of hand. And yes, it would be better, I suppose, if teachers didn’t engage in that kind of behavior. But for the most part, it is a time when teachers let their filters go, and “blow off steam” so to speak. It really doesn’t make them any less teachers.

I’ve been told funeral personnel are the same way. I’m pretty sure they aren’t sad all the time. I’m sure that sometimes they are treating the grieving family one way, but then are completely different with their colleagues. It doesn’t mean they’re bad. It means they’re human. And they have to let those filters down sometimes.

Most of us have done this: we get bad service from someone at a store, then we get out into our car and complain about “that stupid clerk” or whatever. In this case, our car is our “teachers’ lounge.” No difference.

But you know, there are some people with no filters at all. We’ve all heard people say something like “I tell it like I see it. I don’t care what people think. I’m tired of this politically correct crap.” Well, first of all, normally they don’t mean it. They still do have some filters; they just don’t like to admit it.

But there are some who really do mean it, and don’t filter anything. They say whatever they think. They would actually call that clerk above “stupid.” Some people admire these unfiltered people. They call them genuine, and true. But these people aren’t “genuine” or “true.” No, these people are “jerks.”  (which is the nicest word I could use in a family -friendly blog.) Because filtering our behavior in public is not about being politically correct, or untrue, or fake, or caring about what people think. It’s just being considerate. It’s about treating other humans with decency and respect.

But there are instances when we actually need no filters. When we are with someone who we can be with and have absolutely no filters, that’s the best situation ever. It allows us to be completely comfortable and perfectly at ease. We can be our absolute selves, we can relax, and life is good!

Those people are what we call “best friends.”

Scientific, not Political

Climate change. This is a scientific topic. At least it should be. Unfortunately, in today's world, it has become a political topic. Which is sad, unfortunate, bewildering, and dangerous. Because, while climate change could turn out to be a minor problem, it also could turn out to be the biggest threat modern man has ever known.

Am I exaggerating? Actually, I don’t know. Nobody does for sure. Which is, of course, the problem. While there are many different views on climate change, one thing that almost everyone agrees on is that to stop, reduce, or minimize it, is going to be a very difficult problem. So if it turns out that it’s not a big threat, then we’ve made a mountain out of a mole hill. But if, as most scientists believe, it can become catastrophic, then we really have to do whatever is necessary, whatever the effort, at whatever the cost.

Ignore the news organizations and the politicians on this one. Check out scientific websites. While news and political websites are debating whether climate change actually exists, the scientific websites are posting study after study and article after article, of the present and future effects, causes, and treatments of this problem. Honestly, it’s almost as if there are two mutually exclusive worlds: the scientific one where people study and discuss a scientific issue; and the non-scientific, everyday world where people are arguing if it’s a hoax or not. It’s baffling to me that these two can coexist.

And the oddest thing about this? The people who don’t believe in climate change tend to be the same people who seem to have a complete distrust of government and news media. Yet, in this case, they’re ignoring the scientific community and trusting their favorite politicians and news sources. How does this make sense? Honestly, I don’t get it.

Examples? At Phys.org I found at least 10 articles discussing climate change, as casually as they discuss geologic history or the flow of the Colorado river. Or go to NOAA.gov, ScienceNews.org, or any of a million others. And yes, 2015 set another record for the warmest year on record, and by a record largest margin.

Sure, you can find scientists who dispute this. But you can find scientists who dispute that cigarettes are harmful, too. Yet a huge majority of scientists agree that this is a problem, caused at least partly by humans, that is likely to cause us big problems down the line.

I remember when I first started teaching almost forty years ago, I talked about global warming and the greenhouse effect. I taught it because it was science, just like the atomic theory, Newtonian mechanics, and stoichiometry. Now just because it’s science, however, doesn’t mean it’s all correct. But it does normally represent our best ideas based on the data we have. In 1980, this wasn’t controversial. Somehow, now it is.

If you search the web, you'll find many articles and blogs that say pretty much the same as this one. But apparently, nobody is listening. Because most of our government representatives either believe climate change is a hoax, or ignore it. And while the democratic candidates discuss it somewhat, the republican candidates pretty much ignore it.

You know, a day might come when we look back and say “Why didn’t we do something?” But by then, it will probably be too late. My children will, unfortunately, probably see that day. There is a good chance that I won’t.

But then again, I might.