I remember
talking to a friend of mine as he was working on his Ph.D. in microbiology. We
had been friends for years with similar interests in movies, video games,
comics, and more. He said to me he was a little tired of where he worked
because of the people there couldn’t seem to clock out. Even in their off-hours
they would talk only about microbiology and science.
Since I’ve
been a teacher, considerable time has been spent talking and thinking about
teaching even in off-hours. Conversations with friends—particularly those who
are teachers—almost always revolved around our profession.
But that’s
changing.
In a recent
phone conversation, a friend remarked that we’re not talking about it as much.
We are moving away from the profession. It’s a thing we do in order to survive,
but deeper meaning isn’t there, and we would rather spend our time thinking and
talking about other things.