Why I Hate My Union

First of all, while people always talk about the teachers' "Union" we are actually a "professional association" NOT a labor union. And although you'd never know it by the way some teacher's gripe about it, we are professionals and, if we expect to be treated that way, should ACT that way.

That being said:

In my first job as an amusement park ride operator and later as a "lead" ride operator I received performance reviews at least once a season. Although my job only consisted of pressing buttons on a roller coaster control panel, and later as lead, giving employees their lunch breaks at the correct time, my performance evaluation had a grading scale like this: Exemplary, Superior, Good, Fair, Satisfactory, Poor. I always received exemplary job reviews. Later one I moved to a different position at a desk in the same park and continued to receive exemplary performance reviews.

When I took my first teaching job, I was crushed when I got my first evaluation. My shock was not because I did not perform well enough, but because so little seemed to be expected of me. If a guy who doesn't even need a high school diploma can get "exemplary" for pushing a button when the light flashes, shouldn't a professional who has a college degree and a teaching certificate be expected to be evaluated as critically? My first evaluation came back with a "Satisfactory" rating checked at the top. "But you were extremely satisfactory," said my assistant principal. As I am sure is the case in many places the only options on the top of the form were "Satisfactory" and "Unsatisfactory." In my amusement part days, a satisfactory job review wouldn't have been very good at all, in my professional life its as good as it gets.

Why do we as professional expect so little of ourselves? Why do we aim for mediocrity and so often manage to hit the mark?

Because our union demands it! If we had "real" job reviews that differentiated the truly outstanding educator from the merely satisfactory educator my current situation might not exist. Perhaps they would see that my colleague, band director number 2, while she does have the appropriate certification to do my job, and she does have more years on the job than I do, just doesn't do the job as well as I do.

I student of mine sent me an e-mail recently after he heard that I was being let go. He wrote, "I hope you get a job close by and do so well that you make Anytown School District look stupid for letting you go!" I hope so too.

...and the band geeks loved him so much, they made him their king.

I was a band geek in school. There are millions of us out there in the world. What probably started as a slur meant to insult those of us devoted to our school's band has come to be a title worn proudly by so many of us. My high school had a huge band program when I was an eighth grader. My school's sports teams were an embarrassment (in particular the football team), but the band program we something to be proud of. By the time I arrived, because of the departure of a very popular band director, the program dwindled into a mere shadow of itself. Although the band was no longer the biggest and best thing in our school, the "band geeks" were still recognized by all as one of the most recognizable (although probably not the coolest) cliques on campus.

In my four years of high school, we had five different band directors hold the position. If you include my three years of middle school into the mix, during my seven years of secondary school I had seven different band directors. The only director that I had for more than one year in a row was Mr. C in 6th and 7th grade and in freshman year I had two different directors. Rumor had it at the time that the school's administration wanted to get rid of the band director, but, contracts what they are, they could not simply fire him. So they demoted him to assistant band director with the previous popular band director who had left to go into administration, returning to finish out the year as band director. As expected the "assistant band director" quit faster that you can say "Vivace."

The parade of band director's continued through my senior year. The men that held the post had varying degree's of competence. Of those seven band directors 3 were brand new to teaching and 1 was new to teaching high school (he had formerly been an elementary school band director). The challenge faced by band directors in such a situation is that, no matter how charismatic you may be, it is hard to retain students in your program when there is someone different on the podium every year.

While I stayed a loyal band geek and even served a year as our band's drum major (unfortunately of a very small band by this point), I couldn't help but think that perhaps I could do it better. After performing with the county honor band, I realized that I could do it.

Before naming this blog I googled "King of the Band Geeks" and found several claiming the title. While these people claim the title because they were perhaps the geekiest or most devoted of the band geeks when they were in school, and they are still devoted and loyal to their band geek friends, they stopped being the king the moment they put on that cap and gown. Who then can rightfully claim the title? My friends, it must be the band geek that never left the school band. Sixteen years after high school has ended I still spend all of my time in the band room. As the band director - as the maestro - I AM the King of the Band Geeks.