Do Work.

I was thinking about jobs today. How many of us have complained about our jobs? I have. As recently as last Friday, in fact. Why didn't I complain about it again on Monday? Well, I didn't have to go to work.


I didn't complain because it's summer, and summer is good. Summer doesn't mean I stop my work as a teacher. I still plan and read and prepare for the fall. But I do it at a much, much slower pace. Example: I decided to read a book about the rise of Western civilization on my deck at 10:30pm -- which is a time during the school year where I would almost certainly go to bed to wake up at 5. It was glorious.


I also coach, and I landed a pretty big coaching opportunity a few months ago, which makes my current job my dream job. Today marked my first day of summer sessions. So, as part of my job, I went out to a soccer field, played around a bit, taught some guys soccer fundamentals, watched and corrected and congratulated, and then I sent them home. I ordered a new set of goals for the field, and my day was done by noon.


And then I went home to take care of the world's longest list of errands. Because the school year is busy, I generally don't do anything at all for the maintenance of life during those months. I just put it off until June when I have the time to do the jobs right.


So, as I walked around this afternoon, taking care of some errands, I saw some men working a lot harder than me. They were laying down asphalt in 90 degree sun. Add to the 90 another 25 from their equipment, and they were literally simmering.


And yet there they were, doing a job that is necessary and important and taken for granted. In our fast-paced world of cars and cell phones and "emergencies," we forget how important asphalt actually is. Without asphalt, all of our conveniences would disappear. They would never get to us, and we would never get to them. Those men, working at a job many would never even apply for, were making our lives possible.


So why don't we celebrate these people anymore? Was there a time we did? This is good, honest, necessary work. It deserves celebration.


I submit that it is about how we teach our kids. We prioritize certain things: college, math, reading, high scores, tests, essays, etc. In school, we never talk about how great it is to do some honest work that isn't academic. Academia is fine, but it's not for everyone. 


Balancing a checkbook and planning for retirement and babies is for everyone, so math can stay. Reading and writing like a professional in a communication-driven world is for everyone, so English can stay. You'd better know more about American history than Sarah Palin, so history should stay. And you should probably know something about your body and chemicals, so science should stay. These important subjects, taught in schools, have a place in our lives.


But we shouldn't call these things the pinnacle. We shouldn't usher everyone out of the high school door to college, because academia is only one small fraction of what is possible out of life -- and it's not for everyone. If it was, the world would look bizarre. No one would DO anything. It would be a bunch of over-educated people postulating about why they aren't able to drive on the roads they used to have back when people did "that sort of work."


So, to all of the high schools dismissing wood shop, mechanics education, ag programs, and the other "non-academic," non-tested subjects: stop. You are going to kill our way of life. You are going to make the people who do those jobs feel like they missed the mark. They didn't. They do more in a day than I do (at least in June). Maybe we don't have to celebrate them every day, but we should dignify the importance of the work, and we should prepare good people to do it well.