I have a buddy of mine who is a political mortal enemy of mine. We despise each others politics and out of our own arrogance try to one up the other, but we're amazingly still friends for some odd reason. Well, my job has experienced its own fiscal cliff, and I have to say that when the chips go down I act more like a conservative than the right wing people at my job according to my friend! Here's a bit of reflection.
I work at a private school that is doing really bad. I started working two months ago or so. The reason I got hired is because they were in dire need of a new teacher in the middle of the semester (the worst time to be looking for a new teacher). I didn't know of their bad straits before I came in. They hired me on the spot even though I didn't have much experience. I soon found out the school only had a handful of students left and it was teetering on the brink. I came in at a really low salary (18k a year) even though I have a Masters degree, but I had been previously working as a wage slave so a check of any kind was much needed and appreciated. I was hoping that the school would grow or change, and the owner of the school was trying new things to reinvigorate and redo his ailing business model.
Well, eventually fiscal concerns come to the forefront. In order to provide a good, well rounded education to the children the school tried to maintain its staff, but its not fiscally possible anymore. A lot of what the director thought might happen didn't come to fruition. We were facing a fiscal shortfall. Cuts had to be made. I was sitting in a staff meeting and I knew that everything was about to hit the fan. I also knew the discussion didn't have anything to do with me; I had already been cut when I joined the school. I'm working in hopes of a good letter of recommendation and maybe some leeway into another school. I don't have teacher certification and its expensive to get because I basically have to go back to school and I'm tapped out of federal student loans. I used loans because basically I have to pay for my college. No one is going to help me. I'm on my own.
So the director explains that money is tight and they have to cut people's salaries. There aren't enough students. He hasn't taken a salary in two years. The school is in dire straits and some people are going to end up the losers. Well, this brings up old wounds. Veteran employees who have already been through cuts year after year speak up and other employees who don't want to basically be fired are scrambling to hold onto their hours and students. Some people make 21k with more students while people make 27k with only a handful of students. Deep salary cuts or hourly cuts? If we go for salary cuts, then the teachers who have large student loads have to work for less, whereas hourly cuts means that teachers with smaller classes will lose their job because their students will be absorbed into larger classes. Two camps emerged and started to war with each other. People started comparing their meager salaries with each other, and some threatened to quit if their pay was cut but their workload was the same. There was even some class warfare against the owner.
Well, I just stayed out of it. I am paid less than everyone, by FAR. I also do twice to three times as much work as the rest of them. I teach Science, Social Studies, Math, and English for middle school, which none of the rest of them can do. They all teach just their subject matter and never cross over, which is why I was needed in the first place. I also have to constantly study for my classes to learn new material and remember stuff I learned but forgot, like Newton's laws of motion and how to factor polynomials. I am always reading a book when on break. I am constantly doing research outside of class. I do problem after problem after problem so I do not shortchange the children in their education. I do it all for less than the rest of them even though I have been cut more than the rest of them, and I AGREED to the cut as a matter of joining the school!
I remember thinking during the meeting that I was willing to work for less and do tons of work so that I could survive as long as the job would allow. I was waiting to see if my hard work and diligence would pay off and coalesce into help getting my teacher's certification or maybe a job at another private school. The rest of the teachers have husbands (I'm the only male) to depend on in times of crisis. I'm the one with the shitty salary and student loans. I'm the one trying to eke out an existence in the faint hope I'll get a leg up which may or may not happen.
I'm not complaining. I'm here for a reason. I'm trying to work hard and try to gain glory from harsh and unforgiving conditions. I don't blame my employer. He isn't the reason I have a bad salary: if there were money coming in I'd have health care and a great salary, maybe even head of a department. Things are harsh right now and you have to eat the pain until its over or move on. No complaining. My success is my own for right now. I'm the one holding up the school (the parents love me). So I should be hardcore conservative?
Nope.
I know what it's like to flounder at the bottom. I know what it's like to claw. I know what it's like to have no one help you and have no clear way to reach your goals. I reject the conservative world view because I live it, and it's CRAP. Others should resist it with all their might.
Life is funny like that I guess :P