Buna, Not Going to Lie....I Got Nervous

 Being retired is a great job. Seriously it is. I forgot how much " life" I was missing when I was teaching school....Then again, it is the same with pretty much any job.

The other day, I got to talking to two different teachers, one still in Buna, another in a similar school district. Both with a just few years to retirement. 

In both cases, both teacher were dreading like " never before" as one put it, the start of school after the Christmas Break. ( Winter Break for you fancy folks.)

Hell, one told me that they had thrown up they had gotten so anxious. 

I know before school started in the Fall I got " anxious" but for the most part, I was " Ready to go." I wanted to see what kind of seniors I was going to have in class. ( Pretty good kids? Or Knot-heads? 9 times out of 10, Knot-heads.)

Right before we started back for the Spring Semester I always had a bit of a dread, but mainly it was because I had to teach economics in the Spring....And say what you will, economics is dry as a desert sands. You can't hardly "jazz it up." 

Even though I tried to do so....Heck, I went to an AP Macroeconomics and AP Microeconomics courses during the summer in an attempt to become better at teaching the class. The person teaching was allegedly the best AP Economics teacher in the nation.......The class was horrid. She was regularly losing a guy in the course with a M.A. in economics from UT-Austin who only taught AP Economics at Austin High, in Austin ISD. And I knew we were in trouble when I had to explain to him concepts " we ain't learning nuthin' in here."( Say what you want, be proud of your Lamar education. I worried about it until I went to theological school and was in there with Texas, Baylor, A&M grads, etc and discovered, hell, I'm as smart and as well educated as you fancy boys. Maybe a little better prepared.)

But back to the teachers, and their dread. 

Schools are rapidly changing folks, and not for the good. Kids, parents, administration has changed. People are more demanding. There are more exams, more rules, and more paperwork than ever before. 

Fewer and fewer people are going into teaching, and who can blame them? People are leaving and retiring from the school business as quick as they can. I don't think you know how many times I hear from present teachers saying, " I have X years until I can retire."

I've not felt this way in quite a while, but I got nervous about going back to school, after speaking to these two teachers. And I don't have to go back. 

I seriously wonder what schools like the Buna ISD will look like, in 5-10-20 years?