173 visions of the future //
I seem to have survived the second day of classes, and always have, so far. It might be surprising for any student to hear that school is more than a little stressful for the teachers - I won't say just as because there is the matter of perspective that makes the experiences of faculty and students different enough that a proper comparison cannot be made. Students fear not fitting in, in addition to failing their classes (or not failing, in the case of some - see "fitting in"); teachers fear standardized tests where applicable (which don't count towards the students' grades, so they may feel free to stare at the ceiling when they should be writing and to try to see if they can make little pictures with the bubbles on their scantron cards!), and the faculty lounge.
To many students - or at least myself when I was young - the faculty lounge is a place of mystery. One often sees teachers enter with lunch totes and leave with steaming cups of coffee as they wave and say hello to their fellow faculty, calling one another by their first names. Since it exists in an educational institution, one can be certain that it must live up to its name. It must contain faculty, and that faculty must lounge. I will not say that the privilege of penetrating this mysterious and exotic teacher stronghold was the reason I chose to teach high school, but it was a definite perk.
All of this is a lie.
Faculty lounges are sometimes empty - they do not always contain faculty. Sometimes there is a janitor or lunchladyperson (Ohtori Academy is an equal opportunity employer!), but they are not faculty and so they do not count. One is then left with a grim choice - take one's lunch back to one's classroom and eat in the solemn company of papers that need grading, or eat here while you longingly watch whatever PE class is on the football field and listen to the ever-present ticking.
Secondly, faculty lounges are not for lounging. Lounging is an activity which is performed on couches or armchairs, and these are usually notably absent from the standard "faculty" "lounge." The primary activity engaged in here is in fact not lounging but glaring, second only to gossipping about people who are not present. Coffee-drinking is also a favorite amusement, especially when one suspects that some student has snuck in and dissolved some sort of laxative in said coffee. I drink tea, which I brew myself on the spot, so the coffee pot, as far as I am concerned, exists for entertainment purposes only.
That is not to say that I do not enjoy my faculty lounge privileges as a member of said faculty. The opportunity for discussion and communication within and between departments is unmatched by any other medium and, as previously noted, there are plenty of opportunities for self-amusement. However, I would not advise a student to go in there for it is not a place for the faint of heart. The glaring alone could cause severe health problems, and the other activities faculty engage in while within its walls may lead to traumatization of a child's fragile psyche. A child who goes in there bright and hopeful and with a positive opinion towards her teachers may leave bitter, sad, and disillusioned. The school wishes not to be held responsible for subsequent violence and death that may result, and that is why the faculty lounge is off limits to students. We have these rules for a reason, and it is not because we don't like you.
So... yes. Where was I? Ah. Second day of school, right. It went well.
To many students - or at least myself when I was young - the faculty lounge is a place of mystery. One often sees teachers enter with lunch totes and leave with steaming cups of coffee as they wave and say hello to their fellow faculty, calling one another by their first names. Since it exists in an educational institution, one can be certain that it must live up to its name. It must contain faculty, and that faculty must lounge. I will not say that the privilege of penetrating this mysterious and exotic teacher stronghold was the reason I chose to teach high school, but it was a definite perk.
All of this is a lie.
Faculty lounges are sometimes empty - they do not always contain faculty. Sometimes there is a janitor or lunchladyperson (Ohtori Academy is an equal opportunity employer!), but they are not faculty and so they do not count. One is then left with a grim choice - take one's lunch back to one's classroom and eat in the solemn company of papers that need grading, or eat here while you longingly watch whatever PE class is on the football field and listen to the ever-present ticking.
Secondly, faculty lounges are not for lounging. Lounging is an activity which is performed on couches or armchairs, and these are usually notably absent from the standard "faculty" "lounge." The primary activity engaged in here is in fact not lounging but glaring, second only to gossipping about people who are not present. Coffee-drinking is also a favorite amusement, especially when one suspects that some student has snuck in and dissolved some sort of laxative in said coffee. I drink tea, which I brew myself on the spot, so the coffee pot, as far as I am concerned, exists for entertainment purposes only.
That is not to say that I do not enjoy my faculty lounge privileges as a member of said faculty. The opportunity for discussion and communication within and between departments is unmatched by any other medium and, as previously noted, there are plenty of opportunities for self-amusement. However, I would not advise a student to go in there for it is not a place for the faint of heart. The glaring alone could cause severe health problems, and the other activities faculty engage in while within its walls may lead to traumatization of a child's fragile psyche. A child who goes in there bright and hopeful and with a positive opinion towards her teachers may leave bitter, sad, and disillusioned. The school wishes not to be held responsible for subsequent violence and death that may result, and that is why the faculty lounge is off limits to students. We have these rules for a reason, and it is not because we don't like you.
So... yes. Where was I? Ah. Second day of school, right. It went well.