Teacher Envy

Over the last couple of weeks I've watched an interesting phenomenon on FB.  Almost every teacher I know on FB has posted a countdown to the school year at some point.  Seeing those reminds me of the constant private sector/teacher debate over how much time teachers really get off in the summer.  And then it hit me, do we envy teachers their time off or is what we envy more about what the time represents?

Think about when you were in school.  No matter how bad a school year was, you always had next year.  There was always a break to regroup, evaluate and reinvent yourself for the next year.  You always had the hope that things could "be better next year".  And when you spend over 1/4 of your life going to school, it's a hard thought process to break out of in life.  The idea that you need a break to clear your head and plan or hope for something new.

For those of us who chose to go into the private sector, that opportunity is no more.  Unless we take a sabbatical or  "leave of absence" such opportunities to take a step back and re-evaluate don't exist in our lives on a regular basis.  Our hope for something new usually means finding a new job, and those are not easy to find any more.  So we envy those whom we think have such an opportunity.

Now bear with me, I know this next part is a slightly strange analogy.  I've recently seen "Out of Africa" on HBO several times and when I think about the whole "time off envy" I'm reminded of a story Robert Redford's character relays.  He talks about a tribe in Africa that has no concept of the future, they think and live strictly in the present.  Because of that, his character relates, when you put them in prison they die.  They imagine that their life will always be as it is in that moment.  They can't imagine that at some point in the future things will change.  They have no hope.

I think those of us in the private sector are like those African tribesman.  When we look at our jobs, we can't imagine anything different.  We can't see a new beginning or the opportunity to craft that new beginning.  And the only time we remember having that new beginning or opportunity was when we were in school.  So we look at those whose jobs still revolve around the school year and we envy them their time to regroup and hope for something new. Again, it's not the actual days off that we think they have, but what those days represent that we may in fact be envying.