Is teaching a profession or a vocation?

people from the upper middle classes do best in it, i think. you have to be comfortable enough anyway to not care that you're not making money and relatively unconcerned with the ideals many people mistakenly associated with the university.

good teachers are move well with in their profession. excellent teachers are exactly that and will be teachers whether or not they function well within the "profession".

A perspective from Scotland. Our university lecturer (I did a teaching course) Asked whether we saw teaching as a profession. Then asked whether we saw doctors and lawyers as professionals.

In short, he argued that a specific professional development programme was introduced to the world of teaching in order that we could fully consider ourselves a 'profession' (citing the need for continuous self-evaluation and improvement). To those who opposed the need for so called 'continuing professional development' (CPD) he asked - would you trust a doctor or surgeon who didn't keep up with the latest advancements?

So I'd say it depends where in the world you are, and what training and CPD opportunities are available to teachers there.

Blimey - outside of 'the Church, do people still believe in vocations?

When students say they "want an explanation" for their grade, even after I wrote three paragraphs of comments doing precisely that, is that passive-aggressive doublespeak for "I want an explanation that I can accept," "I want a different grade," or both?

(same kid was "certain" he would get an "A" because he "put so much time into it")

one of my chosen tasks as a teacher is to (gently) make students hear themselves

perhaps it's passive aggressive doublespeak for "these three paragraphs of comments suck"

More and more, I leave the building thinking it's No Country for Old Men.

xpost

ah, the trolls come out in the evening, i see.

'my other teacher used a rubric'

ha, i used a rubric, actually. a rubric and some detailed notes.

the late great, i assume (i hope!) you don't behave like a sociopath IRL. i know that for the moment you'll react with more trolling, but you might take a few days to think about why you behave like one online.

How about stating that you'll consider expanding on your explanation if they can provide a full and satisfactory essay-length rebuttal of your 'sucky' three paragraphs?

I have been on both sides of this. I've had students complain about grades I'd given them, and I've felt I was treated unfairly by professors (but didn't complain bc I am a coward.) Neither side of this antagonism is inherently "sociopathic." Higher ed is so expensive in the US and the stakes for bad grades are so high that you can't really blame students for doing all they can to keep their goa up, even if it makes them act in seemingly unseemly ways.

*gpa, not goa

just saying, as a colleague, that the fault isn't always w the student

also sociopath is sort of a hysterical overreaction, no?

Nah it's the new version of the word "jerk"

what's wrong with just saying jerk?

"as a colleague" LOL

"you're a poopy doo-doo head. saying this as a colleague."

anyhow, yes, well aware professors can be at fault here, and it's always a good thing to help students understand their grade. i was just a little rankled by the way it was phrased, which implied that i hadn't yet provided him with an "explanation."

we met yesterday, had a good talk, it's all good.