..and suddenly the problem comes into focus

Today I came across a piece at VG.no containing the statement "Eg har venar i alle yrke, og ingen jobbar meir og tener mindre enn meg" ("I've got friends in all professions, and nobody works more and makes less money than me"). The context is of course the ongoing strike for better teacher salaries (among other things). Who wrote this? A sixth grade teacher. I'm torn between being really annoyed by the blanket statement shown in the link, and being amused to no end. To figure out which one it is, I think I'll address the more grievous examples of cognitive dissonance, abysmal logic and self-righteous bullshit found in this blurb, which was no doubt written on a Mac, and see where I end up.

• "Skammeleg uviten haldning av ein høgremann som elskar media sitt søkelys." ("Shamefully ignorant attitude from a conservative who loves the media attention"). This is in reference to criticism towards the striking teachers launched by Trygve Hegnar during a televised debate. This is a textbook knee-jerk reaction and corresponding blanket statement from someone whose political affiliations obviously differ from that of their adversary. Obviously this teacher belongs left of the center politically, and because the adversary has affiliations to the opposite side of party politics, it's convenient to try to affix a single statement from one person to the majority of - in this case - conservatives. I'm not saying that this isn't done by the conservatives, but the point is that it's the kind of broad generalization which a) is moronicm b) can be easily picked apart in a debate, leaving whomever made said statement thoroughly owned and sidetracked from the real issues, and c) can be reversed without any burden of proof ("That's typical communists for ya; putting everybody in one category and striking at the drop of a hat").
  


• "Det er ikkje mange som faktisk veit at vi ikkje har fleire ferieveker enn alle andre, og at resten av tida er avspasering for lange arbeidsdagar. Ein kan ikkje gå heim mellom eitt og to slik som før." ("Not many people actually know that we don't have any more vacation time than other professions, and that the rest of the (vacation) time is time we take off to compensate for long hours. One cannot go home between one and two PM like you used to be able to.") Would you like some cheese with that whine? Here's something that you probably don't know: if you're in a job which requires business travel for meetings etc., you typically don't get reimbursed for all your time; you get your normal 8 hours per day. Even for domestic meetings which only last one business day, you're probably gonna spend way in excess of 14 hours from the time you leave your home until you're back, unless you've got a really short commute. And what about having to entertain business relationships with dinners etc? Oh yeah; that's probably yet another in the infinite sequence of things you don't know, but that's not exactly "off" time either, and guess what; you're not getting any reimbursement for that time either. Time spent travelling is just part of the job, and is expected by your employer. As a tenured academic, I can also vouch for the "travel requirements", not to mention all the long nights and weekends spent before important deadlines, etc., and take a wild guess as to how much of that time is automatically reimbursed in the form of days off.......I ain't got no 10-12 weeks off from work during summer, I'll tell ya that much. So; having established that there are many professions in which there is unpaid overtime; let's cross that off the "legitimate complaints" list and move on.


• "Eg har venar i alle yrke, og ingen jobbar meir og tener mindre enn meg." (I've got friends in all professions, and nobody works more and makes less money than me.") My oh my; where to start. Not to make a major issue out of it, but from the brutal sentence structure of the statement, not to mention the content, it's a good thing that the originator teaches sixth grade. I fear that teaching seventh grade and beyond would be outside the competence profile of this particular specimen. Let's instead marvel at the that this not-so-humble teacher must have a staggering number of friends from all social circles. Including Presidents, astronauts, Secretaries of State, mercenaries, prostitutes, White House staffers, nuns, rock stars, stock brokers, lawyers, carpenters and street sweepers. Or could it be that the person who wrote this statement is full of male bovine feces and just pulled an "I am the world" generalization? Obviously this teacher does not have farmers pulling two or three extra jobs just to make it on the list of friends. The aforementioned White House staffers spring to mind also. Ditto for seven year old kids working at sweatshops somewhere in Asia sewing sneakers or jeans. I'd be happy to provide more examples if need be.... The point is; you're pretty self-absorbed and, well, ignorant if you're actually stating that not only are you the most hard-working person in the world, but you're also the one who gets paid less per hour. I know I work pretty hard and put in MANY hours in my job, but I'm equally certain that there are academics out there who put in way more time. If you live in a rich country like Norway, there's ALWAYS someone who works more for less dinero. Failing to realize that is pretty much proof of delusions of gargantuan proportions. However; there is another possible interpretation of what he teacher wrote. The key is then to figure out how the workload of this teacher compares to the rest of the teaching staff at that school. If the teaching load of this individual vastly exceeds that of the others but for equal or less pay without any results to show for it, odds are that this teacher is not qualified for his or her job. If you have to work far more to get the same results without any added benefits for the students, you probably suck at your job. So; the role of martyr doesn't particularly become this teacher, who would benefit from leaving the cross at the door on the way out.


• "I tillegg er eg ein av dei lærarane som gjer ein ekstra innsats for at elevane skal læra på ein spanande måte, med "den store utedagen" og "musikkvideoprosjektet". Det betyr berre at når eg er ferdig med møte, møtereferat, datamaskinskruing osv og kan byrja å jobba med sjølve undervisningsførebuinga, er klokka blitt halv fem, og eg blir ofte sitjande til langt på kveld." ("Additionally, I'm one of the teachers who make an extra effort in order to make the students' learning experience more exciting, with field trips and music video projects. This only means that when I'm done with meetings, writing memos, fixing computers etc and can start working with preparing my own teaching activities, it's already 4:30 PM, and I'm often stuck with this work until late at night.") It's been established that your martyr status is questionable, to say the least. I think The Rock said it best when he told people to "Know their role and shut their mouth"


• "Så mykje feilskriving, matematikkvanskar og dårleg pedagogikk det er i skulen i dag, er det ikkje rart at resultata blir deretter." ("Considering the many problems with bad grammar, poor math skills and lacking pedagogics in the school system today, it's no wonder that the outcome is what it is") This appeared in a section lamenting the lack of selection criteria to become a teacher today. On a related topic, this reminds me of the time when the pot met the kettle and exclaimed "Damn you're black".

I think I've come to the conclusion that the piece written by the sixth-grade teacher was mostly annoying. To sum up my overall impression of this specimen - irregardless of gender - I think this visual is fitting: