Shaving Face

And here I am without beard for the first time in years. (Read here to find out why.) You will get no pictures.

I shaved off my beard in the middle of the lunchroom in the middle of lunchtime. Isn’t that tantalizing. No one was available to take pictures (thank the good lord), but I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a cellphone video lurking about somewhere. I asked the kids to pick up the shavings and try to sell them on eBay for whatever profit they could find, but I have doubts that money will filter back through to the district.

Of course, there were a few comments:

You look stupid.

Now your face looks like the top of your head.

You really shouldn’t have done that.

Now you actually look younger than [an older teacher].

All I’ll say is that it’s a little colder. Especially cold because of this comment:

You look like a pedophile.

And while this post is meant to show off how willing I am to do anything to ensure my students succeed, that last comment made me wonder why there are no popular national news stories about teachers who make a difference or teachers who enrich the lives of their students.

In no way am I saying that shaving off my beard enriched the students — I’m not trying to take credit here for anything more than to say that somehow, in some way, I might have enabled my students to pass the state test. But any time you hear about teachers or read about teachers you only find negative news: Teachers fail to help students pass state tests, Teacher has sex with student, teacher throws Mexican flag in garbage can (which happened in my state).

Why is that?

Maybe, as a people, we should focus on the things that matter and make those things news. Because I could see my own story — shaving the beard — be a part of the local news if I wanted it to be. I could see that piece of fluff thrown all about, but it ultimately means nothing. I teach 190 students every day and half of them don’t give a flying fuck about their education, and they’ve told me so. To top it off, their parents preach similarly. I had a parent in my room just this week whose complaints and rhetoric (which I did not present in the linked post) showed me that he views school as a punishment for his child.

When even our students can turn an act of honor — and again, I’d just like to say that shaving my beard is not honorable, but the fact I lived up to my promise is — into a joke that reflects the common view of teachers, I worry.

Anyway.

Aside from all the politicking here, I even think the pedophile joke is funny. I really do. There’s humor in everything, especially when it hurts.