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No Favors
Self-Awareness as Non-Negotiable
Let’s start boldly: No professional educator working anywhere is doing anyone a favor. No matter what situation you are working in, no matter how dysfunctional it is, or how poorly compensated you might be, if you are showing up and collecting a paycheck to educate other people, you aren’t doing it as a favor to anyone; not your students, or their parents, or your colleagues/bosses/co-workers. You are electing to do a job, and being compensated for it.
This is not a controversial statement. I’m sure that every educator I know would not disagree with me. I’m also sure that every educator I know can point to examples of colleagues over the course of their career that have seemed like they think they are doing someone a favor by showing up and doing their job.
That’s an interesting contradiction, and it’s one that I want to interrogate a bit in this piece. Here are some reasons why educators sometimes come across like they are doing their institution a favor:
Knowing Better Than Others
One common trigger for the “doing you a favor” mindset is the belief that one knows better than everyone else. This isn’t about having expertise in a subject area — which many educators rightfully do — but about a broader sense of superiority. It’s thinking that one’s…
