What do you do?

When I seldom manage to drag myself out during term time, somebody inevitably pipes up with that question: "So, what do you do?"
"I teach", I reply.
"Bloody hell… good for you. Private?"
I shake my head. The trouble with these people is that when they speak without thinking, they say what they think. We all do this. The hiatus before the official censor moves to correct the record can be the moment when we make assessments that we didn’t know were ours: the moment the unconscious mind blurts it out.

This says so much about the perception that many have about the quality of education and educators. However, most of it is a hangover from past times.

"So," I'll ask when the chat starts to drag, "how about you? What do you do?
"Me- oh goodness, terribly boring, grown-up kind of job. Terribly dull. One of these awful corporate firms, it’s very tough at the mo."

Most important is that I work at something I care about. I care because trust is put in me to have a good influence on the lives of a group of young people, and I am determined to do that to the very best of my ability. To those "what-do-you-do-ers?," I believe it is far better to build healthy relationships in which your increasing knowledge of a place, skill, person – or even yourself – provide an evergreen source of satisfaction. There is quite a sense of progress to be had from knowing better than buying bigger.