I am going in great debt to the government, of all people, to get an education that will allow me to teach. When I do become a teacher, I will make little more than I make now. The job itself will be an improvement, I think. It will be less physically labor intensive than the job I have been working in for the last sixteen years, and I will have benefits, I hope. I will be abused and tormented by pubescent teenagers on a daily bases, some of whom will be armed with x-acto knives, one of the dangers of teaching art. All of this in hopes of reaching a kid or two, who just needed that little extra push to make it over the wall that we all hit at some time or the other. I am okay with all of this, however, I cannot help but hear, "I told you so." via the imaginary voice I have given to Karl Marx ringing in the back of my head.
I feel that Karl Marx would say that believing that going back to school to receive a higher education in hopes of a better life is the epitome of the conflict theorist's machine. False consciousness at its most high. My status is not going to improve due to this exchange of profession. I am still going to be poor , and further in debt than ever before! I had my student loans paid off! The job is not going to be easy by any means either. So why bother? Why not quit now and succumb to being a part of the labor force in the role that I play now? If your in it, your in it right?
I think part of it is that maybe we as teacher hopefuls are somewhat of idealists. We believe in the greater good. Are we sacrificing ourselves for the benefit of the future? I can not say that I am totally selfless, it will be nice to have insurance again, and a retirement plan. These too are part of that false consciousness, leading me to believe that the job is more important, and my status a little higher. Am I right? Regardless, I would not be telling the truth if I did not say that I am always in search of my own "pet rock" idea, but in the meantime I'm going to mold some minds!
2 comments:
I have been working in a cubicle for 5 years now and I can relate very much to "Office Space". Last night was an interesting class for me because I found out that I had a very marxist point of view and attitude without knowing it. But I did not feel that way during my first year of work. It seems that my marxist point of view came as an excuse for me not to be doing something that I really wanted to be doing with my life. So I can see how maybe going back to school to become a teacher for me is somewhat of a manifestation of coming out of my false consciousness.
False Consciousness may be too limited a concept to describe these sorts of internal conflicts we face. I will confess that my knowledge of Marx isn't extensive enough to say for sure that it's the concept that falls short or just my understanding. I think later theorists who are inspired by Marx have a more robust conception of how our social settings shape our consciousness.
Excellent post.
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