As the school year begins (and my own two daughters head back to school), I am considering the difference between computer programming, my current career, vs. teaching, the career of a number of friends and acquaintances of mine with whom I’ve been in contact as they prepared for the new school year. I don’t have anything to complain about; consider the following:

1. If I am debugging a piece of code, and can’t get it working, I can scream, curse, and hurl any manner of invective at it. (It doesn’t fix the problem, but it certainly feels good!). A teacher cannot do the same with his or her students, without getting into a whole lot of trouble.
2. If a Windows computer I am forced to use at work becomes thoroughly corrupted, I have the option of wiping the operation system and reinstalling everything; tedious, but it gets me a clean slate with which to work. A teacher has no such luxury; if he or she gets a “problem” student, who perhaps has a bad home life, isn’t getting enough sleep, doesn’t have any positive role models etc., they must do their best, slowly, painfully, to undo whatever damage they can, and help the student overcome his or her issues. One can’t use lobotomies or electro-shock therapy to wipe a child’s slate clean.
3. If I were really, really frustrated, I could pick up a piece of gear and throw against a wall, in a fit of cathartic, nihilistic fury. Has anyone not seen the video of the computer user smashing his fists on his keyboard in frustration, then using his keyboard to smash his monitor? (I have never done this, of course, but boy I have been close a number of times!). At least in most schools today, teachers are not allowed to physically assault students in this manner. I wish this had been the case when I was in grade school.
4. If I am using a piece of software or hardware that is not working, and I have a support agreement with the vendor/manufacturer , I can call them and demand that they fix the issue. A teacher may be able to call a student’s “manufacturers” (i.e. the parents), but I don’t know that the nature of the “support call” would be the same, or that all parents would be equally willing to help solve a problem, or even admit that one exists.
5. I can turn a computer off, and walk away, and not have to worry about its psychological well-being.
6. Teachers can’t shrug their shoulders and blame their problems on Microsoft.

The biggest difference though is the fact that computers, for all their speed in adding and subtracting 1’s and 0’s, are utterly and completely stupid, and depend on humans to tell them how to do things. There is no creativity, no spark. I can only imagine the thrill a teacher must feel when he or she can awaken a child’s imagination and sense of wonder; a curiosity and hunger for learning. I would think that it must be especially satisfying when teachers are able to achieve this with “problem” or disadvantaged students. Students who would more than likely been replaced, repaired or simply discarded, if they were computers.

Tags: Education

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