Subject Matter: Vacation

WHEN I WAS A STUDENT… vacation time was my favorite subject aside from “recess”. Whose kid doesn’t like vacation and recess, anyway? It is the best idea that school had every come up with.

Vacation means… you don’t have to wake up early and hit the shower so you won’t be late for school to attend that freaking flag ceremony and listen to the Principal’s stupid speech.

Vacation means… you don’t have to deal with cramming for an exam because you stayed up late at night watching your favorite TV show [while mom and dad were snoring their way to dreamland].

And vacation means… you don’t have to deal with your terror teachers or mean classmates and have more time to do the things you want to do without worrying that they will find them weird.

WHEN I BECAME A TEACHER… vacation is still my favorite subject aside from recess, in-service training and seminars, field trips, and no school days due to typhoons.

Vacation means… I can stay late in bed and hit the shower whenever I feel like it or take a long warm bubble bath because I don’t have to worry about being late for the that freakin’ flag ceremony and listen to the Principal’s stupid speech or worse attend an emergency meeting.

Vacation means… I can stay up late at night watching CSI or chatting online with my BFFs because I  don’t have to make lesson plans or check test papers or prepare teaching materials for the 7 or 8 classes that I handle or compute grades for the 60++ students for each class that I handle.

And vacation means… I can stay at home or spend a day in the spa or go shopping and don’t have to deal with students, parents and colleagues or listen to their whining, rants and musing about their personal lives and family problems and just concentrate on my own. It’s not because I am not a sympathetic person, it’s just that sometimes I don’t need to burden myself with someone else’s burden.

————————————–

Vacation… what a colorful reflection. Vacation… the best gift that students and teachers alike will surely appreciate and badly needed in times when sanity is losing its grip. Vacation… best way to recharge our batteries so we can function better. Vacation… the best way to give us a break so we won’t break.