Brewing for a fight

This afternoon we had a meeting after school before our meeting.

My two department heads looked worried. I could read it on their faces - worry and nervousness. I couldn't help smiling. I like them both a lot - they work hard, mean well, and have good hearts. They were holding a meeting with all of the natives. "Natives" is what they call all the teachers that speak English as their first language.

The issue was they needed a "volunteer" to teach the Saturday class. If no one volunteered they were going to pick a name out of a hat.

The Saturday class is for an hour-and-a-half, there is no transportation to-and-from, and the pay is very minimal. None of us wanted to do it, but even more than that - it felt a lot like we were being bullied into the job.

The Turkish teachers seem to be bullied around all the time. They are paid less with the consolation that this school is one of the best to be at. There is no guarantees that they will have the job next year, and most likely they will be teaching a completely different grade. And there is no way to fight it - no union, no negotiations - either comply or leave. For most teachers, the consequences of that choice are too severe: it means their child will have to leave the school too. So most will very rarely say no.

The Native teachers have children too, but none of the Native's children were allowed in for various (and highly suspect) reasons. While there has been little room for negotiations, I had no problem rallying the troops to take a firm stand against the extra Saturday class. Half of us outright stated that we would quit if it came down to it. The problem was that if we said no, the job would most likely be left for the Turkish teachers, and while no one wants to do that - us Americans seem to have a hyper-sensitive sense of justice and rights and we were all ready to storm whomever's office it was that handed down the directive. I wanted to be asked, I wanted to negotiate a compromise, but I would not be bullied.

It's so easy to make excuses or concessions for things we don't want. I told Tolga all the reasons I was against this class and he said, "How about, 'It's our family time' - isn't that enough?"