Such a Sucker I Am

When they come up to me after class and tell me they want to be doing what I'm doing now when they get older it makes it harder to want to walk away. Of course, they have absolutely no idea about the gulf that lies between what they see and what my life really is. So I guess I'm doing okay at projecting the proper professional appearance or something. It also makes me think I better hold out for better conditions for myself because if the powers that be continue to think that they can keep me for cheap they have no incentive to offer me or anyone else anything better. And if there is no fair compensation, no one with any skill or experience is going to go into the field. Not around here, at least. Sometimes I wonder what would happen if I would just break the ban that has been placed upon me and invite the dean, the department head and anyone else who has to authority to get off their ass and do something to come observe a class so they could see that all 25 students were in their seats and ready to go five minutes before class even started this morning. The big wigs would never show and if they did there aren't even enough seats in the classroom to accomodate them. I've got students learning to write hiragana with their notebooks perched on their knees. That sucks.