I guess this is just a vent.
I need a job. I don't want to just take any job though. I want a job where I'm allowed to do what I do. I'm tired of centers that don't want to invest in proper training or pay for skilled teachers so they implement these "Teaching For Dummies-type curriculums where you literally have to read a script. There's no wiggle room to adjust for what the children are actually doing or are curious about. Most of the time they don't even have the materials these curriculums call for in order to teach the lessons properly! They just don't have the budget for it. They don't trust teachers to wear an Apple Watch, let alone keep a phone or their wallet on their person. They don't trust teachers to arrange their own furniture or to decorate their own bulletin boards. They don't trust teachers to have the sense to dress appropriately so they make you wear stupid uniforms (they'll give you maybe one or two shirts but you work five days a week) or heavy smocks. They don't back up teachers when parents come in with unfounded complaints. I just want to work for a company that is respectful of me and my skills and the reasons why they hired me. You hired me because I have education and background and experience! Let me do my job! Let me do what I know how to do best. If you don't trust me to do those things then why hire me?
I just started a new job this morning and I lasted exactly 45 minutes. The things I saw in those 45 minutes absolutely horrified me. This center did not use bleach to sanitize. They did not make the children wash their hands before they sat down to eat breakfast. They offer no free play because "the children won't clean up after." Every surface of the three classrooms that I saw was covered in clutter. I'm talking the tops of shelves, counters, cabinets, everything. Stuff shoved in any nook and cranny and toys/materials all mixed up. Cleaner bottles on the wall of the diaper changing station in reach of children. They're still using the red-yellow-green discipline method. You are not allowed to bring anything of your own personal belongings into the classroom, at all, except for the clothes on your back. The Director told me today that I needed to dye my hair to a "natural color" and then got an attitude when I asked why she hadn't mentioned that in my interview last week. I just walked out.
I love working with children but I'm so tired of these bad centers that are just here to make money and don't actually care about what's best for the kids or what's respectful of their employees. I thought about looking for a job doing something else but I don't know what else I would be good at. I don't have a degree and I can't get one because a) I need to work and b) I can't do math. I have an undiagnosed learning disability and it costs a lot of money to get that diagnosis to get the accommodations I would need to finish school. I just don't know what to do anymore.