THE PART-TIME TEACHER

IS A WHITE WOMAN

On the first day of her English IA class, the part-time teacher sees a sea of dark faces. Only later does she separate their ethnic identities: 10 blacks, 10 whites, 2 Hispanics, 1 Indian (from India), 1 Filipino, 1 Eurasian. Why did she only see brown? Is she frightened?

The part-time teacher has a wonderful class for half the semester. The students are talkative, cheerful, and do their work. But soon she notices a few students’ voices have begun to dominate the class. The part-time teacher wants to rectify the situation. She begins to call on the silent ones. They begin to say: “I haven’t done the reading.” Or they bullshit when they don’t know the answer.

But when the discussion turns to issues that everyone can talk about without doing an ounce of reading, even the silent student pounce to speak. Male/female roles is a hot topic. Everyone wants to talk right down to the woman who denounces men for peeing all over the toilet. The Indian woman gives a women’s rights speech that rouses her fellow students to clap. A black woman brings in an article published in Ebony called “The Necessary Bitch” written by a black woman trying to assert herself in a sexist and racist society.

The part-time teacher feels the class is primed to read The Color Purple by a strong black woman. She is wrong. 

Copyright 2015 by Judy Wells. 



THE PART-TIME TEACHER

HAS A SELF-EFFACING GENIUS

IN HER CLASS

She is a woman.  She is overweight and crippled and she creeps to class on canes, but her mind soars over the universe for subjects.  She’s been Jack London and Beethoven and the smallest atom in the atmosphere.  She’s been a prehistoric turtle and she’s made love to the stars. 

She’s too good for the New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly; perhaps that’s the reason she will not publish.  The part-time teacher sees her as the Emily Dickinson of Richmond, the belle of San Pablo, while her other students scratch their heads.

Copyright 2015 by Judy Wells. 

The Part-Time Teacher

1991

Rainy Day Women Press

Willits, California

ISBN: 1879082012

72 pages

5.5" x 8.5"

$10.

13 copies of 2nd edition only available. Collector's item. Contact jwellspoet@yahoo.com

THE PART-TIME TEACHER

DOES NOT LIKE HER CONTRACT

The part-time teacher is asked to sign a contract which says she will give up her course to a full-time faculty member if he or she needs it. Every time she reaches that section, she balks. No, I will not give up my course to a full-time faculty member, she says. Absolutely not. I won’t. This has never happened. Still, the part-time teacher does not want to sign her contract. “Thanks for your cooperation,” says the contract.

The part-time teacher wonders whether electricians or grape pickers would sign a contract signing away their jobs. She wonders why hundreds of part-time teachers sitting at home at their desks, pens poised above their contracts, do not refuse to sign on the dotted line. She wonders whether she ought to call in the California Self-Esteem Task Force and ask them what is wrong. 

Copyright 2015 by Judy Wells.