The 'Those Who Can't' Script

“I ended up in the lesser profession.” Ingersoll & Perda’s research shows teachers internalize the ‘those who can’t, teach’ script — then autonomy erosion (scripted curricula, standardized tests, admin surveillance) supplies fresh evidence every semester. The script doesn’t arrive from outside; it gets manufactured inside.

• You preface mentioning your job with an apology — ‘I’m just a teacher.’
• Every scripted lesson plan feels like proof that your judgment wasn’t trusted to begin with.
• The ‘summers off’ comment hits differently when you spent August planning units no one will let you change.

• 01.“I’m just a teacher”
• 02.“If they knew what I make, they’d get it”
• 03.“I should have been a doctor or lawyer”
• 04.“But you have summers off”
• 05.“They asked what I actually want to do with my life”
• 06.“My uncle asked at Thanksgiving when I’m getting a real job”
• 07.“My college roommate just made VP and I’m still laminating name tags”

• Managing thirty developing minds at once is a hard skill. The script that calls it easy is the problem — not the work.
• The autonomy was stripped by policy, not by my incompetence. Those are different facts.
• I don’t preface my job. I name it straight.