please, y'all, be polite

We were asked earlier to write a blog entry on advice for the incoming first-years. Done.

A couple of things have occurred to me during the first weeks of summer school, though, that I think bear saying.

First, where most of us come from, we are used to being able to portray a teacher as someone who is probably not rolling in money. We tend to start with, "Oh, I'm a teacher ..." in those conversations emphasizing that we're tight on cash. 

Take a look at the demographic stats on median income for the town where you teach. Jackson: $30,414 (That's for a household. Males: $29,166, females: $23,328. Per capita: $17,600) Household for Panola County: $26,785. Household in Greenville: $25,929. Per capita income in Greenville is $13,992. In Leland, where most GWHS teachers live, per capita income is $11,681, household: $25,678. (From Wikipedia, most figures from 2000 US Census. Things have most likely gotten worse.) You'll be earning about $31,000 your first year. Yes, the cost of living in Mississippi is lower than where you came from, but you'll soon find out that applies mainly to housing and real estate taxes (which you most likely will not pay). Food, utilities, and gasoline are in-line with most of the U.S.

Especially for those of you living in small towns, please remember that you are basically a guest there. You (hopefully) will join a church or other group to involve yourself in the community, but you're in Mississippi, and unless your Mama or your Daddy is from your town, you're a stranger, a guest, until your grandkids are married there.

As a guest, it's rude to poor-mouth in front of people who know you're at the top of the local economic ladder, and most likely know (or suspect, no matter what the reality is) that you are partially bankrolled by your parents who sent you to your pricey private liberal arts college where you didn't even learn how to change a tire. Believe me, this is how you are perceived in your town until your neighbors know otherwise. They know you're there to "help" but be aware that the sense of noblesse oblige is very strong, and very offensive.

Second, please Google yourself from a computer where you are not logged in. Your students will do this. Your administration might.

When they find this, on an unprotected page that also contains your photo and your full name, as the fourth item on the search results, you're gonna have some explaining to do: