Wife of S'porean teacher shows hidden costs of teaching as her husband exhausted by 9.15pm

Life of a teacher.

Belmont Lay | April 08, 2018, 12:00 PM

The hidden benefits of being a teacher in Singapore was all the rage recently as focus shifted on how parking in schools can no longer justifiably be free and an entitlement after all these years.

The message from the tweak was also clear: What the system captures and calculates will be used to formulate the next iteration of public policy.

But what are some of the things the system can never quantify?

This:

Wife of teacher explains

The wife of a teacher in Singapore put up a post on April 6, 2018 candidly depicting the exhaustion of her teacher husband on a Friday night at 9.15pm.

The teacher husband was falling asleep on the yoga mat in the living room while the couple were engaging in some Netflix and chill and he had to crawl into bed.

The secondary school teacher husband is said to clock 20,000 steps a day regularly walking around school conducting back-to-back lessons.

He even forks out his own money for students' celebrations, such as buying 16 pizzas for a farewell -- and not being able to claim a cent back.

To his wife, it is undeniable she understands the hidden costs better than the hidden benefits of being a teacher.

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This is the full post:

"I'm exhausted," he explains apologetically, as I try to get him to get up from the yoga mat on our living room floor and move into the bedroom instead. He's been nodding off in front of Netflix since 9.15pm, struggling to keep awake so we can spend time together.

"The Drama CCA kids were having a farewell for their Sec 4s today and I had to stay back for their send-off. They didn't manage to finish all the sixteen pizzas I bought." I ask him how much pizza was left and he says, "About one whole pizza?" I point out that next time he probably could buy one less, and he shrugs and says, "Well, it was 1-for-1."

Surely a farewell party couldn't have been THAT tiring. "Before that I had a whole day of back-to-back lessons and I was running here and there to settle all the prep for the Drama kids too."

On a regular weekday, Brennan can clock 20,000 steps on his step tracker, just from running around school and conducting lessons. On a regular weekend, he clocks mileage in red ink, checking and marking assignment after assignment.

I ask if someone's going to reimburse him for the sixteen pizzas that he paid for out of his own pocket. "Nah," he says. "Because apparently teachers have so many hidden benefits, right? That's why even parking also must pay." He smiles impishly.

It's 9.45pm on a Friday night and my husband is asleep, not because he doesn't want to keep me company, but because he's completely out of energy.

They say there are hidden benefits that come with being a teacher, but really, all I see are costs.

Previously on, "Why do teachers need to pay for parking?!":

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