I Got A Gut Feeling

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Han Solo when he heard the telltale creaking that preceded the walls beginning to push in on the garbage compactor where he, Princess Leia, Chewbacca and Luke found themselves after rescuing the Princess from her cell. And that's pretty much how I'm feeling as this school year comes to a close.
Please understand, I am grateful to my principal and the school district to seeing that I have continued employment this coming fall. There are plenty of teachers out there who are currently looking for work, and not all of them are going to find them in their chosen field. Budget cutting has become the refrain to the tune that we all know too well. The walls are closing in on education, and as my mother is wont to say, "It's going to get worse before it gets better."
I noticed that teachers in Colorado will soon be hired, fired, and paid based on student's performance. No more tenure. I've never been a huge fan of tenure. It seems like a pretty big gift to hand to someone who has only been on the job for a few years. When I was first granted tenure, I felt relief, not accomplishment. It is only after a few more years that I feel as though I have really earned it. Does that mean I would rather be judged by my job performance alone? I want to believe that my hard work and dedication would keep me employed, but I also know that there are plenty of variables that I cannot control in the equation that is my job.
Will we receive standardized students to take those standardized tests for which our jobs will be evaluated? Will we have a group of standardized parents who will deliver their standardized children to our standardized schools at the standardized time each morning? Why then would anyone in their right mind choose to work in an urban school where such things are far from guaranteed?
I went out on strike for a day this year. Me. Mister "I would never be a member of any club who would have me as a member." I walked the line because I knew that I could probably find a job somewhere in my district because of the years I have already put in, but I couldn't say the same thing for some of my younger and less-veteran teachers. How these people have been able to survive here in the Bay Area on their starting teachers' salaries is beyond me. And in return they are being assailed from all sides about being "highly qualified." How about the most important qualification: They volunteered to be a teacher in the first place.
The lights are off and the doors are closed, but summer school will be starting in a week, and even though "summer" sounds endless when the Beach Boys say it, August 30th will be here before I know it. I've worked hard this year, dancing on the edge of the abyss, and for the first time in I don't know how many years I will be taking those weeks for myself. It is almost certain that before long I will be itching to get back to the classroom, since that's how I am. I'm a teacher, but I've got a bad feeling about this.