'Can't you tell ys more about about Ireland?'
'Yo, teacher man...' Joey again. Mouth to the rescue.
'Joey, I told you my name is Mr.McCourt, Mr. McCourt, Mr. McCourt.'
'Yeah, yeah. So, mister, did you go out with girls in Irelans?'
'No, dammit. Sheep. We went out with sheep. What do you think we went out with?'
The class explodes. They laugh, clutch their chests, nudge, elbow one another, pretend to fall out of their desk. 'This teacher. Crazy, man. Talks funny. Goes out with sheep. Lock up your sheep.'
'Excuse me. Open your notebooks, please. We have a spelling list to cover. Hysterics. 'Will sheep be on the list?'
Oh man. That smart-ass response was a mistake. There will be trouble. The goody-goody, the saint and the critic with surely report me: 'Oh, Mom, oh, Dad, oh, Mr. Principal, guess what the teacher said in class today, Bad things about sheep.'
Next day the principal sends for me. He sits behind his desk, talking into the telephone, smoking a cigarette. He keeps saying, 'I'm sorry. It won't happen again. I'll speak to the person involved.' New teacher , I'm afraid. 'He puts the phone down. Sheep. What is this about sheep?'
'Sheep?'
'I dunno what I''m going to do with you. There's a complaint that you said "dammit" in class' 'I know you're just off the boat from an agricultural country and don't know the ropes, but you should have some common sense.'
'No, sir. Not off the boat. I've been here eight and a half years, including my two years in the army, not counting years of infancy in Brooklyn.'
'Well, look. First the sandwhich, now the sheep. Damn phone ringining off the hook. Parents up in arms. I have to cover my ass. You're two days in the building and two days you're in the soup. How do you do it? If you'll excuse the expression you're inclined to screw up a bit. Why the hell you have to tell these kids about sheep?'
'I'm sorry. They kepy asking me questions, and i was exasperated. They were only trying to keep me away from the spelling list.'
'That's it?'
'I thought the sheep things was a bit funny at the time.' 'Oh, yeah, indeed. You standing there advocating bestiality. Thirteen parents are demanding you be fired. There are righteous people on Stateb Isnlane.' 'I was only joking.' 'No, young man. No jokes here. There's a tinme and place. When you say something in class they take you seriously. You're the teacher. You say you went out with sheep and they;re going to swallow every word. They don't know the mating habits of the Irish.'
'I'm sorry.'
'This time I'll let you go. I'll tell the parents you're just an Irish immigrant off the boat.'
'But I was born here.'
'Could you be quiet for one minute and listen while i save your life, huh? This time I'll let it go. I won't put a letter in your file. You don;t realize how serious it is to get a letter in your file. If you've got any ambition to rise in this system, principla, asssisant principal, guidance counselor, the letter in the file will hold you back. It's the start of the long downward slide.'
'Sir, I don't want to be a principal. I just want to teach.'
'Yeah, yeah. That's what they all say. You'll get over it. These kids will give you gray hair before you're thirty.'
It was clearI was not cut out to be the purposeful kind of teacher who brushed aside all questions, requests, complaints, to get on with the well-planned lesson. That would hve reminded me of that school in Limerick where the lesson was king and we were nothing.
This book, Teacher Man is about a man in his mid-twenty's from Ireland that is now teaching at a school in New York City. He's having a hard time learning new ways to teach without getting in trouble with the school, principal and the parents all the time. He wants to be a good teacher while teaching the kids, but also not being to strict at the same time. He wants the kids to like, listen, and repsect him but also have them learn too.I thought this part of the book was a good example of perception because earlier on in the book it talked about the ways his teachers talk and acted in class. Since he grew up around that he is used to this and does not know anythign different. So this is a huge change for him and doesn't realize he can get in trouble for many things he may consider saying to the class. The principal and parents find some things he says in class are inappropriate and offensive, but Mr. McCourt does not. So he is going to have to learn this new way of teaching, and new rules quickly before he gets fired.
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