Walking numbly into the teachers’ office, Mo Ran saw several of the usually diligent teachers with heavy looks of worry on their faces.
"Ms. Zhang, what’s wrong with you?" she asked a female teacher instinctively.
Ms. Zhang glanced at her, shook her head, and sighed, "What else could be wrong? The school is about to close, where will I work in the future? Jobs are so hard to find nowadays, and I’m not getting any younger. I fear I’ll have no choice but to go back home and live off my parents."
Another male teacher spoke solemnly, "I’ve been married for just two years and already have a child. This is the time we really need money. Suddenly losing my job, what will I use to support my wife and child?"
"The same goes for me. I just took out a loan to buy a house, and I have to pay two thousand a month in mortgage. I thought I could pay it off by working at the school for ten years, but I never anticipated something would happen."
"My daughter just got into college, and the tuition is tens of thousands every year. Without a job, where am I supposed to find that much money?"
Listening to their complaints, Mo Ran forced out a stiff smile and said, "Let’s not be so pessimistic, folks. If we lose our jobs, we can look for others. Oh, we can become teachers at other schools since we all have a lot of teaching experience."
"Ah, Teacher Mo, you are just too young, too naive. Don’t you know? In the city, what’s never in short supply is talent. Being a teacher is a secure job, with good benefits and high prestige. Do you have any idea how many people want to be teachers? Can we compete with those graduates from prestigious universities, with master’s and doctoral degrees?"
"I heard too, that many master’s graduates from top universities went out of their minds to apply for a position as a regular high school teacher, and some couldn’t even land a job. You can imagine, how many people are vying for the position of a teacher."
"I graduated from a vocational school and was lucky to teach at this school. If they let me go, teaching is all I know how to do. But which school would hire me as a teacher now?" said the oldest, Ms. Zhang, with a sigh.
"I’m also just an ordinary university graduate. My family pulled so many strings for me to teach here. If I leave this school, I’ll probably only get a position as a low-level employee in some company."
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As if opening a can of worms, everyone vented their grievances, and Mo Ran felt her heart sinking bit by bit as she listened to them.
Dismantling the school affects not only the students greatly, but the teachers as well.