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but at the same time, kind of pitiful that it's not built into the system to recognize competent, effective teachers.

I noticed that for a time* students would gather around the door of my classroom while I was teaching a class. It was usually four or five at a time.

I mentioned this to the teacher in the classroom next to me (this is college level teaching) and she said they're checking you out as a teacher.

I later learned from a student that there was a "secret list" of the highly regarded teachers. The guidance counselors had this and slyly gave this information to certain students.

Never once did my institution say thank you for being a good teacher. Never once did they acknowledge my efforts. I had to learn it this way.

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Now, flashforward a few years and I took a position as a corporate webmaster for a large pharmaceutical company. A big part of my job description was to produce a monthly online magazine that featured the achievements of high-performing employees.

It was a great job and they thought nothing of it when they told me in the initial interview that they were doing it because they were privately owned and could not give stock options to keep their employees around.

In other words, they were telling them "good job" for financial reasons.

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*I later learned it was during registration