Have you seen this teacher rant

[delaney]

I taught public for 6 years and left it. Why? They monetary reward was far below the effort required to do the job well. Did I expect to make a lot of money? NO. You know this going in so why complain about it? Are you taken for granted? Yup, just like wives and mothers are. Pressure from government standards? Not if you are tenured. Let's face it, once you are tenured you are nearly impossible to get rid of. I have witnessed a enormous amount of crazy crap go on with teachers that they just can't "get rid of". I had to take over a class one day for a teacher that fell asleep at her desk b/c she was doped up on Methadone(taking due to a work related injury). It was 3 years before they were able to get her to take an early retirement and pay her off to leave. Here we don't have unions and those make your job even more secure. I feel WAY more pressure teaching my own kids than I did teaching. I loved my job and went to work every day happy. I just decided that it wasn't worth leaving my kids in daycare for.

It does annoy me that people post that stuff. What teaching is is what is has been for ages. Papers, disruptive students, annoying parents, summers off, vacations off with your kids, no weekends, basically no evenings. If you don't like the job then don't do it. Isn't it that way with every job?:confused:

[WarriorMama]

I know there are whiners. I've met them. I'm not one of them because I quit. If I had a choice between selling organs or returning to teaching, I'm not sure which I'd choose.

 

Yes, teachers get a planning period. The higher up you are, the more planning periods you have. My dept chair had three.

 

BUT the school couldn't get enough subs, so we were required to give up our planning periods to sub for other teachers. That's illegal. Do you know what they do to teachers who say so?

 

Yes, you can grade a few papers during your planning period, if you get one. Or you can plan a lesson. (They require a detailed report of the TEKS you are meeting for ea lesson, plus the alternative lessons you're making for ea of your special ed students, along w/ a detailed list of how those alternatives meet their individual needs.)

 

They *don't* put caps on class sizes, though. So if you're teaching 7 classes times 20 students, sure, that's a breeze. Even if some of them can't read because they just came into the country. Sure, the school expects you to come early & stay late for tutoring those kids, but there are only 140 of them. And it's *good* work.

 

When you have 40 in a class, though, & their parents can't speak English, & they move every week or so, due to jail or fleeing eviction, it's harder. When you're expected to call every parent of every student at least once per six weeks, plus any time they fail anything, plus any time they miss a class or get in trouble, when there are only 2 people in the school who speak Spanish, so you have to piece together your conversation from a Spanish dictionary ahead of time, it's harder.

 

Our district forced us to use curric that they hadn't bought the license for. (I didn't know.) When the publisher threatened to sue, the school backed away, & it was us teachers who were having to negotiate w/ the publisher. The school's solution? We could all spend the summer working together (for free) writing a new curric that they could use forever w/out ever paying another licensing fee.

 

I took work home because they locked the school just before midnight. That was the latest we could be there. I worked a full 12 hrs almost every Sat & Sun. BUT I *never* blamed parents for that. The system is broken. And that's on *everybody.* Not just parents. Not just teachers. In many ways, the teachers who bend over backwards to make it work are making it worse. If they'd just let it fail at last, then everybody would have to be in there helping to fix it. As long as they hold it together w/ what they can do, it will be held together by a string, w/ everybody pointing fingers.

 

That sounds brutal, and the system is most definitely broken. I think in those circumstances, people have earned the right to gripe a bit (although still not to cast parents in the role of lazy do-nothings). ;)

 

But there are whiners here too, where I can guarantee you things are NOT like that, at least in elementary school.

[Old Dominion Heather]

I know there are whiners. I've met them. I'm not one of them because I quit. If I had a choice between selling organs or returning to teaching, I'm not sure which I'd choose.

 

Yes, teachers get a planning period. The higher up you are, the more planning periods you have. My dept chair had three.

 

BUT the school couldn't get enough subs, so we were required to give up our planning periods to sub for other teachers. That's illegal. Do you know what they do to teachers who say so?

 

Yes, you can grade a few papers during your planning period, if you get one. Or you can plan a lesson. (They require a detailed report of the TEKS you are meeting for ea lesson, plus the alternative lessons you're making for ea of your special ed students, along w/ a detailed list of how those alternatives meet their individual needs.)

 

They *don't* put caps on class sizes, though. So if you're teaching 7 classes times 20 students, sure, that's a breeze. Even if some of them can't read because they just came into the country. Sure, the school expects you to come early & stay late for tutoring those kids, but there are only 140 of them. And it's *good* work.

 

When you have 40 in a class, though, & their parents can't speak English, & they move every week or so, due to jail or fleeing eviction, it's harder. When you're expected to call every parent of every student at least once per six weeks, plus any time they fail anything, plus any time they miss a class or get in trouble, when there are only 2 people in the school who speak Spanish, so you have to piece together your conversation from a Spanish dictionary ahead of time, it's harder.

 

Our district forced us to use curric that they hadn't bought the license for. (I didn't know.) When the publisher threatened to sue, the school backed away, & it was us teachers who were having to negotiate w/ the publisher. The school's solution? We could all spend the summer working together (for free) writing a new curric that they could use forever w/out ever paying another licensing fee.

 

I took work home because they locked the school just before midnight. That was the latest we could be there. I worked a full 12 hrs almost every Sat & Sun. BUT I *never* blamed parents for that. The system is broken. And that's on *everybody.* Not just parents. Not just teachers. In many ways, the teachers who bend over backwards to make it work are making it worse. If they'd just let it fail at last, then everybody would have to be in there helping to fix it. As long as they hold it together w/ what they can do, it will be held together by a string, w/ everybody pointing fingers.

 

Yes. This. :iagree:

[Xuzi]

Wow. Harsh thread! :001_huh:

 

I am the product of two veteran public school teachers. My mom teaches kindergarten and 1st grade, and my dad taught 1st grade for almost two decades and is now currently teaching 2nd grade.

 

I see a lot of PS teacher stereotypes in this thread:

 

"But don't they get the whole summer off!" <-- this, to me, is the PS teacher version of the homeschooler's "What about socialization??!" question. Ya, they're not showing up to the classroom every day, but my parents *always always* had many required (but UNPAID) meetings to attend during the summer, plus classrooms to set up (which could take weeks if they were having to switch classrooms and/or switch schools, which seemed to happen about every 3 years or so). Plus they often spent their summers preparing lesson plans for the upcoming school year and getting as many supplies and copies and such made ahead of time as they could. You know that whole "filing system" so many of us did this year? Imagine doing that for 30+ students (although my parents typically only did it a quarter at a time). It was *time consuming*, but was necessary to do their job well.

 

My mom also wrote grants for her school district so that they could get much needed money for things like updated (and safer) playground equipment, new computers and books for the library, and physical ed. equipment. That took a lot of her time.

 

In order to bring in more money, my mom became a New Teacher Mentor to help first year teachers. She was only supposed to have 2 teachers to mentor. The district gave her 6 (but no extra pay).

 

My parents have been pushed over, cussed at, had their personal property vandalized and/or stolen, and my mom has even been physically sexually harrassed by her own students, and the district did nothing. Nothing. They couldn't get a hold of the parents, so "their hands were tied". No suspension or switching to another classroom (for the student), no additional teacher's aid to help diffuse the situation.

 

Every year they've had to buy their own teaching supplies. My parents have a 3 car garage they can't park in because of all the supplies they have on shelves in there. And 80% of it is used every year! It's not in there collecting dust.

 

This year my parents' health insurance premiums went up again (yes they DO pay for their insurance, even being a part of a union), to almost a thousand dollars a month for two adults with no depedent children. In addition to that, the state of California is no longer giving teacher's their share of the money the state collects from the Lottery, which is *supposed* to be given to teachers to use for classroom supplies.

 

Teacher's jobs DO SUCK sometimes. Certainly there are wonderful teachers, who work for wonderful school districts, for wonderful benefits; but you also have hard working teachers who work for school districts who don't give a **** about anything except test scores, and expect their teachers to be miracle workers, meanwhile giving them NO support when they have difficult students, expensive curriculum they often times have to buy themselves (or it's crappy curriculum that the teacher chooses to suppliment themselves), and they'll move a teacher to a different grade or a different school if they don't like them. My dad was given TWO WEEKS NOTICE that he was going to be moved to the 2nd grade, after being told two months previous that he was going to be moved to 4th grade (and had already purchased a bunch of 4th grade curriculum). Money down the drain and not a whole lot of time to adequately prepare.

 

Certainly there are private sector jobs that suck. Certainly there are horrible teachers who don't deserve to be in a classroom, but there are also a lot of hardworking teachers who are being screwed by the system, and yet they show up to their classroom each day to help educate our nation's children as best they can, because without an educated populous, how can you possibly expect to have a working democracy, which is the life's blood of what makes our nation so great?

 

Um, wow. Okay. Off my soapbox now. :tongue_smilie:

[WarriorMama]

I don't think those who express their frustration in this way even have this attitude most of the time. I think we all have days where everything weighs on us until we explode. Most of the time we can deal with it as it comes - no matter what our jobs (I'm including staying home, raising and educating our kids at home as a "job" too). There have been times my dh has shared a similar attitude (only with me or his dad - a former teacher), but that does not mean he carries that around daily. There are times we just reach our ability to deal with everything. Some days are like that, "even in Australia".

 

Unfortunately, there are parents who do nothing to help their children succeed in school. And, unfortunately, the success or failure of that child is not on the parent's shoulders, where honestly a lot of it belongs; it is on the shoulders of the teacher. My dh sees approximately 200 teenagers a day, for approximately 55 minutes per class. There is very little he can do to motivate them to want to learn beyond what he already does. He cannot help their home life; he cannot modify what they have to do to accommodate students who have to pick up a job after school to help ends meet at home. He cannot do much to undo the enormous peer pressure felt by so many. He is taught to teach only the standards, even if incoming students to Geometry cannot simplify radicals or remember basic multiplication. He's been told to stop teaching them why things are the way they are in math, but simply teach how to find the answer.

 

He teaches in a good school, in a good district, and yet is beaten down often by parents who expect him to be God, and by an administration who is only interested in "winning" the standardized-score race. And yet he keeps doing it because he believes in what he does. He's an amazing teacher and even after all the years he has been teaching, holds out that he is making a difference for students who otherwise see absolutely no point to learning math. And sometimes it gets to be too much to handle. And sometimes he vents and expresses his frustration (though he doesn't have a FB account nor would he ever express it there). We all do.

 

It's disheartening to read all the negative comments on this thread in regards to teachers. Someone used FB as a platform to express their growing frustration about their job. If you don't like it or don't agree with it, ignore it.

 

I'm not the OP, but I would ignore something like that on Facebook. People need to vent sometimes, but I think it's equally disheartening to read someone 'venting' by belittling parents.

 

Your husband sounds like a great teacher. :001_smile:

[Murphy101]

I don't care much for teacher whining either in this economy.

 

The job sucks no doubt. You very literally could not pay me enough to do it.

 

Much as I love my own children and most other children, I couldn't even hack in home daycare way back when I only had a couple kids. Taking care of other peoples kids is a really great form of birth control. Not so much bc of the kids most of the time, but their parents drove. Me. Nuts.

 

But teachers who whine about spending their own money and doing work they were not hired to do? Then don't do it. Absolutely no sympathy from me there. Because every single time a teacher does that, she is selling herself short and then getting mad when she isn't compensated for it. Why the heck would anyone compensate for what they can get for free? Not to mention that as long as parents see materials in the classroom, they will never pay for it. Let them see little Johnny do without crayons though and suddenly they will consider the cost. Administrators will suddenly have to explain why basic supplies and curriculum are not in the classroom.

 

That example of having to write a program for free? They should have refused. Instead they made the school look good instead having to suffer the consequences of their stupidity.

[Mejane]

Ya, they're not showing up to the classroom every day, but my parents *always always* had many required (but UNPAID) meetings to attend during the summer, plus classrooms to set up (which could take weeks if they were having to switch classrooms and/or switch schools, which seemed to happen about every 3 years or so). Plus they often spent their summers preparing lesson plans for the upcoming school year and getting as many supplies and copies and such made ahead of time as they could.

 

This time is not unpaid, it is included in their yearly salary. They are not hourly employees punching a clock.

 

I know teachers put in many hours over the required 180 teaching days, but I still believe they fall far short of the number of hours worked by other professions.

Edited November 9, 2010 by Mejane

[kokotg]

This time is not unpaid, it is included in their yearly salary.

 

No it's not. Teachers are contracted for 190 days (give or take, depending on the state). In some states paychecks are spread over the year or teachers can opt to have them be, but they're paid for 10 months.

[Xuzi]

This time is not unpaid, it is included in their yearly salary. They are not hourly employees punching a clock.

 

I know teachers put in many hours over the required 180 teaching days, but I still believe they fall far short of the number of hours worked by other professions.

Well, when the number of meetings you're required to attend increases significantly, but the pay doesn't budge, it certainly does feel unpaid.

[angela in ohio]

No it's not. Teachers are contracted for 190 days (give or take, depending on the state). In some states paychecks are spread over the year or teachers can opt to have them be, but they're paid for 10 months.

 

And many private sector jobs are technically 40 hours a week, but salaried employees are expected to work more than that. You can argue whether that is right or wrong, but it certainly isn't only teachers.

[kokotg]

And many private sector jobs are technically 40 hours a week, but salaried employees are expected to work more than that. You can argue whether that is right or wrong, but it certainly isn't only teachers.

 

I'm not saying they're not; I'm just saying that teachers aren't paid a "yearly" salary, technically; they're 10 month employees. I see working over the summer when you're technically not even working for the school district as different from putting in extra time during the school year. But it might be a semantic distinction, and I might just be feeling cranky today ;)

Edited November 9, 2010 by kokotg
because I can't shut up this week

[silliness7]

A teacher is somewhere in the world tonight preparing lessons to teach your children while you are watching TV. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are sacrificing THEIR OWN TIME for your child's literacy, prosperity, and future.

 

This FB post is condescending in its own right. I think that is why it garners such a negative response in non-teachers. It's as if no one else has sacrificed a little free time or ME time to make the world better for other people. It makes the rest of us who also work hard want to stick our fingers in our ears, stick our tongues out and SPPPLLLLTTTTT!!!!

 

I spend the majority of my time preparing to launch 7 productive adults into the world sans tax-payer dollars...and I truly have barely enough of my own dollars to get by. (This so drastically cuts into my ME time I don't even want to talk about it.) You're welcome. :001_smile:

 

My husband spends his time raising money that will train dogs to assist people with handicaps (including children <gasp>) He missed our big family Halloween fun because he was working on this very thing. You're welcome. :001_smile:

[kokotg]

...and I'll tell you one thing my husband the dedicated public school teacher would never do: he'd never put on Mythbusters and call it science so that he could neglect his students in favor of arguing on a message board. Nope. He wouldn't. :lol:

[Mejane]

No it's not. Teachers are contracted for 190 days (give or take, depending on the state). In some states paychecks are spread over the year or teachers can opt to have them be, but they're paid for 10 months.

 

I hear you. Many teachers are well compensated, though, at 10 months' pay. Here in CT, many earn upwards of $70,000. That's not bad.

 

Many salaried employees work overtime as the job entails and are not compensated above their salary. My husband often has dinner meetings and then stays overnight to make next day early morning meetings. If we counted up all the hours included and averaged his yearly salary even as a "highly compensated employee", he'd be making about a buck fifty an hour. ;)

[kokotg]

I hear you. Many teachers are well compensated, though, at 10 months' pay. Here in CT, many earn upwards of $70,000. That's not bad.

 

Many salaried employees work overtime as the job entails and are not compensated above their salary. My husband often has dinner meetings and then stays overnight to make next day early morning meetings. If we counted up all the hours included and averaged his yearly salary even as a "highly compensated employee", he'd be making about a buck fifty an hour. ;)

 

...and I hear you. I won't pretend that having more time together as a family was not a factor in deciding DH would take a big salary cut to start teaching. His schedule during the school year is very hectic; he leaves the house at a bit after 7 so he can be there early for students who need extra help. On a typical day, he tutors after school and gets home around 5, then often goes back out to tutor again (for extra money, which is the only way we can afford to live reasonably on one teaching salary) after the kids go to bed at 7:45, then comes home at 9:15 or so and grades papers or prepares for class the next day. He coaches the math team, so several Saturdays a year he's gone all day to a math tournament. But we always know there's a break coming up, and that's a nice feeling. He doesn't complain about his salary or the extra work he does (much, and certainly not on facebook), but my point is that it's a trade-off. If he didn't have a lot of vacation time and decent benefits to compensate for a lower salary than he could make elsewhere, he wouldn't be teaching. Most teachers wouldn't.

[mom2jjka]

"all of the teachers should have a flat pay-say 125,000"

 

That would be incredible... If my salary had been that, I would have made $100,000 more than when I was teaching in VA. Va is a non-union state.

 

If you have not been in a classroom, then I think you really cannot understand the job. It is NOTHING like homeschooling. NOTHING.

 

:iagree:

[dangermom]

I wonder if a factor in the teacher shortage in some areas is the state certification process. Our area is overflowing with teachers who need work; we have a huge supply. But they can't go to Georgia, because their certification is in California. And to get a job in Georgia, they would have to go through a bunch more chasses and so on.

 

Then, of course, many of those unemployed teachers are married to people who do have jobs and who can't move to Georgia...

[Matryoshka]

I'm with Xuzi. My mom, my brother, and my best friend are teachers (mom's retired). Mom probably had it the easiest of the three, as she was a kindergarten teacher. Maybe elementary teachers don't have it as hard - one class, one curriculum for the year.

 

But the high school teachers? 150 students' papers to correct? Aaah. Anyone I know who's a high school teacher, all I ever see them doing is correcting papers. My brother's often up till 2 in the morning. In the summer, he has to work a second job or they can't pay the mortgage (maybe teacher's salaries don't seem so bad for someone who's the second income, but try it if you're the main breadwinner). For years he missed out on holiday weekends with the family because he had a second job during the school year as a function waiter on the weekends.

 

My best friend just started as a school teacher. Before this she worked in "business" - in hotel and property management. The hotel industry is tough in itself - she constantly had overnight shifts and 6-day work weeks. She says that teaching is much harder than anything she's done. Since she started teaching, it's like she's dropped off the radar - hardly ever hear from her anymore (admittedly this will probably get better after she's done another year and has her 'groove' - the first couple of years are the toughest).

 

There was someone in my church whose dh quit working in the business world to teach math. He quit after a couple of years and went back to business - I don't think people appreciate how hard it can be - especially if the teacher cares to do it "right'.

 

Not that homeschooling is easy - in school teachers do get to repeat the same shtick every year - but I can barely keep up with correcting 3 kids' assignments - I can't even fathom 150. :001_huh:

 

And yes, there are really crappy teachers out there. But that doesn't mean they're all spending the summers at the beach or that the job description is some walk in the park compared to office workers'. I feel more solidarity with teachers than snarky competitiveness (though I do wish I could get a pension too :tongue_smilie:).

 

Wow. Harsh thread! :001_huh:

 

I am the product of two veteran public school teachers. My mom teaches kindergarten and 1st grade, and my dad taught 1st grade for almost two decades and is now currently teaching 2nd grade.

 

I see a lot of PS teacher stereotypes in this thread:

 

"But don't they get the whole summer off!" <-- this, to me, is the PS teacher version of the homeschooler's "What about socialization??!" question. Ya, they're not showing up to the classroom every day, but my parents *always always* had many required (but UNPAID) meetings to attend during the summer, plus classrooms to set up (which could take weeks if they were having to switch classrooms and/or switch schools, which seemed to happen about every 3 years or so). Plus they often spent their summers preparing lesson plans for the upcoming school year and getting as many supplies and copies and such made ahead of time as they could. You know that whole "filing system" so many of us did this year? Imagine doing that for 30+ students (although my parents typically only did it a quarter at a time). It was *time consuming*, but was necessary to do their job well.

 

My mom also wrote grants for her school district so that they could get much needed money for things like updated (and safer) playground equipment, new computers and books for the library, and physical ed. equipment. That took a lot of her time.

 

In order to bring in more money, my mom became a New Teacher Mentor to help first year teachers. She was only supposed to have 2 teachers to mentor. The district gave her 6 (but no extra pay).

 

My parents have been pushed over, cussed at, had their personal property vandalized and/or stolen, and my mom has even been physically sexually harrassed by her own students, and the district did nothing. Nothing. They couldn't get a hold of the parents, so "their hands were tied". No suspension or switching to another classroom (for the student), no additional teacher's aid to help diffuse the situation.

 

Every year they've had to buy their own teaching supplies. My parents have a 3 car garage they can't park in because of all the supplies they have on shelves in there. And 80% of it is used every year! It's not in there collecting dust.

 

This year my parents' health insurance premiums went up again (yes they DO pay for their insurance, even being a part of a union), to almost a thousand dollars a month for two adults with no depedent children. In addition to that, the state of California is no longer giving teacher's their share of the money the state collects from the Lottery, which is *supposed* to be given to teachers to use for classroom supplies.

 

Teacher's jobs DO SUCK sometimes. Certainly there are wonderful teachers, who work for wonderful school districts, for wonderful benefits; but you also have hard working teachers who work for school districts who don't give a **** about anything except test scores, and expect their teachers to be miracle workers, meanwhile giving them NO support when they have difficult students, expensive curriculum they often times have to buy themselves (or it's crappy curriculum that the teacher chooses to suppliment themselves), and they'll move a teacher to a different grade or a different school if they don't like them. My dad was given TWO WEEKS NOTICE that he was going to be moved to the 2nd grade, after being told two months previous that he was going to be moved to 4th grade (and had already purchased a bunch of 4th grade curriculum). Money down the drain and not a whole lot of time to adequately prepare.

 

Certainly there are private sector jobs that suck. Certainly there are horrible teachers who don't deserve to be in a classroom, but there are also a lot of hardworking teachers who are being screwed by the system, and yet they show up to their classroom each day to help educate our nation's children as best they can, because without an educated populous, how can you possibly expect to have a working democracy, which is the life's blood of what makes our nation so great?

 

Um, wow. Okay. Off my soapbox now. :tongue_smilie:

[Carrie12345]

I've only read the first and last pages, but...

 

Frankly, I think it's all a giant p!$$ing contest, pardon my language.

 

Dh puts in anywhere from 30 to 80 hours or more each week, sometimes travels for 2 weeks at a time, often misses dinner and sometimes misses special events and holidays in order to save a building, a business, equipment, documents, and the personal property of others. He's available approximately 351 days a year, give or take. He doesn't get tenure. He funds our retirement himself. He pays a hefty price tag for the benefits he does get. And the law allows him to be let go from his company at any time, for any reason.

 

But he's NEVER appeared to crave more acknowledgement, appreciation, or adoration than, say, a 40-hour receptionist. Or a 32-hour nurse. Or a teacher who gets summers off.

 

He chose his job. The receptionists chose their jobs. The nurses chose their jobs. And the teachers chose theirs. Kwicherbichin is my response.

 

Now, if they want to complain about unmanageable class size, stupid orders from the administration, uninvolved parents, and even their personal safety, they definitely have my sympathies.

[kokotg]

I wonder if a factor in the teacher shortage in some areas is the state certification process. Our area is overflowing with teachers who need work; we have a huge supply. But they can't go to Georgia, because their certification is in California. And to get a job in Georgia, they would have to go through a bunch more chasses and so on.

 

Then, of course, many of those unemployed teachers are married to people who do have jobs and who can't move to Georgia...

 

I'm not up to date on this right now (i.e. I don't know if it has changed with the unemployment rate), but when DH started teaching he went through an alternative certification route, and it was pretty simple. I don't know how it's different if you're coming from another state and already have certification there, either. But he had a degree in math, not education, and had never taught before. He took a couple of tests, and they threw him in classroom immediately with a provisional certification. He did a mentoring program to get his regular certification, which, honestly, was more doing some paperwork than anything else. He never took a single pedagogy class (well, he has now, but that was to get his gifted certification, not his regular teaching certificate). It's entirely possible things are different now that unemployment is high; they'll generally only hire someone with a provisional certification if they can't find anyone they like who's already certified. But I would imagine it's still doable for teachers in high needs areas.

[Spy Car]

I'm also the child of a career school teacher, and I know how hard my mother worked every night correcting papers, going lesson plans, organizing materials. It was a hugely demanding job. One she loved, and was good at, but one that placed heavy demands on her. It burns me to read some of the assinine comments that have been made on this thread about teachers.

 

The POINT of the blurb seems to have been missed. It is not "pity the poor hard-working teachers", the criticism is of parents that do not involve themselves with their children's education outside the classroom. People who spend their evenings watching TV rather than going over the children's math, or working on reading and writing or any of the myriad of other subjects a child needs to learn.

 

A school can not do it all. My son goes to school, I know they can not do it all. Even at "very good" schools. There is a marked difference in achievement even in the First Grade between students whose parents who are involved in their children's education, and those who are not. The difference is dramatic.

 

Why this should prompt teacher-bashing is beyond me.

 

Bill

[brijen97]

I saw that on facebook also! My grandmother was a kindergarten teacher when there was still am/pm K so she had 50-75 kids/day walk through her classroom door. She always seemed to have good memories of the time however and was quick to call the younger teachers out when they started complaining. I also have a teaching degree and currently run a day care in my home while homeschooling my own child. Throughout all of my training and now my continuing ed training I have to do for the state its like a constant ego-a-thon. You are all so wonderful. You do more in a day than most people do in a week. Yadda, yadda. The problem is most of the people around me buy right into it. Of course I appreciate it when the parents realize what I do for the kids but to me it isn't necessary! I'm the one who chose to do this so no complaining! If you hate it so much then why not do another job so you can watch tv at night???

[missesd]

Then there is my friend who posted this little gem:

 

"I can actually say I dislike 1/3 of my students and I don't care if they fail or if they succeed in life. Sounds horrible to know I think that"

 

I was :ohmy: I wanted to comment with "this is why I homeschool", but instead I went with "I think the Thumper rule applies here.."

[WarriorMama]

A teacher is somewhere in the world tonight preparing lessons to teach your children while you are watching TV. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are sacrificing THEIR OWN TIME for your child's literacy, prosperity, and future.

 

This FB post is condescending in its own right. I think that is why it garners such a negative response in non-teachers. It's as if no one else has sacrificed a little free time or ME time to make the world better for other people. It makes the rest of us who also work hard want to stick our fingers in our ears, stick our tongues out and SPPPLLLLTTTTT!!!!

 

I think you totally nailed it. It's not about teacher bashing (well, okay, maybe some people went that route...). I think it's about the crappy attitude of the quoted message. The 'we work harder than anyone else, to help YOUR CHILDREN, and the rest of you are lazy bums!' sentiment that seems to ooze out of that - and which you sometimes hear in person - is the objectionable part.

 

Teachers don't have it made just by being teachers, and most of them work very hard, sometimes (but not always) in really crappy conditions. I GET THAT. I can continue to get that and have great respect for those folks, while not appreciating the attitude put forth by others in the profession.

[angela in ohio]

I'm not saying they're not; I'm just saying that teachers aren't paid a "yearly" salary, technically; they're 10 month employees. I see working over the summer when you're technically not even working for the school district as different from putting in extra time during the school year. But it might be a semantic distinction, and I might just be feeling cranky today ;)

 

I guess I don't see working the summer as any different than working Sat/Sun when you are contracted to work M-F 9-5 or on your vacations.

 

My dh was a teacher for years. He knew that working in the summer was part of it, though the flexibility (working on lesson plans on your own schedule is different than having to show up at a certain time) was wonderful for our family. Teachers in our state make an average of $50-60K, with great benefits and retirement in comparison to other fields. That's a good salary even for a year-round job in Michigan. Yeah, dh could have possibly made more in another job with a four year degree, but not with the security and the flexibility of teaching, as well as the opportunity for advancement.

 

Bottom line... he had his moments (no planning period for years, etc.,) but he wouldn't get on FB and post something like that.

[justamouse]

I am convinced many of the problems with teachers are union problems where I live.

 

For example:

 

9 Million spent on elective cosmetic surgeries

 

The union president made the point that they'd probably have to concede the benefit in the next contract so he told the union members to use it now, while they still could.

 

NYS has a projected 9 billion dollar deficit, BTW and I think 80% or more of the Buffalo school system's money comes from the state taxpayers.

 

I live in NJ and here there is another huge deficit. We also have 'Abbot' schools which means those schools get more $ from the higher taxed school systems because those schools (say in Newark) don't have enough tax $ to keep them afloat.

 

Wow, it's a wonder everyone doesn't go into teaching, since it's so awesome. If only word got out about how easy teachers have it and how great the pay is, maybe there wouldn't be teacher shortages in critical needs areas and in urban and rural school districts.

 

My husband did work in the private sector before he went into teaching. He made much more money then and we had better insurance. He's not in a union. And, frankly, I've never heard him whine about his job nearly as much as you whined about his job just now.

 

Sorry, people bashing my husband is a particular peeve of MINE.

 

You live in Georgia, I live in NJ, and there is a world WORLD of difference between where you live, and I live. Teachers here make a lot more $, have have gone ON STRIKE for having to pay more than a 3 dollar copay (had they taken a 5 dollar copay that would have saved the state millions).

 

We pay the highest taxes in the COUNTRY (I'm at 15k for a small town) and 30-40 % of that (i'd have to go check my stubs) goes to the schools. And, we're a non reporting state and I've always wanted to know how many of us homeschool and STILL have to pay in taxes?

 

Our teachers get paid a salary that they can either take in the 9 months or the whole year. They have pensions that I would KILL for, plus healthcare throughout. The administrators/superintendents can work in more than one school district and some make about 300k. All that with the pension, the healthcare ...

 

We don't have a teacher shortage, there are scads of unemployed teachers.

 

And, there is NO REASON our teachers should have to pay anything out of pocket because the system is raking in $. They don't HAVE to. They do it because they feel bad for the kids, and I understand that, but it's not their responsibility. They should be asking where the $ is going, not dipping into their own pockets.

kokotg,

 

I see you are in GA. I think I've heard that your teachers' pay scales are much lower than those in NY.

 

I think there are HUGELY different regional differences in the pay and benefits for teachers. I see your point but I also see the point of the people who don't want to pay for 9 million dollars of elective plastic surgery.

 

:iagree:

 

I think teacher salaries in Georgia are pretty competitive (with other states) given the cost of living here. Certainly we have better benefits than many other states (in a lot of states, teachers get no health insurance benefits for dependents, for example).

 

Teachers here average a salary of 56k. When you add in penison, benefits and all that time off (yes, it is. You're not working every day through the summer and here the teachers get paid for all of the conferences) it would easily land you in the 65-70 range. That is higher than most private sector jobs IN NJ.

 

http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/ib_05.htm

 

According to our preferred estimate where number of hours worked by public school teachers is derived from the National Compensation Survey, when we take into account the differences in hours worked, the salary for the average teacher in New Jersey translates to about $86,382 annually in the private sector. According to our measure, the highest paid twenty-five percent of teachers in the state earn the equivalent of six figure salaries.

25% is a high percentage.

 

Less heated now.

 

I think there's a breakdown of logic at work in suggesting that teacher salaries and benefits are TOO generous for the work teachers do when, even in this economy and with the unemployment rate today there are shortages of teachers in many areas. It doesn't make any sense. If we believe in the internal logic of the marketplace at all, shouldn't it follow that a job that pays very generously would have no trouble attracting plenty of highly qualified people? Perhaps the answer is that actually teachers do work very hard for not a whole lot of money. Yes, other people do, too. And they complain sometimes, too.

 

There is no shortage of teachers here. None.

 

"all of the teachers should have a flat pay-say 125,000"

 

That would be incredible... If my salary had been that, I would have made $100,000 more than when I was teaching in VA. Va is a non-union state.

 

If you have not been in a classroom, then I think you really cannot understand the job. It is NOTHING like homeschooling. NOTHING.

 

I've been in a classroom. I'm not saying it's easy, but I have a small business (granted, I don't work every day anymore) that employs over 30 people and I worked MUCH harder at keeping that business afloat and our employees paid (my husband works well over 60 hours a week). The school system doesn't care, it's getting it's $ regardless-and most people are of the belief that if you throw MORE $ at it it will get better. So it's an all consuming mass that fails at its work and still gets to stay in business. In the private sector that wouldn't fly. They'd go belly up and those teachers would be fired.

 

 

So I was wrong that it was worse for teachers in Ga. I'm sorry.

 

Georgia is ranked 3rd in teacher salary comfort index:

 

http://teacherportal.com/teacher-salaries-by-state

 

 

Here we have scads of unemployed teachers. My sil who is an excellent teacher, among them. I don't know where the shortages are, but they aren't here.

 

:iagree:

 

No it's not. Teachers are contracted for 190 days (give or take, depending on the state). In some states paychecks are spread over the year or teachers can opt to have them be, but they're paid for 10 months.

 

And many private sector jobs are technically 40 hours a week, but salaried employees are expected to work more than that. You can argue whether that is right or wrong, but it certainly isn't only teachers.

 

:iagree:And that's the position most people are in right now-just so you can keep your job.

 

I'm not saying they're not; I'm just saying that teachers aren't paid a "yearly" salary, technically; they're 10 month employees. I see working over the summer when you're technically not even working for the school district as different from putting in extra time during the school year. But it might be a semantic distinction, and I might just be feeling cranky today ;)

 

New Jersey’s public sector workers, both for state and local governments, make an average of $56,694 annually, while private sector workers make $61,252.

 

But public employees receive more generous health care and retirement benefits and work fewer hours, which roughly evens out their total compensation, according to the report.

 

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/rutgers_report_finds_compensat.html

 

AND let's not forget that teachers also have the golden safety net of tenure.

 

 

 

I say we do what Washington did and cut all tenure because what's the drive to be a better teacher after? Nothing. Your schools fail and what happens to you? Nothing. Out there in the public sector you would get fired and GET nothing. But here they keep you in the classroom and you still walk away with the prize. And, with that insurance, you also are safe (granted, there is the HMO disaster of will they cover it) from having to declare bankruptcy because your medical bills took every last penny you had. You don't get that security in the private sector, either.

 

I stand by what I said, as harsh as it sounds. That's the reality here.

Edited November 9, 2010 by justamouse

[kwg]

That example of having to write a program for free? They should have refused. Instead they made the school look good instead having to suffer the consequences of their stupidity.

 

But then what would they use to teach the class? They are going to have to have something when 30 plus kids show up in the class.

[unsinkable]

I don't care much for teacher whining either in this economy.

 

The job sucks no doubt. You very literally could not pay me enough to do it.

 

Much as I love my own children and most other children, I couldn't even hack in home daycare way back when I only had a couple kids. Taking care of other peoples kids is a really great form of birth control. Not so much bc of the kids most of the time, but their parents drove. Me. Nuts.

 

But teachers who whine about spending their own money and doing work they were not hired to do? Then don't do it. Absolutely no sympathy from me there. Because every single time a teacher does that, she is selling herself short and then getting mad when she isn't compensated for it. Why the heck would anyone compensate for what they can get for free? Not to mention that as long as parents see materials in the classroom, they will never pay for it. Let them see little Johnny do without crayons though and suddenly they will consider the cost. Administrators will suddenly have to explain why basic supplies and curriculum are not in the classroom.

 

That example of having to write a program for free? They should have refused. Instead they made the school look good instead having to suffer the consequences of their stupidity.

 

I wrote in another thread about how my son's algebra teacher wrote his own program, not in this thread. Did someone mention in this thread about a teacher writing a program?

 

My son's teacher WANTED to do it. He wasn't complaining. He said it happened over a number of years, gradually until he had a complete program.

 

More power to him, I say.

[newhsmom]

I can't for the life of my figure out why there is so much teacher bashing on this board. Is it because homeschooling parents feel threatened by the whole public school system? I haven't been on the board very long, but it is definitely noticeable. I know sometimea people in the public school make stupid comments about homeschooling, but certainly that doesn't give us license to be ugly in return. As a poster mentioned, homeschooling is nothing like teaching in the public school. If you have never been a teacher in the current educational climate, then you really have no idea what most teachers go through every year. I am not saying it is the hardest job in the world, but it is definitely a challenging job and doesn't need to be constantly ridiculed on this board. Off my soapbox.

[FO4UR]

The fb post is "blech." It's not the plea for teacher appreciation so much as the assumption that parents don't care about their own children as much as they (the teachers) do. :glare:

 

Aubrey's posts pretty much sum up why I chose to SAHM rather than teach. I have a BSE music ed, and while I was student teaching I came to the realization that if I were to teach music I would be at school from 7am-9pm (with about an hour to grab a quick dinner) more often than not. The teacher I student taught with did this, with no planning period...she had 35min in which she had to travel from the elem school building to the middle school building and a 30min lunch. The time spent outside of school arranging music, recording tracks, not to mention making lesson plans out of the chaos that is the typical music curric (OH MY WORD....have you ever seen those things???:001_huh:). No thanks! The sad thing is that I'd love to do the actual classroom teaching...I refuse to lay my own children down on the altar of the ps system though.

 

I do feel for ps teachers. They are between the proverbial rock and a hard place. I just think the fb post was more about manipulating people than thanking teachers...

[Old Dominion Heather]

I think what irks many people is that, contrary to most jobs, teachers seem to be off more than they are on. ;)

 

In our district, it seems every time I turn around there is a day off for a holiday, vacation, "teacher work day", or somesuch. Last week they had two days off; this week they have one. Then there's that nice long summer vacation.

 

 

 

I think that the key phrase there is "seem to". I worked from 7:30 until 4 pm at school, came home and worked on average 2-4 more (sometime many more) hours at home. I remember staying up working until 1-2 am some nights. I had no lunch break (we ate with the kids and all teachers had lunch duty) and AT MOST a thirty-minute planning period. There were no bathroom breaks.

 

I was paid $24,000. And I worked 10-12 hour days at the least. My best friend quit college and took a job as an assistant manager at McDonalds. She made $1,000s more than I did. And yes, I was off for a solid month in the summer, but there was no getting a sub when I was sick. No coffee break, no one offering any thanks for the job we were doing. Normally, people get paid for overtime, or get a bonus, or something. Teachers get none of that.

 

Teachers work 180 school days plus whatever planning days are required, as opposed to the "normal" full-time worker who works approximately 250 days not including vacation. That's a large difference. Many teachers I've talked to will say one of the big reasons they went into teaching was the idea that they would have time off when their kids did; that says something.

 

According to your estimate, "normal" workers get 250 days of work and vacation, right? That would add up, assuming 8 hour days, to 1,888 hours of work a year if they have two weeks of vacation days.

 

By contrast, a teacher who works the 180 required school days, the required two weeks at the beginning of the school year, and not even counting teacher work days and end of the year days, IF they only work the minimum of what I did, which was 10 hours a day, that teacher will work 1,940 hours... for a PITTANCE:glare:... and people will laugh and talk about how easy the job is.

 

I taught one class of kids for 4th and then 5th grade. I taught kids for two years and I never even met a parent...they didn't answer phone calls, either. I had a parent show up at my house and threaten me for making his kid change his profane t-shirt. The year I taught seventh grade, I had a 250 lb special ed seventh grader come at me when I was six months pregnant. I was called racist for telling a African-American boy to slow down in the call because I only told him, not any white kids. He was the only one running.

 

I left after my first son was born because I knew I couldn't be a good teacher and a good parent. I couldn't deal with the constant threats, the lack of thanks, etc...

[mytwomonkeys]

i didn't read the rant in its original context, so i don't know what was said or where this was posted. but i would simply assume it was written by someone that is possibly having a bad week? month? maybe they're just feeling unappreciated? i don't know. it's just a rant though, right? i imagine it felt a little liberating for that teacher to share what could never actually be muttered to the parents making them crazy. teachers have a lot on their plate & constantly go above and beyond. they spend much of their own money, and their jobs often entail difficulties i certainly wouldn't want to deal with on a daily basis. i think it is a profession that someone can easily feel burned out in, especially with a bad support system in place. anyway. it didn't really bug me.

[FO4UR]

I can't for the life of my figure out why there is so much teacher bashing on this board.

 

Many here have yanked their dc out of the ps system after being burned by teachers.

 

We (HSers) are a threat to PS teachers...At the core, we are proving that their jobs are not as...elite...as they would like the populace to believe. (You mean a *parent* can teach a child?:glare:) We (as HSers) are put on the defensive...and it comes through at times.

[LibraryLover]

Teachers have a difficult job. I get that. I see that. An excellent teacher is one of life's great gifts. Coaches, music, and drama teachers etc have crazy hours during certain times of the year as well, plus teaching duties. I understand.

 

However. If you're grading papers at night, I might not have a ton of sympathy, unless you want to listen to me kvetch about how frequently my dh gets on a red-eye flight to the other coast so he can be in a meeting in the morning, and then takes another red-eye flight back 24 hours later so he can be in his office on the other coast for another AM meeting.

 

I feel terrible sounding like this...but reality check: few people have jobs where they do not have to do prep at home or use precious sleep time preparing power points for last -minute meetings that 'have to happen yesterday."

 

We have jobs. That's the important part.

Edited November 9, 2010 by LibraryLover

[....]

:blink: I need at least two more cups of coffee before I can join in on this topic. :cheers2: Cheers, Everybody.

 

Thank Goodness, I'm not on Facebook. :)

[MyLittleWonders]

Many here have yanked their dc out of the ps system after being burned by teachers.

 

We (HSers) are a threat to PS teachers...At the core, we are proving that their jobs are not as...elite...as they would like the populace to believe. (You mean a *parent* can teach a child?:glare:) We (as HSers) are put on the defensive...and it comes through at times.

 

I think this is another homeschooling "myth" - yes, the unions can act quite defensive against homeschooling, but at dh's work alone, there are 3 or 4 teachers who homeschool their children (obviously not the ones who are teaching all day, but their spouses/SOs). Many teachers I have spoken with (I used to teach as well) are quite supportive of homeschooling and a few have expressed the wish that they could quit teaching to homeschool their own. We are not a threat to the PS teachers; the unions (often through the media, which I think we can all agree is far from unbiased) like everyone to think we are a threat. But we are not.

[mytwomonkeys]

Thank Goodness, I'm not on Facebook. :)

 

i'm not on FB either. is that where this was posted? i somehow missed where the original rant came from:confused:

 

oh...nevermind. i'm slow, lol. it was her niece on FB. got it!

 

sounds like she is just having a rough time & simply speaking her mind outloud. FB is a dangerous place to do that imho, lol, but i bet it was just a simple rant....wishing she could say those exact words to all of her "pain in the butt" parents that have zero appreciation. they are probably her most uninvolved parents, yet the most vocal and difficult.

Edited November 9, 2010 by mytwomonkeys

[FO4UR]

I think this is another homeschooling "myth" - yes, the unions can act quite defensive against homeschooling, but at dh's work alone, there are 3 or 4 teachers who homeschool their children (obviously not the ones who are teaching all day, but their spouses/SOs). Many teachers I have spoken with (I used to teach as well) are quite supportive of homeschooling and a few have expressed the wish that they could quit teaching to homeschool their own. We are not a threat to the PS teachers; the unions (often through the media, which I think we can all agree is far from unbiased) like everyone to think we are a threat. But we are not.

 

:iagree:...and I think it's the unions who generate the kind of sentiment seen in the fb post that started this thread. The actual teachers are between the rock (unions) and a hard place (people who despise the unions).

[Xuzi]

Teachers have a difficult job. I get that. I see that. An excellent teacher is one of life's great gifts. Coaches, music, and drama teachers etc have crazy hours during certain times of the year as well, plus teaching duties. I understand.

 

However. If you're grading papers at night, I might not have a ton of sympathy, unless you want to listen to me kvetch about how frequently my dh gets on a red-eye flight to the other coast so he can be in a meeting in the morning, and then takes another red-eye flight back 24 hours later so he can be in his office on the other coast for another AM meeting.

 

I feel terrible sounding like this...but reality check: few people have jobs where they do not have to do prep at home or use precious sleep time preparing power points for last -minute meetings that 'have to happen yesterday."

 

We have jobs. That's the important part.

Yes, they have jobs, but does that mean they have ZERO right to complain about the difficulties of it? I mean, for every complaint out there (whether from a teacher or a doctor or a SAHM or a cancer patient) there will be someone who can (and probably will) say "Hey, you're lucky! There are people who do/don't/have/don't have/whatever, something that's much worse than what YOU do/don't/have/don't have/whatever." It becomes a "Who has it worse?" spiral of people trying to prove who has it worse than who. But you know what? We ALL have problems, and I don't think anyone should be told to just shut their yap and deal, because "someone has it worse than you". NOBODY would be allowed to complain, then, and honestly, I sometimes find complaining to be very theraputic. :tongue_smilie:Sometimes you just have to let it out, ya know?

[Murphy101]

But then what would they use to teach the class? They are going to have to have something when 30 plus kids show up in the class.

 

THAT is when you either strike or make do with less. Because really pencil and paper is enough if that's all you have. It is not your job to supply materials for free out of your own pocket and every time a teacher does, she is telling the district that they don't have to. If you want to be charitable, well that's nice of you. But otherwise, don't get mad about doing it because you absolutely have the right to not do it. And you shouldn't. Because until kids are doing without in the classroom, parents and taxpayers don't see a problem.

 

I wrote in another thread about how my son's algebra teacher wrote his own program, not in this thread. Did someone mention in this thread about a teacher writing ..

 

I was referring to this segment, which certainly didn't sound happy to do it.

 

BUT the school couldn't get enough subs, so we were required to give up our planning periods to sub for other teachers. That's illegal. Do you know what they do to teachers who say so?

No. I don't. What? Beat em up? Because if they fire them, they are out yet another teacher, so that seems stupid. (not that it means they wouldn't) and if they fire directly for that - sue. If they do it repeatedly, band together and call in with yellow fever.

 

Sure, the school expects you to come early & stay late for tutoring those kids,

 

What? Not here they don't. Well maybe they do and are SOL at getting it bc every single person I know that needs help after school hours has to find their own volunteer for the subject. They are SOL getting it from the school after hours.

 

When you have 40 in a class, though, & their parents can't speak English, & they move every week or so, due to jail or fleeing eviction, it's harder. When you're expected to call every parent of every student at least once per six weeks, plus any time they fail anything, plus any time they miss a class or get in trouble, when there are only 2 people in the school who speak Spanish, so you have to piece together your conversation from a Spanish dictionary ahead

of time, it's harder.

 

Again... What?! That sure never happen here in any schools I'm aware of. You find out your kid is failing when you get the progress report unless you make an effort to ask repeatedly and be involved on your own.

 

Our district forced us to use curric that they hadn't bought the license for. (I didn't know.) When the publisher threatened to sue, the school backed away, & it was us teachers who were having to negotiate w/ the publisher. The school's solution? We could all spend the summer working together (for free) writing a new curric that they could use forever w/out ever paying another licensing fee.

 

again. How did they MAKE you?:confused:

 

I took work home because they locked the school just before midnight. That was the latest we could be there. I worked a full 12 hrs almost every Sat & Sun. BUT I *never* blamed parents for that. The system is broken. And that's on *everybody.* Not just parents. Not just teachers. In many ways,

the teachers who bend over backwards to make it work are making it worse. If they'd just let it fail at last, then everybody would have to be in there helping to fix it. As long as they hold it together w/ what they can do, it will be held together by a string, w/ everybody pointing fingers.

 

Now THAT, I 100% agree with!

[LibraryLover]

Yes, they have jobs, but does that mean they have ZERO right to complain about the difficulties of it? I mean, for every complaint out there (whether from a teacher or a doctor or a SAHM or a cancer patient) there will be someone who can (and probably will) say "Hey, you're lucky! There are people who do/don't/have/don't have/whatever, something that's much worse than what YOU do/don't/have/don't have/whatever." It becomes a "Who has it worse?" spiral of people trying to prove who has it worse than who. But you know what? We ALL have problems, and I don't think anyone should be told to just shut their yap and deal, because "someone has it worse than you". NOBODY would be allowed to complain, then, and honestly, I sometimes find complaining to be very theraputic. :tongue_smilie:Sometimes you just have to let it out, ya know?

 

 

They can complain. I never said don't complain. I complain all the time...not about teaching, but about my own stuff. Complain away. :001_smile:

[Mejane]

 

I was paid $24,000.

 

That's ridiculous, esp. in light of this:

 

 

I taught one class of kids for 4th and then 5th grade. I taught kids for two years and I never even met a parent...they didn't answer phone calls, either. I had a parent show up at my house and threaten me for making his kid change his profane t-shirt. The year I taught seventh grade, I had a 250 lb special ed seventh grader come at me when I was six months pregnant. I was called racist for telling a African-American boy to slow down in the call because I only told him, not any white kids. He was the only one running.

 

 

 

.

[OH_Homeschooler]

Less heated now.

 

I think there's a breakdown of logic at work in suggesting that teacher salaries and benefits are TOO generous for the work teachers do when, even in this economy and with the unemployment rate today there are shortages of teachers in many areas. It doesn't make any sense. If we believe in the internal logic of the marketplace at all, shouldn't it follow that a job that pays very generously would have no trouble attracting plenty of highly qualified people? Perhaps the answer is that actually teachers do work very hard for not a whole lot of money. Yes, other people do, too. And they complain sometimes, too.

 

See, I don't think salaries and benefits are TOO generous around here, but I get sick of hearing teachers complain (letters to the editor, local message boards) about how they are not getting raises this year, as if they are being singled out. No, very few people are getting raises around here and they are most definitely seeing an increase in their workload (even within the school district, like janitors. A janitor leaves the district and the position is not filled to save money without having to lay off people, so the remaining janitors have to take over cleaning more of the building every night...no raise for them either).

 

We do not have teacher shortages around here, don't know how that would affect the attitude. And I do realize the complainers are most likely a vocal minority (and I really do believe most teachers are very hard workers), but I think they should maybe learn to keep their mouths shut. They sound very ignorant of the larger context.

[justamouse]

I think this is another homeschooling "myth" - yes, the unions can act quite defensive against homeschooling, but at dh's work alone, there are 3 or 4 teachers who homeschool their children (obviously not the ones who are teaching all day, but their spouses/SOs). Many teachers I have spoken with (I used to teach as well) are quite supportive of homeschooling and a few have expressed the wish that they could quit teaching to homeschool their own. We are not a threat to the PS teachers; the unions (often through the media, which I think we can all agree is far from unbiased) like everyone to think we are a threat. But we are not.

 

Here in NJ, even though we are unregulated, school teachers pretty much hate us. But, then again, they are struggling for their lives right now with our Gov (whom I unabashedly adore). Homeschoolers ARE a threat to them here. We're doing it better and for less $, making them seem totally irrelevant.

[justamouse]

 

 

I taught one class of kids for 4th and then 5th grade. I taught kids for two years and I never even met a parent...they didn't answer phone calls, either. I had a parent show up at my house and threaten me for making his kid change his profane t-shirt. The year I taught seventh grade, I had a 250 lb special ed seventh grader come at me when I was six months pregnant. I was called racist for telling a African-American boy to slow down in the call because I only told him, not any white kids. He was the only one running.

 

I left after my first son was born because I knew I couldn't be a good teacher and a good parent. I couldn't deal with the constant threats, the lack of thanks, etc...

 

I feel horrible for you, really. I'm sure you were a great teacher and worth much more than you were paid. I can totally see why you would quit.

 

Here there are a lot of charter schools that are doing fantastic and in the inner city. They have uniforms, go to school for longer hours and the discipline problems are far and few between. I have no idea where the system starts to break.

Edited November 9, 2010 by justamouse

[justamouse]

I can't for the life of my figure out why there is so much teacher bashing on this board. Is it because homeschooling parents feel threatened by the whole public school system? I haven't been on the board very long, but it is definitely noticeable. I know sometimea people in the public school make stupid comments about homeschooling, but certainly that doesn't give us license to be ugly in return. As a poster mentioned, homeschooling is nothing like teaching in the public school. If you have never been a teacher in the current educational climate, then you really have no idea what most teachers go through every year. I am not saying it is the hardest job in the world, but it is definitely a challenging job and doesn't need to be constantly ridiculed on this board. Off my soapbox.

 

Why? Because I'm doing their job for them and still paying them 56-60K a year for it. I'm not saying my job as a parent ends when my kids go to school, far from it, but teachers are not flipping martyrs and yet some act like them.

[MIch elle]

AH, you should read the teacher (home teachers) rants on these boards! ;)

[Spy Car]

I can't for the life of my figure out why there is so much teacher bashing on this board. Is it because homeschooling parents feel threatened by the whole public school system? I haven't been on the board very long, but it is definitely noticeable. I know sometimea people in the public school make stupid comments about homeschooling, but certainly that doesn't give us license to be ugly in return.

 

:iagree:

 

Bill

[Old Dominion Heather]

I can't for the life of my figure out why there is so much teacher bashing on this board. Is it because homeschooling parents feel threatened by the whole public school system? I haven't been on the board very long, but it is definitely noticeable. I know sometimea people in the public school make stupid comments about homeschooling, but certainly that doesn't give us license to be ugly in return. As a poster mentioned, homeschooling is nothing like teaching in the public school. If you have never been a teacher in the current educational climate, then you really have no idea what most teachers go through every year. I am not saying it is the hardest job in the world, but it is definitely a challenging job and doesn't need to be constantly ridiculed on this board. Off my soapbox.

 

:iagree: And I am bowing out now. I am obviously too close to this issue and have too many hardworking teacher friends to be able to discuss this without emotion.

[Danestress]

Unless it was to say, "Yeah, I remember some teachers who really made a difference in my life."

 

 

I'm not a teacher basher, but I'm so sick of the complaining that I've been hearing over the past year. My niece posted this on facebook

I didn't respond, would you have? I'm I out of line here?

 

 

I don't get why it's complaining. It may well have been written by a Mom for teacher appreciation week, and I don't see a reason not to say, "Yes, great job" when given the opportunity, or at least I don't see a reason to say something negative.

 

I do think it's great to thank those who work to make the world better, even if they do get paid and even if they are fishing for compliments by posting this on their FB when they are teachers. Whatever. Teachers do work hard and for little thanks - just like people in the military, police officers, taxi drivers, and the guy who sweeps up at Subway. I don't see any reason not to thank any of them.