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My argument isn't with teachers. I just don't believe that they are entitled to a special pedestal or are more put-upon than any other profession. Teachers, as far as I'm concerned, aren't any more or less special than ornithologists, farmers, or stevedores. Though a vocal minority of them do seem to complain more.
They only complain because they feel attacked.
Seriously, I put in more hours now, as a teacher, than I did as an engineer yet people tell me I have a part time job because I only work 7.5 hours per day 180 days per year . When I know I'm working harder in this job than I was in a profession no one would criticize for work ethic and I'm criticized and called a lazy complainer, yeah, I'm going to set the record straight. All that "vacation" (I use the term loosly because it's usually time to take classes) time comes at a high price.
I was up until 11:30 last night grading papers, I was up at 6:30 this mornign grading papers and I'll be lucky if I'm done before I go to bed tonight and then I have lesson plans to write for the week. I really wish people would quit telling me how easy I have it. Yes, July is easy but I pay for that from September-June. We pay our dues for the time off we get and if I'm working as many hours as I did as an engineer, why do people balk at my being paid half of what I made as an engineer?
Is teaching harder than the next profession over? Well that depends on the professsion. The only one I can speak to is engineering. That is easier than teaching. 60 hour weeks and weekend work were rare. I left work at work on Friday and didn't have to think about it until Monday. As a teacher, the weekend and vacations during the year are catch up time. I skid into June burnt out and needing three weeks to handle chemical wastes and get my room back into order before I can take a breath. As an engineer, I had less vacation time but it was all vacation time. I never used my vacation or holiday time to do my job without being compensated for doing so. In teaching, I do it all the time. If I didn't, the job would not get done.
People don't appreciate that if teachers worked only their duty hours, they'd be lousy teachers. You can't plan, grade and trial labs in 5-50 minute periods per week. I only know of one teacher who can do all of her prep and grading at school and she has a prep hour for every prep she has and a class size limit of 15 students (she teaches chemistry and physics, has two prep hours per day and two classes of 15 of each subject). She's in a private prep school. Many teachers in my school have 4 and 5 preps (I'm lucky, I only have one) and up to 180 students per day. That can be overwhelming....and then people point out how EASY your job is.
Last edited by Ivorytickler; 02-27-2011 at 06:52 AM..
What is his house like? I have single friends who don't make much yet drive what would be considered fancy cars. Why? They live in little one bedroom apartments that are cheap or with their parents.
You cannot deduce that someone makes a lot of money because they drive a fancy car. When I lived in Detriot, many of my neighbors drove Mercedes too. They chose to go into debt to have those cars. That's why they were living in cheap houses in Detroit.
My house payment is $1250/month. Would you deduce I live in a fancy house? If I didn't have a $1250/month house payment, I could afford a car payment, but we chose the 15 year mortgage to pay our house off faster. I could have taken the 30. I could have taken an interest only mortgage (Thank the Lord I didn't) and then I'd have money for cars. And you'd still be unable to deduce my family income from the car I drive.
I've only known one teacher who drove a Mercedes (granted I've never gone out into the parking lot of schools I attended or my children have attended looking for them). It was a christmas present from her husband who is a lawyer.
Ivory and Anonchick,
You are putting too much effort into defending one person's ownership of a particular type of car 30 years ago. Think about all the variables. It's silly.
Ivory and Anonchick,
You are putting too much effort into defending one person's ownership of a particular type of car 30 years ago. Think about all the variables. It's silly.
That was the point of our posts. To demonstrate how ridiculous it is to use "they drove a Mercedes" to support one's opinion that someone makes too much money. That'd be 30 years ago, or today.
Seriously, I put in more hours now, as a teacher, than I did as an engineer yet people tell me I have a part time job because I only work 7.5 hours per day 180 days per year .
I went to a public college prep magnet school for grades 7-12. Students had 7 class periods a day. The teachers taught only 4 or 5 classes a day. This means that they had at least 2 class periods a day to do their planning and grading. With the exception of the 2 chorus teachers I had in 7th grade the teachers at my school seldom had more than 120 students, and in the upper grades the number was more like 80.
And my 9th grade civics teacher was so under-worked that he had time to start his own business on the side- he opened a retail store in a local shopping mall. And yes, he owned his Mercedes before he opened his own business.
So don't complain about how overworked public school teachers are because by real world standards they are not overworked.
That was the point of our posts. To demonstrate how ridiculous it is to use "they drove a Mercedes" to support one's opinion that someone makes too much money. That'd be 30 years ago, or today.
But at the same time you generalize about working conditions for public school teachers. Your standard liberal assumption is that teachers are over-worked and under-paid.
My argument isn't with teachers. I just don't believe that they are entitled to a special pedestal or are more put-upon than any other profession. Teachers, as far as I'm concerned, aren't any more or less special than ornithologists, farmers, or stevedores. Though a vocal minority of them do seem to complain more.
Oh yes, ornitohologists are just being ripped apart on these boards, the news, and nearly everywhere else just about daily.
Go ahead, try to find a thread bemoaning how easy ornithologists have it and how they are not deserving of the money they earn. Really, give it a shot.
When it is possible to admit to being a teacher without the majority of people feeling they have the right to tell you that you are overpaid, underworked, have it easy and are also terrible at your job, then the complaints from the teachers will stop. No other profession is vilified the way teaching is right now.
I'm merely reporting what was on the website I used.
You do realize your own SOURCE has teachers making the second lowest salary right?
Some how I suspect you did not realize that.
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. When I know I'm working harder in this job than I was in a profession no one would criticize for work ethic and I'm criticized and called a lazy complainer, yeah, I'm going to set the record straight. All that "vacation" (I use the term loosly because it's usually time to take classes) time comes at a high price. 