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I just wanted to know the advantages and disadvantages of each career and how they stack up against each other in terms of time off, salary, work load, and problems in the work place.
Like most jobs, it varies so widely it is hard to make generalities.
In teaching those who want to do well, work hard. I suspect the same is true in the corporate world. One of the differences is those who work hard teaching don't make any more money. OTOH, they have good job security, so it evens out.
One of the issues that I think is unlikely to be similar, is dealing with parents. In the corporate world you have to answer to clients I suppose, but that tiny subset of parents who are always irate, entitled, and ready to blame the teacher for everything seem to take up the all of your energy that the other 99.9% of parents want directed toward actually teaching. Even thinking about having to deal with them is exhausting. Luckily I now teach seniors and most of those parents are dealt with well before their kid would get to my class.
I have worked in the US Military, the Federal Government, A Fortune 100 company, and am winding up, this spring, 10 years teaching. As I often say, I heard the call, I wish I had not answered. I wish I did not know how poorly managed the education system in this county has become.
Therefore, the first thing that comes to mind is the abysmally terrible...keep adding bad adjectives of "management/leadership" in the school systems from district, state, federal -- the whole lot. They are horrible, incompetent, just awful. You have the pleasures teaching under assault from every bad management decision that one can conceive. Black holes of thought, creativity, competence run rampant in the ranks of education administrators. They are horribly disconnected from the classroom, mostly by choice.
The second thought that comes to mind is how easy it is for a terrible teacher to exists in the school system. Very easy.
The third thing that comes to mind is that in teaching, you are ALWAYS on center stage. Back in my "executive" days, if I was feeling bad, I would have my secretary or assistants hold calls, reschedule meetings, work from home, whatever. When you are a classroom teacher, the 2nd block bell is wringing at 10:05 and here they come.
The fourth thing that comes to mind, (and this dot not affect me, since at this point and age, I don't care what administrators think) is that in teaching you are evaluated, or at least tried to be evaluated, on what little children do. At least in business and government, you are responsible for people who, for the most part, see a big picture and whose frontal lobes have developed. In education, most of the people you are teaching have not reached a state of mental development where they have any idea about the consequences of their action or lack thereof, but you are evaluated. It is insane, and not effective.
The fifth thing is that in teaching and to some degree in military and even in government, the money you make is pretty dependent on when your parents conceived you, as most significant pay raises are keyed to time in service, and hence your age. Business, at least the cutting edge companies with whom I associated, paid on performance not on birthdate and I loved that.
Teaching, and again, to some extent government service, tend to attract relatively docile, low risk takers. Conversations, professional, that is, are often duels of point and defense, point and defense. In business we would scream at each other frequently about business topics, then go out and party like rock stars. I have found in education, people lack the self esteem and the drive to be able to have a heated profession conversation and then be done with it.
Lastly, though, in teaching, every now and then a kid says something that really makes you realize you have affected the child in a very positive way, that you have made a real difference. That is about the only positive in teaching, but it is a big one.
I will respond to this by saying that there are indeed many less than desirable teaching situations. One has to pick one's spots carefully. Sadly (for Americans), I think many of the best teaching experiences are outside of the United States. Of course, to get those, you have to be willing to tackle yet more obstacles and be in a personal position to be able to make the jump. The personal and intellectual rewards can be immense, though.
My husband makes about 2.5 times my pay. He is in corporate and I am in education.
I get 8 weeks in the summer, 2 at Christmas, and 1 at Spring Break, equalling 11 total.
He gets 6 total weeks off.
Both of our jobs also give sick days, not included above.
The difference is, he can take his 6 weeks pretty much at any time. Mine is dictated, when the rest of the world is also on vacation. I miss our early Fall and after Christmas vacations we used to take when I wasn't working.
I am too deep into it to change careers now.
There are other differences, but those are highlights.
Corporate employment is better, less anxiety and has longevity...
Corporate has potential for pay raises, higher starting salary.
Less time off? but 2-3 weeks is good for most vacations
Corporate has chance to leave work at work..teachers have work with them most of the time--even during summer vacation...
Corporate may have drama at work, but ain't nothing like the back stabbing sneaky little ******** in education...
See Bold. I THOUGHT my new job was going great. I just got thrown under the bus. They gave me a class that has a cumulative GPA average of 0.98, where most of them have failed math repeatedly and then called me on the carpet because most of them failed. DUH. That's what they do. Here I was proud of the fact that I got two of them to pass who had failed their previous math classes because I was able to connect with them and get them to put in the effort to pass. Apparently, I was supposed to be a miracle worker and get them all to pass.
Instead of admitting they put a bunch of failing kids in one class they're blaming me when these kids have a history of failing math classes. Only three passed the pre-requisite class but they were moved up anyway. They won't admit THAT to the parents who are asking why most of my kids failed in this particular class. It's easier to blame the teacher.
I am so frustrated with the politics of teaching. If I could find a job in industry at my age I'd be so gone. I'd take a pay cut from the peanuts I make as a teacher just for the peace of mind you get from working a job where doing it well is all that matters and you leave your job at work.
People talk about the loss of time off when you leave teaching but they don't realize that every weekend during the school year we're working on grading and planning....that we stay late to tutor kids and then have to make phone calls home....that we come in early to make copies and set up labs. I never felt like a part time parent until I became a teacher. I'm glad I did it when my kids were older and doubly glad I taught at my children's school for three years.
I just think that there's a common misinterpretation out there that "corporate" = "investment banking" (etc.), when the reality is that there are loads of different types of corporations out there of varying sizes and offering varying pay, and it's definitely not always true that a corporate job guarantees making bank. I know people who work for nonprofits who handily outearn people I know with corporate jobs. There's an oversimplification of what people envision corporate jobs to be. My boyfriend works for a large multinational corporation, and the people who work at a call center portion of his complex would accurately be described as having corporate jobs, yet, they make minimum wage.
By contrast, you can chase the money in education, as well, typically through going the administration route, and zeroing in on highly performing, wealthy public districts, and well-endowed private preparatory schools, in addition to higher ed administration.
Is teaching, even at its top tier, ever going to make what corporate heads of finance make? Of course not. But you're certainly not going to starve as superintendent of a large, well-regarded district or as chancellor of an elite prep school or president of a private college. The reality, though, is that most who love teaching do not aspire to higher administration, so they'll do less well, financially, but it's still not necessarily a poverty profession.
Very well said. Thank you. I have a "corporate" job but I make less money and work longer hours than teachers do in my area. (Yes, I am aware that teachers in other areas don't make as much as they do here).
I came from a corporate environment and have been teaching for 24 years. The September to June schedule along with increasing dictated demands is just too inflexible to meet the needs of my own family. I maintained part-time self employment work in business during the summers and will be ramping it up once I retire. I look forward to having the flexibility to work to my own schedule and have more autonomy again.
Very well said. Thank you. I have a "corporate" job but I make less money and work longer hours than teachers do in my area. (Yes, I am aware that teachers in other areas don't make as much as they do here).
No offense to any teachers, but if you are a white collar worker in a corporate environment, you really need to assess your skills if you are working longer and earning less than the average teacher.
No offense to any teachers, but if you are a white collar worker in a corporate environment, you really need to assess your skills if you are working longer and earning less than the average teacher.
Where I live, everybody makes less than teachers. Again, that is specific to where I live, and is not nationwide.
Feeling hyperbolic? Everybody? Really?
My millenial nephews, out of college within the past 3 years make more than a LI teacher at the max. Siblings, other family members (even the engineer, gasp) make more than teachers at the top of the pay scale. High cost of living area with higher salaries. Teachers in Alaska, and Hawaii make even more because of the high COL and CA teachers have a similar pay scale with similar benefits and a similar annual calendar.
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