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They "don't get paid for summer break"? They get an annual salary for the entire year; that would be getting paid for summer break. They can always work another job those three months and make even more money that others who get an annual salary but have to show up every day of the year.
They're paid for 10 months. The annual salary is really 10 months. That means they don't get paychecks over the summer UNLESS their district offers the option to pay the 10 months salary over 12 months. Some districts do and some don't. Also when school starts up in September, they work until the end of the month without a paycheck. They get paid once a month. Now it may not be this way everywhere, but this is how it works at numerous districts in my state. Getting paid once a month blows! Working a month before you get paid REALLY blows!
I get really tired of the "teachers are saints" thing. It's actually one of the easiest courses of study you can follow in college. And we won't mention all that scandals lately with teachers having affairs with students. They can carry guns in school when they start showing some maturity and good judgment...
I'm not going to go that far, but I will say this. In areas with poor economies, like WV, teaching is a relatively easy way to stay "in town," and be middle class. Outside of schools and local medical work, there aren't many options.
What this reality ends up doing is attracting a lot of people who may not care a thing about teaching, but simply want to remain in the area. They don't really care. They're there punching a clock. For teaching, you really need to be engaged.
I know some very good teachers who are excellent at what they do, but I also know many more who are coasting because it's a paycheck in the area they were born and raised in.
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Originally Posted by ss20ts
They're paid for 10 months. The annual salary is really 10 months. That means they don't get paychecks over the summer UNLESS their district offers the option to pay the 10 months salary over 12 months. Some districts do and some don't. Also when school starts up in September, they work until the end of the month without a paycheck. They get paid once a month. Now it may not be this way everywhere, but this is how it works at numerous districts in my state. Getting paid once a month blows! Working a month before you get paid REALLY blows!
If you're paid X, you're paid X. I agree the pay schedule isn't optimal, but it's your responsibility to divvy that pay up however you see fit.
Teachers are like anyone else. Some good, some bad. The idea that they're all the greatest thing since sliced bread and deserve all the money every community can muster up gets, as I say, old, as does their constantly threatening to strike. There was a time not too long ago when the teacher was likely to be the smartest person around. Those days are long gone.
So do teachers yet states fear giving them the dreaded raise even though they are forced to do more for less. Now yes, hourly work is similar with some days of meetings or sports working to be 12+ hours just as being told to stay Saturday and Sunday in IT. Just as you are told to cover sometimes, in high school you will have to cover for an out teacher from time to time due to a lack of subs (I can't comment on elementary) and not be able to grade or prep for classes that day or the next similar to IT with departing team members. However one example that is different is supplies. For IT, your computer, desk, chair, etc. are paid for within reasonable request for the most part as are teachers, however if they want to follow the syllabus and there aren't say cooking supplies and food allocated, it comes out of the teachers pocket most times. This adds up over the 180 school in session days, even the week, week and a half prep time before school starts up.
I can concede that they work fewer days. They get roughly a month and a half, off during summer besides any outside training. But it isn't the 3 months that the idiots who think they know teaching better than the teachers themselves think it is. I'm not saying you are one, but we have seen it in this thread and others.
It might not be three months, but it is a hell of a lot more than virtually anyone in the private sector gets.
One of my best friends is a high school teacher in a rural county school system. I think he makes somewhere around $50,000 with a master's. You'll hear an argument that that isn't enough for someone with a master's. When he graduated with his master's, another mutual friend of ours graduated with a computer science degree. The computer science guy had previous experience in development, and had worked for a federal contractor. The teacher had no experience in the filed, beyond student teaching. The teacher started out at slightly higher pay than the software developer, though the developer has since moved to a healthier area and far outpaced the teacher in wages. This was all in small town Tennessee in 2012-2014. The same dynamics play out in WV.
Government employment is often subject to a statutory wage floor, whereas the private sector has no such protection, and will go as low as the market will bear.
I get 12-14 days of combined sick and vacation time annually. That's it. His Christmas break is probably equivalent to the PTO I get annually.
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To this day, I find it hard to still think that being a teacher requires a degree. Regardless, I hope all parties can find a solution that works out for everyone.
I get really tired of the "teachers are saints" thing. It's actually one of the easiest courses of study you can follow in college. And we won't mention all that scandals lately with teachers having affairs with students. They can carry guns in school when they start showing some maturity and good judgment...
Do you have kids? Dealing with children is a absolute beast of a job. Yes some are great-but there are many that...just arent. They're saints because they don't just kill the little monsters.
Well think about it. A straight high school student should know their course material well enough to teach any student in the lower grades, the same knowledge. Good students are able to tutor fellow students.
One of my high school classmates was an assistant professor at Cornell Medical. He told me that his main purpose at the school was actually to write grant proposals. And in regards to his teaching grad students, he said that he was only one week ahead of his students in what material he was teaching them.
So at a grade school level, especially for the lower grades, the teacher doesn't need a college or grad school degree in order to teach basic reading or math skills to the average students. And the course curriculum should be standardized and planned by the school administrators.
Special ed students would need more specialized teachers though.
Well think about it. A straight high school student should know their course material well enough to teach any student in the lower grades, the same knowledge. Good students are able to tutor fellow students.
One of my high school classmates was an assistant professor at Cornell Medical. He told me that his main purpose at the school was actually to write grant proposals. And in regards to his teaching grad students, he said that he was only one week ahead of his students in what material he was teaching them.
So at a grade school level, especially for the lower grades, the teacher doesn't need a college or grad school degree in order to teach basic reading or math skills to the average students. And the course curriculum should be standardized and planned by the school administrators.
Special ed students would need more specialized teachers though.
What does this have to do with the topic of this thread?
Government employment is often subject to a statutory wage floor, whereas the private sector has no such protection, and will go as low as the market will bear.
Yes, but the flip side of this is that government employment is also subject to a statutory wage ceiling.
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