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I'm a teacher, officially "retired" at age 58, but still working almost five days per week as a substitute teacher because I need the money. My salary is about 20% of my previous salary, however it about also much, much less stress. I'll turn 63 soon and hope to work, as a substitute, as long as I can before my health totally gives out.
For most of my career I saw teachers who were still productive and healthy being forced out once they hit their middle 60s, even if they wanted to stay. They would then be replaced by someone right out of college for 1/3 the salary. About a dozen or so years ago my district started to push out most of the teachers in their early 60s. Perhaps eight or ten years ago they started to push out teachers in their late 50s. About five years ago they started pushing out many teachers were only in their mid-50s. These teachers were too young to get their state pensions.
Recently my former school district has been targeting some teachers in their middle and late 40s as being "too old" to be effective teachers.
Sure the district saves money on salaries but, IMHO, the overall quality of the education has gone down. And administration wonders why the test scores are decreasing rather than increasing.
Some of the resulting situations are almost ridiculous. My school district had a program where each first year teacher was mentored by an experienced teacher, who helped them with classroom management, curriculum planning, dealing with difficult students/parents, improving their teaching techniques and issues like that. It used to be that all mentor teachers needed to have been teachers for at least ten years, then the district changed it so that mentors needed to only have five years of experience. The last few years my district has hired so many new teachers right out of college that they now had many "experienced teachers" who have only been in the classroom one or two year themselves mentors to first year teachers. I believe that my district has now discontinued the mentor program completely as there were not enough experienced teachers to go around to all the brand, new, (bottom of the pay scale) teachers.
Last edited by germaine2626; 02-03-2015 at 05:08 PM..
None of the candidates who were 55-65 were hired because the hiring committee thought they were too old but of course they used code when stating this.
I'm guessing this "number of interview panels" was an exercise formulated by the company whose for profit workshops you've been participating in since you were fired and became, "I'm Retired Now" but please do share the secret code used.
I retired after 41 1/2 years of teaching in the NYC school system. I am licensed preK-12, Day High School English, High School English,Common Branches - you name it, I have the license. I have taught on every grade level. I loved my students and they loved me. I had a wonderful career and loved every second of it EXCEPT - our former mayor (TWELVE YEARS in office) ruined the system. He tried to run the education system like a business. It is not, and never will be a business. Teaching is an art, not a business. He allowed principals to be hired who had zero experience in the classroom. All they had to do was go through a principal's academy and they were hired as principals. Many of these people hadn't a clue and wrecked their schools. They were very young and very inexperienced and they treated the experienced staff like garbage. The mayor then put the budgets of the schools in the hands of the principals. They then forced out all the experienced teachers in order to save money. We were hassled beyond belief. Some of these principals should be in jail for what they did to their teachers. There were many over the years who left and then dropped dead shortly after they retired. I had one colleague who had to be taken away to a mental hospital at least once a year for years during his career. The public doesn't know one millionth of what is going on but it's about time they heard it.
I was sorry to leave my beloved students but the pressure put on me by the administratin was destroying my health. In my last year I was assigned to a different classroom every single period of the day on different floors and different sides of the building. I was assigned a special ed class. I haven't the slightest clue how to teach those classes nor am I licensed in special ed. I had to go.
The union makes a retirement luncheon every fall for new retirees. They hold it in a ballroom in a NYC hotel. The ballroom was filled with over a thousand teachers. Every single one of them had a story about how they were drummed out of their schools. I wonder where the press is at such times? What a crime it is. It is happening in schools and workplaces all over the country (and probably the world).
I thank God every day that I lived to retire. Good riddance to BAD garbage.
I have recently participated in the number of interview panels where I and the team have interviewed hundreds of people for a huge government contract. This has been an eye opening experience to say the least. A large number of applicants are 55-65 years old and unemployed. The stories they have told us about being fired, laid off or pushed out their last job. So much bitterness and anger and so many of these people I suspect will never work full time again in a professional job. They have been sent out to pasture by a society that generally is not interested in older workers.
If you are on this board, I suspect you are either retired or are planning for retirement. Did you retire on your own schedule? Or were you pushed out and forced to retire because there was no one who was willing to hire someone at your age? Tell us your story.
I retired when I was almost 64 from the full time job I had then. There were a number of reasons I did so, all my own, some personal, some because I'd had enough of working with that organization. I could have stayed in that job till I dropped over dead, I wouldn't have been let go.
I retired after 41 1/2 years of teaching in the NYC school system. I am licensed preK-12, Day High School English, High School English,Common Branches - you name it, I have the license. I have taught on every grade level. I loved my students and they loved me. I had a wonderful career and loved every second of it EXCEPT - our former mayor (TWELVE YEARS in office) ruined the system. He tried to run the education system like a business. It is not, and never will be a business. Teaching is an art, not a business. He allowed principals to be hired who had zero experience in the classroom. All they had to do was go through a principal's academy and they were hired as principals. Many of these people hadn't a clue and wrecked their schools. They were very young and very inexperienced and they treated the experienced staff like garbage. The mayor then put the budgets of the schools in the hands of the principals. They then forced out all the experienced teachers in order to save money. We were hassled beyond belief. Some of these principals should be in jail for what they did to their teachers. There were many over the years who left and then dropped dead shortly after they retired. I had one colleague who had to be taken away to a mental hospital at least once a year for years during his career. The public doesn't know one millionth of what is going on but it's about time they heard it.
I was sorry to leave my beloved students but the pressure put on me by the administratin was destroying my health. In my last year I was assigned to a different classroom every single period of the day on different floors and different sides of the building. I was assigned a special ed class. I haven't the slightest clue how to teach those classes nor am I licensed in special ed. I had to go.
The union makes a retirement luncheon every fall for new retirees. They hold it in a ballroom in a NYC hotel. The ballroom was filled with over a thousand teachers. Every single one of them had a story about how they were drummed out of their schools. I wonder where the press is at such times? What a crime it is. It is happening in schools and workplaces all over the country (and probably the world).
I thank God every day that I lived to retire. Good riddance to BAD garbage.
Also wonder where was the union who is supposed to help the teachers.
I have recently participated in the number of interview panels where I and the team have interviewed hundreds of people for a huge government contract. This has been an eye opening experience to say the least. A large number of applicants are 55-65 years old and unemployed. The stories they have told us about being fired, laid off or pushed out their last job. So much bitterness and anger and so many of these people I suspect will never work full time again in a professional job. They have been sent out to pasture by a society that generally is not interested in older workers.
If you are on this board, I suspect you are either retired or are planning for retirement. Did you retire on your own schedule? Or were you pushed out and forced to retire because there was no one who was willing to hire someone at your age? Tell us your story.
First I was pushed into lesser jobs (lower pay, worse benefits, horrible hours) when the Fortune 100 company that employed me in an 8-to-5 professional position for nearly two decades broke itself into pieces which were sold off to other companies, the vast majority of which were overseas concerns. I took an offered buy-out thinking that my position in the support services end of the business was not likely to be secure. Then the first company I moved to merged with a competitor and I was, as the Brits charmingly put it, "made redundant." Then I moved all the way across the country to look for a new job in a location that was supposedly growing and in need of experienced workers. I also took on the responsibility of looking after my aging mother. It took me a year to find a new job and that company went bankrupt two years after I began working there. At least then I got to collect unemployment for the first time in my 40 years of being a tax-paying, full-time employee.
Problem was, while I was unemployed my mother's health began to fail. She is disabled and her myriad old-age health problems make her a fall risk, in addition to the fact that she can't walk without assistance, drive, shop, cook, clean, do laundry, take care of her property, or anything else involved in living alone. Even if I could get a full-time job at my now-advanced age, it wouldn't be one paying me any more than I would have to pay a care-giver to tend to Mom for 10 hours a day ($18 an hour is the low end of that pay scale where I live). So I'm left with the same problem as a single mother who wants to go to work but needs to make enough salary to put the kids in day care and have enough left to live on.
There IS somewhat of a solution to the widespread problem I'm experiencing if Congress would get its act together and see the light. The Social Security Caregiver Credit Act is back again before Congress, this time sponsored by Rep. Nita Lowey of Long Island, NY. If made into law, the Act would would provide an earnings credit within Social Security to caregivers, thereby increasing retirement income for those who care for family members and loved ones. Some versions of this law (which has been proposed many time before) would simply allow any person who is the responsible, designated caregiver of a family member to take their Social Security at age 62 WITHOUT the onerous provision that makes doing this damaging to one income for a lifetime.
What the OP describes as the problem of people over 50 in the workplace is true from my experience and the experience of many of my peers and family members. I have seen the rug pulled out from under many a worker over the age of 50 and it's virtually impossible to sue an employer successfully for age discrimination. (Ask any labor lawyer.)
The employers of our society are organizing their businesses in a way that hurts MANY Americans. They want part-time workers over full-time workers; young workers over older, more experienced workers; non-union workers over workers being represented for their own safety. Many of them engage in policies that discourage people from having children or take responsibility for needy elders. Since they show so little loyalty to employees, workers are returning the favor. And, believe me, customers see the results.
But the fact is, stockholders want profits to increase each quarter. To do that, corporations practice business in a way that is anti-employee, anti-family, anti-community. It's a vicious cycle. Millennials think they are being discriminated against, but I would suggest they walk a mile in the shoes of an employee who is getting close to retirement age. It's a scary place to be.
Sadly, we are reaping what we have sown. We have had 3+ decades of anti-union, right to work legislation that has culminated with corporations and their purchased politicians in nearly complete control. For the most part, the public (and voters) have supported this. NAFTA and other trade agreements were sold to the public with the promise of jobs. All it did was facilitate offshoring and corporate tax dodging. The unions have much responsibility, too. Overreaching, corruption, etc. all contributed to the mess we are in now.
The media feeds a "youth culture" mentality which is now manifest in the workplace. 50 is the new 70. You are a "has been" in what was once your prime. Cost cutting serves the stock holders. Quality in product, customer service and corporate citizenship are a distant memory.
I'm 55, going on 56. No end in sight of my career. Will be marking off 30 years since I started working - stayed in college too long, otherwise it would be 34 years. I won't get any pension. I hopped from company to company. 11 years with one group, 4 years with another, and consulted for 13 years, now back to wage slave.
If the company pushed me out, I guess that means I can get to the swimming pool at 7am instead of 5am or the bike path at 7am.
I have recently participated in the number of interview panels where I and the team have interviewed hundreds of people for a huge government contract. This has been an eye opening experience to say the least. A large number of applicants are 55-65 years old and unemployed. The stories they have told us about being fired, laid off or pushed out their last job. So much bitterness and anger and so many of these people I suspect will never work full time again in a professional job. They have been sent out to pasture by a society that generally is not interested in older workers.
If you are on this board, I suspect you are either retired or are planning for retirement. Did you retire on your own schedule? Or were you pushed out and forced to retire because there was no one who was willing to hire someone at your age? Tell us your story.
I bailed out of the workforce at age 50. I was lucky that I could and that my finances withstood the 2008 meltdown. I am 59 now and hope that I can continues survive future melt downs. Yeah. I believe there will be more before God takes me. Time will tell.
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