What teachers really want to tell parents.

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by 33girl

In the small town I grew up in, the people in the big houses on what we called Snob Hill are, increasingly, teachers. It's kind of hard to get people to feel sorry for them having to pay union dues and their own health insurance when most of them are living better than 90% of the people in town.

However, that doesn't mean that I think they should cut the funding to the SCHOOL. Funding for education and teachers' salaries are two different things. I'll gladly pay anytime for more teachers to keep the class sizes smaller, updated textbooks, etc. I won't gladly pay, however, so the current tenured teachers are making almost 6 figures a year. I believe most people agree.

As I stated, I am nowhere close to six figures--very, very far from it. And, I've never gotten a raise as an educator. I scrape the bottom of the barrel every. single. month. Right now, the state is still willing to cover my health care, although there was a rise in copays. If I had to pay for my health insurance, I'd have to cancel my gym membership, which is a "luxury" but something I need for my mental health. Gas prices have gone up more than 100% since I started teaching and my pay has only gone down. Those teachers living on "Snob Hill" probably have a husband in corporate america paying for most things. As my mom always tells me, a teacher's salary is a good second income, but it's very hard to live on.

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

With that, I have already created the next reality show. Instead of wife swap, teacher swap. Get a 6 or 7 figure CEO (who they always tend to have a lot to say about education but have never set foot in a classroom) switch lives with a teacher. One week in our jobs, their attitudes would change. Now, which network to propose that too? . Fox, CBS, ABC, NBC, etc...

I'm writing to MTV. True Life: I'm a public school teacher.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

Those teachers living on "Snob Hill" probably have a husband in corporate america paying for most things.

ROFLMAO. There is no "Corporate America" in the town of which I speak. If anything, the more monied housing is probably owned by families where both husband and wife are teachers.

Please remember, we are talking Peyton Place type SMALL TOWN, where your name gets you waaaaaay farther than your ability and things have not changed for 100 years (CBS News said it, so it must be true).

[AlwaysSAI]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

I find it really interesting that this thread has turned into this. I understand why it has turned into this. I just see great irony because the belief that teachers are overworked and underpaid is really what most topics of teaching are embedded in--even when some teachers get angry when people say that is what it is embedded in. Like I said, there is always more than a one-sided story and many teachers would be more tolerant of school system ups and downs if they felt they were working for equal compensation.

If someone is going to try to say that I am making too much money as a teacher, I am surely going to tell them they are sorely mistaken. If it wouldn't have me "found out", I'd have no problem posting my monthly take home pay and compare that to my required living expenses. Then, tell me I live on Snob Hill and don't deserve a pay increase.

Originally Posted by 33girl

ROFLMAO. There is no "Corporate America" in the town of which I speak. If anything, the more monied housing is probably owned by families where both husband and wife are teachers.

You don't know that both husband and wife are teachers on Snob Hill. I live in a teeny tiny town where name goes further as well, but could easily commute ~1 hour in any direction to Corporate America.

/permanently exiting thread now.

[33girl]

Originally Posted by AlwaysSAI

You don't know that both husband and wife are teachers on Snob Hill. I live in a teeny tiny town where name goes further as well, but could easily commute ~1 hour in any direction to Corporate America.

Well, that's nice for you, but not feasible there.

And yeah, I'm not saying anyone makes too much money. I'm saying that compared to other people who live in the town, teachers have one of the best paying jobs. Obviously that is not the case everywhere. It just takes a special kind of cojones for ANYONE in ANY job to bitch about having to pay for your copays when there are people in your immediate orbit who don't even have health insurance.

Oh, and this.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Since social class is about more than salary, it has always been the case that K-12 teachers in many cities were and still are considered of the middle to upper socioeconomic strata.

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

These are interesting additions to the discussion and there are a lot of people who feel this way. The teachers (not really on GC but in real life) who choose to defend teaching as a profession when discussing topics that don't require a discussion of teaching as a profession should be prepared to receive this type of response from some people.

I don't want to sound dumb, but I'm confused as to what you mean. I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say "teachers who choose to defend teaching as a profession when discussing topics that don't require discussion of teaching as a profession". I don't get it. I'm sorry.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

I don't want to sound dumb, but I'm confused as to what you mean. I guess I don't understand what you mean when you say "teachers who choose to defend teaching as a profession when discussing topics that don't require discussion of teaching as a profession". I don't get it. I'm sorry.

I think it means (and DrPhil can correct me if I'm wrong) that you're discussing things that aren't specific to the teaching profession. I can relate to getting paid nearly nothing for working long hours and no vacation time. Many people can relate to that. It's not something that only happens in the teaching profession. You won't find sympathy because of these things.

On the other hand, angry/aggressive/impossible parents is something that only teachers can know and understand. We can feel sympathy for that.

[ASUADPi]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Nonsnarky questions, did someone in this thread try to say that you are making too much money as a teacher?

No, I think its just that some people (so far no one on GC) think that teachers do make too much money. They use the excuse "oh they are off for 3 months in the summer" and "they only work until 3pm", stuff like that. Which isn't really true anymore.

More and more schools are going year round. When I worked year round I started back late July/Early August. I got 1-2 (depending on the district) weeks off in October. 2-3 (again district) weeks off for Christmas and then 1-2 weeks off for spring break. We then had 6 weeks off for summer vacation (if that as most teachers tried to work over the summer for extra money).

With the DOD, I'm on a typical school calendar and I believe my summer vacation was like 10-11 weeks. My last day was June 15 and I reported back August 22. I then get 2 weeks for Christmas.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by ASUADPi

More and more schools are going year round. When I worked year round I started back late July/Early August. I got 1-2 (depending on the district) weeks off in October. 2-3 (again district) weeks off for Christmas and then 1-2 weeks off for spring break. We then had 6 weeks off for summer vacation (if that as most teachers tried to work over the summer for extra money).

(Note: ASUADPi.. the entire post to follow is not only directed at you.. I didn't want you to get that impression!)

So at the least you had 10 weeks off, and at the most you had 14 weeks off. At my first job, I had NO weeks off. And I worked at a law firm as a paralegal, where you met deadlines.. period. If you had to stay until 9pm to meet a deadline, you did.

At my current job, I get 4 weeks off, and I work 10-12 hour days, every day. I travel, and it can be exhausting. A big part of what I do is train people in an electronic filing system, and while most days I like my job, it can also be the most frustrating thing ever. I have people who refuse to participate, people who are on their phones the entire time, people who bitch, try to get away with not working in the system, then ask every question in the book a month later because they don't know what they're doing.. and I have no parent to go to in order to straighten them out. I make a decent amount of money, but not for where I live. If I was still in PA, I'd be living large. But I started here at a decent amount, I received a 12% raise last year, and an 11% raise this year, and I STILL live at home. Jersey is EXPENSIVE.

I'm not trying to start anything.. I'm just pointing out that yes, teachers do get a lot of time off.. and I don't feel bad for them if they "only" get 10 weeks off. And I don't feel bad because they work long hours... welcome to America. We work more than any other country, and that goes for many professions. To anyone who suggests that the rest of us don't understand.. some of us do. We all deal with on-the-job stressors.. we just deal with different ones (although I think that a lot of mine are strangely similar to teachers').

I do sympathize with teachers, however, in that they have to deal with parents who will always take their child's side. It happens, and I believe this article is only directed at those particular parents. Mine went to conferences, and they listened. Parents don't have to believe the teacher, but as a fellow human being, they should respect them. Even if the parent wants to listen to nothing of what the teacher has to say, then they don't have to.. but they shouldn't come at them in an aggressive manner after they turn to their child to ask them what happened, and they respond, "Nothing."

There are some teachers who are amazing, and some that aren't. Some teachers get paid a lot, some don't. Again, it's the same with many professions. While I've never worked in the educational system, I know many people who have - some of my friends are teachers, my mom served as the president of the Board of Education when we lived in NH, my best friend's entire family is in the profession.. I've heard all of the stories, the good and the bad. And I could go on and on about the sucky teachers getting paid more than the good ones.. and teachers getting tenure too easily.. and kids being more unruly/disrespecful than ever before, and teachers receiving pensions.. and on and on and on.

The long and short of it is that parents should respect teachers, teachers should respect parents, and everyone should understand the need for a good relationship between both of those parties and the child they share responsibility for.