Ya know, not all teachers are liberal lazy buttheads controlled by the NEA. To categorize all of us that way is extremely stereotypical. And to the individual who said that teachers have it way too easy.....come walk in my shoes for a week or better yet a day. You'd never make it. My day starts around 7AM with hall duty where I have to babysit kids who's parents dump them off on us so they can get rid of them as early as possible. I get one 30 minutes planning period, the rest of the day I am in front of my class, on my feet, trying to cram a bizzillon state goals and objectives down kids throats who could care less. Do you only get one break a day to go to the restroom? That's all I get. Can't leave my students alone in the room to run to the restroom, one of them might decide to ACT UP. I also have to eat with my students at lunchtime. No lunchtime run out to the nearest cafe or fast food joint for me. No leisurely hour lunch break chatting with my fellow worker bees. Then, 8 hours after I started the day, it's off to bus duty or car rider duty or perhaps I have after school tutoring duty. Around 5ish, (10 hours later) I pack up my bag and head home. AHHH, time to relax. NOT. Gee, I guess I need to grade those papers. Another couple hours of work. Gosh, and what about those lesson plans I don't have time to do during the day because I'm TEACHING. I guess I'll just have to run out to school on SUNDAY to take care of that. Yeah, my job is real easy. Oh, and the 3 month summer vacation.....dream on. We get 6 weeks off and it's UNPAID vacation. Oh, and my great salary and benefits... I have a Master's degree and I make 30K a year at a state public school. Maybe before you start bashing all teachers you should do a little research. Most of us work our asses off because we love children and believe there are some out there worth saving. Oh another thing, shhhh, don't tell anyone, but in our PUBLIC school, we say the pledge with the word GOD in it and we PRAY before our meals and before all school events such as PTO meetings and staff meetings. I even have a manger scene up in my classroom. All public schools are not evil and most are doing the best they can with what society has placed into our care.
There is an essay written around 1918 or 1919.. by thorstein veblen who predicted the invevitable failure of public education for just the reasons stated here...not that those reasons are right, but those voicing them are a growing force.
feel better?
Good, as a public school teacher you deserve a good rant!..hehe
You sound like a teacher who cares, and as a fellow survivor of the "establishment", I empathize.
People who claim teaching is "easy" are ignorant of the profession.
That said, public education is falling apart, as your voice demonstrates.
If your job mainly consist of babysitting unruly kids, complying with red-tape, and performing a dozen or so other odd jobs at the school, when do you get time to actually teach the subject you love?
Isn't that what you wanted to do in the first place?
Wouldn't you love to teach in an environment where you were able to do your job, and end the day with a feeling of accomplishment and self-respect? I imagine you do, and I imagine that many of your students wish they were in an safe environment that challenges them intellectually.
If only there were some "alternative" where we could get parents and students who care, matched up with teachers who care........hmmm
In the Navy we had a saying "Chose the rate chose the fate"!
Couple of suggestions; make paragraphs to break up the type block. White space makes it easier to read.
As to your chose profession, seems like you are not real happy there. Have you read John Taylor Gatto? NYC Teacher of the Year, I think...
Got fed up with the built in BS of the whole thing and has some pretty good ideas on how to do it better.
My daughter has had a great many wonderful teachers in the public school system. I am very grateful for them. She has also had a great many teachers who think it's their business to drive their political agenda home (in Home Economics if you can believe it). It's unfortunate that these outnumber the other. I worked for the district myself for a number of years. The plight of teachers is familiar to me. I don't think teachers don't work, they work hard. So do I. However, I would say you are underpaid since I wrote checks to teachers in the 100,000's out here in California (I was PAYROLL). Benefits are excellent with the district, and you can arrange to have your salary disbursed over 12 months to ease the pain of summer vacation. That's this district of course. I think it's clear the political leaning of most instructors through college level tends to be liberal. It's refreshing to see someone on here that deviates. A working teacher on FR. Amen. Don't take the topic personally. That's probably easy to say, however, not so easy to put up with..... Some of us single parents depend pretty heavily on teachers like you.
Thank you for saying this and being there for the proof of what I have been trying to bring across for ages.
But most importantly, thank you for caring for the children.