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If you can read this and spit out complete sentences flaming those who taught you to read, thank a teacher! Until you have walked in my shoes don't pretend to be the expert. The school day starts well before the first child ever walks into that room and lasts long after every child leaves. I started out making $510 every 2 weeks. That was with my Masters degree that I paid for and worked for after my day at work which was from 7-5.(I was so selfish I stayed late with my own child in day care to get everything just right for your child the next day) You do the math. And for those of you who think 6 hours are from 7-5 you missed something in first grade when they went over counting. By the way you can thank a teacher for that if you can do it. My how quickly we forget our roots. Unless you were home schooled or just born as smart as you are today thank a teacher. If you are employed and have marketable skills thank a teacher. I think most of you are forgetting that the NEA and other unions don't represent many many teachers. I never once paid the first penny to those organizations. Do you have any idea how they get most people to join? They promise unlimited legal counsel should you get sued. You can thank parents who think teachers are just a bit better than your average burger flipper and greedy lawyers sho could care less who they sue as long as they get paid. At $510 every 2 weeks you are getting a bargain. You are not only getting an educator but a counselor and a nurse. In many many cases you are also getting someone who gives those children more love in those school hours than they get all week at home. Instead of whining about us lousy teachers how about home schooling your child and just 4 other friends for a month and then see how you feel. Just one more math problem to leave you with....lets pretend for just a minute that the only thing you expected from a teacher was what you might expect from a babysitter on Friday night. At $6 an hour for 19 children for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week for 35 weeks a year that would be $119,700 a year and that doesn't include the first bit of learning, bandaging knees, finding lost teeth on the playground to send home to the tooth fairy, wiping away tears because their best friend likes the same boy, phone calls from parents at 10:00 the night before the book report is due findindg out what THEIR assignment is, checking for head lice, cleaning up the vomit, writing lesson plans, spending your own money to buy a child a costume for the play because the parent refused, holding a 6 year old on our lap crying his eyes out because his daddy left for good this time(we think), telling your class that their friend has cancer, reporting child abuse, cheering for that slow learner that finally gets it the 100th way you have tried explaining it, eating with 6 year olds who all chew with their mouths open, unstopping the class toilet, trying to explain how the class pet had babies last night, going to sporting events on your own time and your family's own time just to show you care, attending the funeral of a student, laughing yourself silly over the sweet things they say......I would say even at $50k a year your getting a great deal.

Katiebelle,
The secret is to avoid these threads on education. If you never read the posts, then you can't have the urge to respond or be made angry by the rudeness and thoughtless remarks, which are legion. [As you can see, I have not been able to completely follow my own advice. I have been able to resist responding to the more odious Freepers who haven't the sense not to lump people all together.]

Paragraphs are your friends.

katiebelle, you are welcome to pay the teachers of your children what they are worth. Dig into your own pocket and pay them a bonus. You do not have the right to dig into my pocketbook to pay YOUR teacher. If you and others truly believed teachers should get what they are worth, then I expect you are all for rewarding homeschoolers whose children are excelling by rebating some of their taxes paid into schools they don't use? Didn't think so, those teachers don't count right?