that vision thang

I just read the most insulting blog. I stumbled upon it by chance- I was researching teacher salaries, and this came up as part of my search. http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2005/05/the_teacher_sal.html

Essentially, it claims that teachers are not as qualified as private sector professionals and yet are paid more for less work. This is an old argument that really cheeses me off. I've sat and figured out how many hours I work versus what I get paid, and it is no where near the total this guy came up with it. And what annoyed me even more is that the comments were closed, so I couldn't vent.

That's part of the beauty of your own LJ. I can do it here.

First- yes, many teachers are stupid. I've had many unqualified teachers in my life (as a gifted and talented student with an IQ of 139, it seemed to my obnoxious self at points that they were almost all dumber than me). I've met many more in the course of my college education (summa cum laude BA and 4.0 MA) and seven years of teaching experience (two different charter schools in an urban area.) But I've also worked in non-teaching fields for twelve years- since I was 16, from crappy retail and food service to office and cancer research data processing, as well as doctor offices- and met an equally number of dumb and/or difficult people with various educational degrees and levels of job responsibility. Teaching is a job, and any job will have idiots. That's the nature of the world. There are many gifted and talented and SMART teachers out there, too.

Second- yes, for the most part teachers are paid a decent annual salary. In the Philadelphia area, teachers with my level of education and experience will make $40,00 to $50,000, depending on the district or charter. (We won't discuss private schools, which are hit or miss as to salary and teacher quality because they are not required to use state-certified- read quality controlled- teachers.) I have a dual bachelor's in English and History, with Creative Writing and Classics minors. I have a master's in Secondary Education for English and Social Studies. I have taught long enough and well enough that I have Level II certification from the state of PA. I still have to take two graduate classes (six credits) or 180 approved credit hours every five years to maintain that certification, all from my own pocket. I also have to buy supplies and professional items and memberships to professional organizations every year, which average around $600, when all is said in done (some years more, some years less.)

As for the hours of the job itself...  I am in the school building from 7AM until 5PM, with one 50 minutes block of time off.  I do not get a lunch to myself, or coffee breaks. If I have to pee, I have to get someone to cover my class, or make it there and back in two minutes between classes. If I don't feel well, I don't get to sit and ignore my 35 students; I still have to interact with and entertain them. I get sick days, yes- but I have to leave work for the students to do and GRADE IT when I get back, so that it is important and counts. Sometime between 3 and 4 PM, I have parent phone calls (to make and return), lesson plans, photocopies, and meetings to make- every day. If I have special education students, I have to do separate lesson plans and tests for them, as well as special, additional report cards (mandated by the state.)

I teach three different subjects, all of which need materials, lesson plans, projects, tests, etc. made up for them. (my assignments have varied from two to four subjects in different years.) Don't forget grading!!!! I need to research and plan each one EVERY YEAR. Even if I am teaching the same subject again (and I have taught ten different classes over time), I do not use the same lesson plan over and over- each time it is evaluated and tweaked. I have to maintain a web page with daily summaries of the work done and what's coming up. I also do after school activities and tutoring two times a week. That means that most planning is done at home- and everyone who had read this blog knows how little a mother of two under 4 gets done at home unless the kids are asleep. Most nights, I work an additional two hours, minimum. That means that I actively work 12 hours a day when school is in session. Over ten months, that's 4 hours most than most people per day, 4 weeks a month- that's 800 hours, or 100 days, of work. That's MORE than what I get in days off and summer vacation. So those eight weeks I get off in the summer? That's comp time for hours already worked.

Add into this the fact that teachers don't get to have a bad day. Snap unnecessarily at a student, and you get a phone call. You must be pleasant and understanding ALL THE TIME, or you make your life much more difficult with the students. You have to be a cheerleader- encouraging them even as you are yelling at them, making sure they understand that you KNOW they can do the work if they would just put their mind to it, yes you UNDERSTAND that they have to work (in my urban area, it is a reality), and yes, life can be difficult but they can triumph over the crappy hand inner city, mostly non-native English speaking minorities get dealt.... It is emotionally uplifting and draining at the same time. Not to mention the germ factor in meeting/greeting 150 children a day.

So anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid should get off their asses and work in an urban district for a year, then get back to me. There is a reason that 50% percent of teachers change careers after five years in this field.

And yet- there is no other job I want, no other students I would want to teach. My students, even the pain in the ass ones, are wonderful. If they are there, in the seats, they know they need to be there to go anywhere in this world. They might fight me tooth and nail to actually learn the material- they might have problems outside of school to distract them- they might have some very real skill deficits and no way to bridge the gap on their own, but they have met me half-way. That's better than some adults I've worked with in my many careers.

Current Mood: frustrated