Why do so many educated professionals look down on teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In private school parents are the customers and treated as such. Why should public school be any different?

In private schools, customers (parents) pay (tuition) a business (the private school) for a service (education for their child).

In contrast, public schools are social services. Everybody pays taxes to support the social service, regardless of their use of the social service, and everybody who is eligible benefits from the social service, regardless of payment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In private school parents are the customers and treated as such. Why should public school be any different?

Because you don't pay for it. You sort of do through taxes, but if you leave they don't lose money because you "took your business elsewhere."

..that would be charters where parents are allowed to take their vouchers and leave crappy schools.

No, vouchers and charter schools are two different things. Charter schools are still public schools. If you have to pay with a voucher, that's a private school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In private school parents are the customers and treated as such. Why should public school be any different?

Because you don't pay for it. You sort of do through taxes, but if you leave they don't lose money because you "took your business elsewhere."

..that would be charters where parents are allowed to take their vouchers and leave crappy schools.

Charters aren't run on vouchers.

[Anonymous]

Colleges and universities need to stop treating their teaching education programs as cash cows.

[Anonymous]

English major here. I took college classes with education majors and they were a pitiful lot; complained about the rigorous coursework to include research papers and essays and generally were the least enthusiastic students.

In my personal life, I've met just two truly smart teachers and in both cases, these men left established careers to follow a yearning to teach young students.

We need to attract the best and brightest to teach our students.

Also, teachers no longer dress professionally. There's something to dressing for success.

[Anonymous]

Teaching is a tough job. All of the responsibility, yet none of the authority. I taught years ago. It has always been a difficult job, but teachers today have a particularly hard job. Underappreciated. Especially on DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the issue is that most teachers are in public schools. Public sector employees in general aren't held in the highest regard. Another issue is that, while there are some fabulous teachers who could hold their own with any professional, the bar to become of teacher is pretty low. Education majors are a dime a dozen. Compare this to folks graduating with a JD, MD or Phd and you get the idea.

I have a JD, PhD, and teach 2nd grade. People still treat me/us like trash. Parents talk to teachers in ways that they would not dream of speaking to others. Not all parents- but many. My two cents- because we work with kids we are sometimes treated like a child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: This is what happens when business people get too involved in education. Teachers do not have "customers."

I think this comment gets to the nub of the conflict. Many teachers seem to feel their profession is a calling, almost like the priesthood, where they should be lauded for their sacrifices and honored for the education that got them the teaching position. But many parents and policy makers now expect more - they want the teachers who are most successful at educating students. Perhaps it's also a function of the fact that, unlike the past, there are now more people who want to be teachers than there are teacher jobs, so those doing the hiring can afford to be picky. Speaking as a parent who wants good teachers for my children, I have no vendetta against teachers generally, nor do I want to wage war on teachers. But I get frustrated when I encounter less effective teachers, and I get even more frustrated when I hear stories about how hard it is for schools to remove those ineffective teachers. In short, teacher should consider themselves to have "customers" now.

No, no, no. There are many who try their hand at teaching but few who stay.

[Anonymous]

I teach high school, and I have a "real" BA and MA in my subject, as well as an M. Ed. The Ed degree was a joke, and the people who majored in Education (as opposed to people who had a BA in another subject) were (collectively) the least intelligent people I encountered in college. The Ed "professors" were equally stupid, and I'm quite angry that the M. Ed. degree (I needed it for licensure) cost as much as my "real" MA degree. I don't blame people for looking down on teachers; I am fairly disgusted with the idiocy of many of my colleagues.

So I'm a teacher, and while I love my job, I find that many teachers ARE rather stupid. I choose to teach in a good private school that values expertise in subject matter, and while I agree that intelligence/expertise in subject area do not guarantee that someone can teach, I KNOW that poor knowledge of subject matter (a symptom of an Education major program) can never result in excellent instruction.

I'm a teacher, and I can confirm that many teachers are less intelligent than doctors, lawyers, engineers, and the like.

[Anonymous]

They are actually very smart . The vacation , benefits and pensions are awesome. They probably have a longer/ more enjoyable life than doctors, lawyers and engineers. It's nice to be around young people too!

[Anonymous]

For me it's the new instructional model. Some call it project based learning, self-instruction, or flipped classrooms. Whatever they call it, it's the same mush where teachers make believe they are teaching and students make believe they are learning. If teachers aren't going to teach during class time then everyone should stay home. If teachers don't teach and students are expected to learn on their own or in groups doing endless projects why force the kids to attend classes whatsoever?

Why not give students the projects and let them go to the library or go home to work on the projects. Nothing is being taught or learned in classes anymore. The student spend their days in school twiddling their thumbs and are then expected to stay up until 2 AM every night learning what they should have learned in the classroom.

When teacher start doing more than just showing up for work every day, I'll start respecting them again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For me it's the new instructional model. Some call it project based learning, self-instruction, or flipped classrooms. Whatever they call it, it's the same mush where teachers make believe they are teaching and students make believe they are learning. If teachers aren't going to teach during class time then everyone should stay home. If teachers don't teach and students are expected to learn on their own or in groups doing endless projects why force the kids to attend classes whatsoever?

Why not give students the projects and let them go to the library or go home to work on the projects. Nothing is being taught or learned in classes anymore. The student spend their days in school twiddling their thumbs and are then expected to stay up until 2 AM every night learning what they should have learned in the classroom.

When teacher start doing more than just showing up for work every day, I'll start respecting them again.

Yes, because teachers have total control over this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of the issue is that most teachers are in public schools. Public sector employees in general aren't held in the highest regard. Another issue is that, while there are some fabulous teachers who could hold their own with any professional, the bar to become of teacher is pretty low. Education majors are a dime a dozen. Compare this to folks graduating with a JD, MD or Phd and you get the idea.

I have a JD, PhD, and teach 2nd grade. People still treat me/us like trash. Parents talk to teachers in ways that they would not dream of speaking to others. Not all parents- but many. My two cents- because we work with kids we are sometimes treated like a child.

I give it back to them - even w/o administrative support.

One of my colleagues had a student who EARNED a failing grade. The parents were so upset that they called a meeting to have the grade changed. He changed it - from an E to an A - stating that in their case, the grade didn't matter, as they had no true understanding of hard work and self-respect.

loved him!

Until we start to respect ourselves, the public will always shit on us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I teach high school, and I have a "real" BA and MA in my subject, as well as an M. Ed. The Ed degree was a joke, and the people who majored in Education (as opposed to people who had a BA in another subject) were (collectively) the least intelligent people I encountered in college. The Ed "professors" were equally stupid, and I'm quite angry that the M. Ed. degree (I needed it for licensure) cost as much as my "real" MA degree. I don't blame people for looking down on teachers; I am fairly disgusted with the idiocy of many of my colleagues.

So I'm a teacher, and while I love my job, I find that many teachers ARE rather stupid. I choose to teach in a good private school that values expertise in subject matter, and while I agree that intelligence/expertise in subject area do not guarantee that someone can teach, I KNOW that poor knowledge of subject matter (a symptom of an Education major program) can never result in excellent instruction.

I'm a teacher, and I can confirm that many teachers are less intelligent than doctors, lawyers, engineers, and the like.

You choose to teach in a private b/c you can't handle a classroom that mirrors real life.

It's clear in your post that you suffer from an inferiority complex, as an EDUCATED professional would never post such drivel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach high school, and I have a "real" BA and MA in my subject, as well as an M. Ed. The Ed degree was a joke, and the people who majored in Education (as opposed to people who had a BA in another subject) were (collectively) the least intelligent people I encountered in college. The Ed "professors" were equally stupid, and I'm quite angry that the M. Ed. degree (I needed it for licensure) cost as much as my "real" MA degree. I don't blame people for looking down on teachers; I am fairly disgusted with the idiocy of many of my colleagues.

So I'm a teacher, and while I love my job, I find that many teachers ARE rather stupid. I choose to teach in a good private school that values expertise in subject matter, and while I agree that intelligence/expertise in subject area do not guarantee that someone can teach, I KNOW that poor knowledge of subject matter (a symptom of an Education major program) can never result in excellent instruction.

I'm a teacher, and I can confirm that many teachers are less intelligent than doctors, lawyers, engineers, and the like.

You choose to teach in a private b/c you can't handle a classroom that mirrors real life.

It's clear in your post that you suffer from an inferiority complex, as an EDUCATED professional would never post such drivel.

You just don't like what PP is saying. I think she makes perfect sense in an eloquent manner. What you call "real life" technically sucks ass.