Can I transition to teaching with a humanities phd?

[Anonymous]

OP here: thanks everyone for helpful advice. I live in VA but might move to NW MD.

As for teaching experience, 4.5 years as a teaching assistant, and 1.5 of teaching on my own.

I agree that pedagogy training is necessary and would welcome employer-sponsored opportunities. I actually find it strange there is no pedagogy training to become a professor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here: thanks everyone for helpful advice. I live in VA but might move to NW MD.

As for teaching experience, 4.5 years as a teaching assistant, and 1.5 of teaching on my own.

I agree that pedagogy training is necessary and would welcome employer-sponsored opportunities. I actually find it strange there is no pedagogy training to become a professor.

In VA, you could become a teacher in FCPS (Fairfax) under the teacher resident program at least. They would LOVE a candidate like you. There are a ton of job openings right now.

[Anonymous]

Please do! They need you!

[Anonymous]

Don’t do it. It is a horrible profession now. And there’s not really a pay bump for having a doctorate. I earned as much with masters plus 60 as DH did with a doctorate so there was no financial incentive to move past ABD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. It is a horrible profession now. And there’s not really a pay bump for having a doctorate. I earned as much with masters plus 60 as DH did with a doctorate so there was no financial incentive to move past ABD.

In MCPS pay is a function of advanced degrees and time served. They also have a lot of time off and pension which are worth considering when evaluating the overall compensation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. It is a horrible profession now. And there’s not really a pay bump for having a doctorate. I earned as much with masters plus 60 as DH did with a doctorate so there was no financial incentive to move past ABD.

In MCPS pay is a function of advanced degrees and time served. They also have a lot of time off and pension which are worth considering when evaluating the overall compensation.

Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. It is a horrible profession now. And there’s not really a pay bump for having a doctorate. I earned as much with masters plus 60 as DH did with a doctorate so there was no financial incentive to move past ABD.

In MCPS pay is a function of advanced degrees and time served. They also have a lot of time off and pension which are worth considering when evaluating the overall compensation.

Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

Even that won’t keep teachers in the job for long enough to collect on this. That should tell you how bad it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t do it. It is a horrible profession now. And there’s not really a pay bump for having a doctorate. I earned as much with masters plus 60 as DH did with a doctorate so there was no financial incentive to move past ABD.

In MCPS pay is a function of advanced degrees and time served. They also have a lot of time off and pension which are worth considering when evaluating the overall compensation.

Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

Even that won’t keep teachers in the job for long enough to collect on this. That should tell you how bad it is.

More stay than leave overall. But retention is a huge issue for the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

Do we?

I'm in Maryland. Our teacher pension (for those hired after 2011) pension at Normal Service Retirement is 1.5% of your average salary (highest five years averaged) x # of years worked.

To retire at the Normal Service Retirement level you need to be 65+ 10 years service

OR

Age+ years of service = 90. So you can retire at age 60 with 30 years service, age 62 with 28 years service etc.

We contribute 7% of our pay to the pension each pay period.

How does that compare with other empoyers who offer a pension?

[Anonymous]

Yes. I know of a couple of moms doing this now. They are done with staying home and this is easy to get into with their PhD. The ones I know of got an ‘alternate’ teaching certification through taking classes on-line. Then they applied to several positions and received multiple offers. They got their pick. Easy Peasy. Way easier than getting back into a tenure track professorship. They have great pay/benefits, easy hours, and summers completely off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I really don’t recommend teaching, but consider a private high school instead of public. It’s still an absurd amount of work, but I feel professionally respected now that I made the switch.

I left public school teaching 100% because of the conditions. I felt admin treated me like a child. I had to “one-two-three-eyes on me” at faculty meetings. I had to take direction from admin who were so far removed from the classroom that they no longer had relevant experience. We couldn’t keep teachers, and 1/4 of the staff was new every year. There was no sense of support or community.

I now work in a private where I am treated respectfully and I feel tremendous support from admin. They continue to teach one class so they still “get it.”

It’s still a TON of work. Weekdays are 10-11 hours long and I have significant work to do every weekend.

As for pay, it is only slightly lower than my former public school salary. Many in my department are former public school teachers or college professors.

I’m so sorry, but the 1-2-3 eyes on me at a meeting of adults made me laugh. I can only imagine the look on people’s faces if someone said that at my job. I do not blame you for leaving!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

Do we?

I'm in Maryland. Our teacher pension (for those hired after 2011) pension at Normal Service Retirement is 1.5% of your average salary (highest five years averaged) x # of years worked.

To retire at the Normal Service Retirement level you need to be 65+ 10 years service

OR

Age+ years of service = 90. So you can retire at age 60 with 30 years service, age 62 with 28 years service etc.

We contribute 7% of our pay to the pension each pay period.

How does that compare with other empoyers who offer a pension?

Well, only about 15% of American employees are still offering pensions to new hires so there isn’t much basis for comparison. I don’t know anyplace outside or public employment that still offering things like Golden 90. 1.5% is actually not a bad multiplier — figure a 40 year career for an employee that works from 25 to 65 (and many Americans work more than that), and it gets you to 60% of your average high 3, which is definitely more than most private sectors folks who still have a DB pension are getting. It’s not what the Boomer teachers got though, that’s for sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

Do we?

I'm in Maryland. Our teacher pension (for those hired after 2011) pension at Normal Service Retirement is 1.5% of your average salary (highest five years averaged) x # of years worked.

To retire at the Normal Service Retirement level you need to be 65+ 10 years service

OR

Age+ years of service = 90. So you can retire at age 60 with 30 years service, age 62 with 28 years service etc.

We contribute 7% of our pay to the pension each pay period.

How does that compare with other empoyers who offer a pension?

Very well. Even better because most employers don't offer a pension.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Same as FCPS. Teachers also have a far better than usual retirement compensation. It's a tough job, but in this area at least, it's a secure reasonable paycheck with very solid benefits and more time off than is typical of many professional jobs.

Do we?

I'm in Maryland. Our teacher pension (for those hired after 2011) pension at Normal Service Retirement is 1.5% of your average salary (highest five years averaged) x # of years worked.

To retire at the Normal Service Retirement level you need to be 65+ 10 years service

OR

Age+ years of service = 90. So you can retire at age 60 with 30 years service, age 62 with 28 years service etc.

We contribute 7% of our pay to the pension each pay period.

How does that compare with other empoyers who offer a pension?

Very well. Even better because most employers don't offer a pension.

To calculate the value of your pension you calculate the equivalent you would have to safely withdraw to generate that pension--which is roughly 3-4%. So that means you would need roughly 25-30x the amount you generate in income as a lump sum in order to have the same safe income value (though of course you don't get to keep the remainder after death unless there's a death benefit). But still-- You would not be getting anywhere near that amount with a 401k contribution of 7% of your income with 10 years or even 30 years service.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really don’t recommend teaching, but consider a private high school instead of public. It’s still an absurd amount of work, but I feel professionally respected now that I made the switch.

I left public school teaching 100% because of the conditions. I felt admin treated me like a child. I had to “one-two-three-eyes on me” at faculty meetings. I had to take direction from admin who were so far removed from the classroom that they no longer had relevant experience. We couldn’t keep teachers, and 1/4 of the staff was new every year. There was no sense of support or community.

I now work in a private where I am treated respectfully and I feel tremendous support from admin. They continue to teach one class so they still “get it.”

It’s still a TON of work. Weekdays are 10-11 hours long and I have significant work to do every weekend.

As for pay, it is only slightly lower than my former public school salary. Many in my department are former public school teachers or college professors.

I’m so sorry, but the 1-2-3 eyes on me at a meeting of adults made me laugh. I can only imagine the look on people’s faces if someone said that at my job. I do not blame you for leaving!

We also had to mimic clapping… “I clap 3 times, YOU clap 3 times…” We were high school teachers, most with advanced degrees and no patience for this nonsense. I also remember being given an assigned seat at some meetings.