Be honest - what do you think of teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. I think they are selfless, caring, intelligent, patient, and incredibly hard-working. They also have a sense of humor.

2. Teaching is incredibly hard. It can absolutely suck the life out of you. The stress and anxiety that goes with the job is so high.

I agree with this. Obviously as in any profession, it has its share of bad apples, but over all, I agree with the PP. If you can manage kids well and teach them at the same time, you have my enduring respect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a teacher (5 years high school). Now I am a college professor.

I have mixed feelings about the profession. I taught in three different school and I think I was a different kind of teacher in each one of them. One was an inner city school and my first year out of college. I was terrible, I hated it, and I don't think anyone learned anything. Not because I wasn't trying but because I was in way over my head. The second was a little progressive private school. I think I was an amazing teacher there because the school fit me well. I still hear from students from those years. The third was a boarding school and I did fine, but wasn't a standout. I felt like the fact that I had to coach (and have dorm duty, but mostly the coaching) was the reason that my teaching suffered. It was hard to juggle both, especially in the fall when you are just setting patterns with students. Some people love working at boarding schools, but I found I didn't like to live at work.

Teaching was both a really hard job (constant deadlines, so many different classes at once that you were always scrambing, discipline problems when at the city school that were draining) and a really easy job (home at five even if I had grading or prep to do at home, summers off when I could work on my Masters).

I think it was a good job for the money (and I worked mostly at private schools where the pay is lower than public.) It bothers me when teachers complain about how hard the profession is or how little they get paid. There are professions that pay better, but honestly those people do mostly work harder (and longer) for their extra income.

I also taught at an inner city high school right out of college, but unlike you, I actually enjoyed it most of the time. I also thought it was the most difficult but rewarding work I had ever done, and I definitely felt underpaid. If you feel that most people work harder and longer for their higher earning salaries, then I would think you were one of those teachers that did their 8am-3pm "shift" and was done. Most teachers I know put in way more hours than they are paid for. For instance, per my contract, I was paid for a 30 hour work week but in reality, I was working 40-50 hours, with certain times of year even working 60. I got paid an extra $300 to work on the school play, which worked out to be about $1.25/hour extra pay. I did it anyway because I loved it.

If teachers were more respected and better paid, maybe we would have more talented and qualified teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stay away from teachers because they are immune to all of the little viruses they carry, but they still pass them on

Just kidding of course. I think teachers who have a hard job, make it a hard job for themselves and that means they are doing their job well.

The exception is schools where the parents make the teachers' lives hell. I was a coach and long term substitute teacher before law school. I realized that most teachers a really bright and dedicated- and all of them are crazy! Middle school teachers are like the Navy SEALS of teaching.

THIS!

Actually, you'd have to be pretty brave to be a substitute teacher as well

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I stay away from teachers because they are immune to all of the little viruses they carry, but they still pass them on

Just kidding of course. I think teachers who have a hard job, make it a hard job for themselves and that means they are doing their job well.

The exception is schools where the parents make the teachers' lives hell. I was a coach and long term substitute teacher before law school. I realized that most teachers a really bright and dedicated- and all of them are crazy! Middle school teachers are like the Navy SEALS of teaching.

Thanks...I think? (MS teacher here). I also agree with the pp who said that teaching is a calling...but only for some. There are always going to be teachers who are just doing a "job", as there are others in different professions who are doing a job...but I think the percentage of teachers who look at it as a job are much higher than in other professions, such as doctors and lawyers. Let's be honest-while I was a bio undergrad major, I now have a masters in education, and it ain't rocket science It is much easier to become a teacher on little or no credentials because of the overwhelming state of decay of our public school budget (I'm talking country-wide here, not just in the metro area), and its effect on the critical needs areas of teachers, such as math and science teachers. I speak from experience...I was hired with ZERO teaching experience (not even student teaching), ZERO knowledge of how to "be" a teacher (how to build a lesson plan, how to differentiate curriculum, how to express content to students in general), and ZERO education classes. And this was in one of the best public school systems in this area (and at one of the most desirable middle schools to boot). This happened simply because they were desperate for a teacher in a specific subject area. On the first day of school that year, I faced 150 8th grade students who were probably more knowledgable about their subject matter than I was...and all I had to go on was my experiences as a student.

Now, if that can happen in a top school district, in a very good middle school, imagine what is happening in more rural parts of the country, or in areas that are being completely hamstrung due to lack of funds? It turned out great for me, as I discovered, sheerly by luck, that I loved teaching and decided to kick some ass at it, but for most 24-year-olds faced with that same situation...well, I wouldn't be surprised if most of them just did their "shift" of 7-3 and got out of there. After all, where is the incentive to do better? It is practically impossible to get fired from a public school system, especially if the union is strong, and while teachers who have been in the system for a while make peanuts compared to professionals in other fields, the starting salary for teachers isn't really that bad.

Now that I am a parent 10 years later, I shake my head at how I got my start at teaching...and while I have grown into a fairly good teacher (IMO, of course!), I would NOT want my kids taught by my self 10 years ago.

Food for thought.

[Anonymous]

I have a bit of a split personality when it comes to how I view teachers. I recall some of the best teachers I had in public school and I will always be grateful to them and have genuine respect for them. On the other hand, I had some really poor teachers who were just "mailing it in" and got paid well for it. Additionally, many of the folks I went to HS with went onto college to get their degrees in teaching and I cannot imagine being taught by them or sending my kids to them for school! They were just not that bright and kinda lazy.
I think their union has turned me off and makes it seem as though they want to protect the bad teachers more than promote and encourage the good ones.

[Anonymous]

I think most are, on average, probably dumber than average. I think they get paid plenty (based on the current crop). I think the union makes reform very difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most are, on average, probably dumber than average. I think they get paid plenty (based on the current crop). I think the union makes reform very difficult.

Are you a teacher? Do you know any teachers personally (besides your children's?) I know many and yes, there are some that are pretty average, but I know MANY that are very, very intelligent and have advanced degrees from well regarded universities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most are, on average, probably dumber than average. I think they get paid plenty (based on the current crop). I think the union makes reform very difficult.

You must have had some dumb teachers. This sentence structure is very weak.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a teacher (5 years high school). Now I am a college professor.

I have mixed feelings about the profession. I taught in three different school and I think I was a different kind of teacher in each one of them. One was an inner city school and my first year out of college. I was terrible, I hated it, and I don't think anyone learned anything. Not because I wasn't trying but because I was in way over my head. The second was a little progressive private school. I think I was an amazing teacher there because the school fit me well. I still hear from students from those years. The third was a boarding school and I did fine, but wasn't a standout. I felt like the fact that I had to coach (and have dorm duty, but mostly the coaching) was the reason that my teaching suffered. It was hard to juggle both, especially in the fall when you are just setting patterns with students. Some people love working at boarding schools, but I found I didn't like to live at work.

Teaching was both a really hard job (constant deadlines, so many different classes at once that you were always scrambing, discipline problems when at the city school that were draining) and a really easy job (home at five even if I had grading or prep to do at home, summers off when I could work on my Masters).

I think it was a good job for the money (and I worked mostly at private schools where the pay is lower than public.) It bothers me when teachers complain about how hard the profession is or how little they get paid. There are professions that pay better, but honestly those people do mostly work harder (and longer) for their extra income.

I'm disgusted you're still in education, as you seem like a real ass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes I know there are horrifically bad teachers and astoundingly amazing teachers - that is not what I am asking. What I want to know is:

1. What do you think of people who choose to enter the teaching profession?
2. What do you think about teaching as a career - in terms of how demanding it is or what it requires.

WHY are you posting this?

to stir the pot or b/c you're interested in the field but not certain if you can handle the negative perceptions most people have about the profession?

[Anonymous]

Here's what Matt Damon has to say about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFHJkvEwyhk&feature=share

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here's what Matt Damon has to say about it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFHJkvEwyhk&feature=share

I <3 Matt Damon

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the teacher. There are those who actually work their butts off to do the job and do it well (often going above the call of duty). Then there are those who xerox off worksheets and just put in as little hours as possible.

Overall I think they are underappreciated and underpaid and are in a very challenging job (for multiple reasons). They have a lot of responsibilities, it can be exhausting, and (good teachers) will put in a lot of extra hours and money getting supplies and lessons together. On top of that they have to deal with the slacker teachers and professionals and difficult students and parents while planning and differentiating lessons, dealing with criticism, overcrowded classrooms, ridiculous expectations, no budget, writing IEPs, and essentially (hopefully) becoming in expert in everything they teach.

I don't understand those who claim that teachers are dumb and uneducated and that teaching is easy. I keep seeing those claims but they are never substantiated. I don't think that anybody who claims that teaching is easy have any idea what teachers do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the people I knew in college who majored in education weren't terribly bright. Many of them seemed more interested in getting married than having a career.With that said, I do believe there are lots of bright, committed teachers out there and I don't believe the profession gets the pay or respect it deserves.

Since I don't have school-aged kids I don't feel like I have a clear sense of how demanding the job is. I'd imagine parents can be very difficult to deal with at times.

Agree. I also felt like a lot of them went into the profession in order to have summers off (not my words, theirs).

[Anonymous]

I have great respect and admiration for those who undertake teaching. However I also have a distaste for teachers unions and tenure. Jobs should be performance based like any other. And I think it's wrong that teachers have gone without pay increases in recent years.