RANT: Teachers, why are you so whiny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

First of all, your degree was not that hard. It's not rocket science.

There is a lot more to that degree than you think, especially from an Ivy league school or a place like Duke University. It is a quality education with a specific goal in mind: teaching, and school administration (very much like running a business) as opposed to a general Liberal Arts jack-of-all-trades type of degree which you seem to have in mind. If I were to say, "A STEM degree isn't tough, all you do is learn to punch stuff in on a calculator or into a computer ---how hard can that be?" a STEM person would laugh, just as an educator laughs at someone calling their degree "an easy degree".

Also, comparing a STEM degree to an Education degree is comparing apples to oranges: they require different talents and skill sets, and there is much more to it than just grading papers and handing out assignments, especially if you are looking to become a principal. Check out the salaries of Fairfax county principals. Pretty good gig if you can get it.

I know many people who are going into teaching as a second career because there are many Masters programs that can have you teaching within a few months while continuing the online courses for about 18 months...

[Anonymous]

OP is smearing an entire profession.

In any universe, is that cool?

No, it's not.

Don't even get into an argument about whether the degree is easy or hard. That is not the point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Change jobs, OP, and learn that people complain in every profession.

What a dolt. You should be ashamed of yourself for generalizing your rant. You could have said: "Teachers shouldn't complain so much in their privileged school cluster." But no, you extended your WHINE to make completely incorrect statements about education in general.

Shame on you.

Nope. I made it clear tgay I was speaking from my own experience in a well-off school district and that I know it’s not the same everywhere.

[Anonymous]

You have experience in one school, but seem to be able to make judgments about thousands of schools.

I have kids who don't eat meals, don't have parents at home, and have never had a table on which to do homework. I feed my middle schoolers, drive them home so they can stay late with me for tutoring, and help them navigate their home life. I am acting as the teacher, mother, tutor, counselor. I have never once left when the after school bell rings.

My own child gets less of me, so that the students in my room get more. Don't tell me I am well paid in a cushy job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:as a former teacher, it really bugs me when folks mention summers off. This is unpaid time, yes most school systems have a plan in place where you can take your pay so as to lessen your monthly take home and spread your 10 month contract out to 12. Some people can afford to only work 10 months out of the year, but many others scramble- you speak like teachers should be working during the unpaid summer months to plan... OP your the worst.

Their annual pay is in line with many people I know who have a bachelors degree. But everyone else just gets a few weeks off per year. Why can’t teachers admit that this is a major perk?

[Anonymous]

Find me a profession where people *don't* whine. No one's paid enough, no one's appreciated enough, each individual thinks they're awesome. It's just human nature. When I was in labor, my ob/gyn "whined" for hours to me and DH about how hard his profession was. At the same time, he mentioned his upcoming vacation to the south of France.

FWIW, I love teachers. F'ing love teachers. Who taught my kids to read? Not me. Who's teaching my kids algebra? Not me. Who's guiding my son through his HS science classes, nurturing his dream to become an MD? Not me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: I am speaking from my own experiences with elementary teachers in a good school district. I realize other teachers' situations can be much different

...Rant over. I really do love you, teachers. I just wish you could spend more time focusing on all the positive aspects of your job. Thanks for all you do for our kids. Just stop complaining about it.

Former teacher here. Thanks for your love, and for your appreciation for all I did.

Apparently my situation was indeed different. I did not experience what you described in your rant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have experience in one school, but seem to be able to make judgments about thousands of schools.

I have kids who don't eat meals, don't have parents at home, and have never had a table on which to do homework. I feed my middle schoolers, drive them home so they can stay late with me for tutoring, and help them navigate their home life. I am acting as the teacher, mother, tutor, counselor. I have never once left when the after school bell rings.

My own child gets less of me, so that the students in my room get more. Don't tell me I am well paid in a cushy job.

Again, I made it clear that I was only speaking of my own experience. For a bunch of teachers, your reading comprehension is not great.

It’s great that you do all that for your students. None of the teachers I know do any of that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Change jobs, OP, and learn that people complain in every profession.

What a dolt. You should be ashamed of yourself for generalizing your rant. You could have said: "Teachers shouldn't complain so much in their privileged school cluster." But no, you extended your WHINE to make completely incorrect statements about education in general.

Shame on you.

I’ve had many different jobs and I’ve never heard anyone complain like the teachers in my building. It touches a nerve with me because they are complaining about children and their parents. I work with SN kids and it kills me to hear the teachers blame the parents because an autistic child has meltdowns or hear them say that the meltdown has nothing to do with the autism and that they are just being bad because they can get away with it. I hear this from veteran teachers who should know better EVERY DAY!

[Anonymous]

Claps and more claps to you, OP. I’ve seen my kids teacher rolling her eyes in a very disrespectful way to 3rd graders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have experience in one school, but seem to be able to make judgments about thousands of schools.

I have kids who don't eat meals, don't have parents at home, and have never had a table on which to do homework. I feed my middle schoolers, drive them home so they can stay late with me for tutoring, and help them navigate their home life. I am acting as the teacher, mother, tutor, counselor. I have never once left when the after school bell rings.

My own child gets less of me, so that the students in my room get more. Don't tell me I am well paid in a cushy job.

Again, I made it clear that I was only speaking of my own experience. For a bunch of teachers, your reading comprehension is not great.

It’s great that you do all that for your students. None of the teachers I know do any of that.

OP I agree with the PP. Your tone and word choice do indeed open your rant up to teachers in general.

Ranting can feel cathartic. But it can also allow you to wallow in your own small world. Bust out, OP! Rise up, learn something new and become a better person. Be inspired by people like the PP quoted above. She is changing the world.

[Anonymous]

My friend keeps persuading me to get a job at a bad school (premium pay, because it's bad). He didn't even finish his teaching degree at that time that he started, had unrelated BA. He loved the pay and the time off, but will always join the whining and the protests over pay. It is just a thing to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Change jobs, OP, and learn that people complain in every profession.

What a dolt. You should be ashamed of yourself for generalizing your rant. You could have said: "Teachers shouldn't complain so much in their privileged school cluster." But no, you extended your WHINE to make completely incorrect statements about education in general.

Shame on you.

It's true. Whining became the norm now.

[Anonymous]

If it is such an easy, well-paid profession, why doesn't everyone become a teacher? It seems strange that we would have a nation-wide teacher shortage if this was such an attractive job. This is from the Washington Post in January:

This past fall, school districts nationwide faced serious teacher shortages that left many schools scrambling to find qualified teachers. Today, halfway through the academic year, many students are being taught by a temporary teacher because their schools could not fill positions in time — in Arizona, for example, more than 1 in 5 teaching positions remained unfilled four months into the school year, and an estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of teachers in urban school systems are hired after the school year starts. Projections suggest that the national teacher shortage is only going to get worse, particularly in hard-to-staff subjects such as mathematics, science and special education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it is such an easy, well-paid profession, why doesn't everyone become a teacher? It seems strange that we would have a nation-wide teacher shortage if this was such an attractive job. This is from the Washington Post in January:

This past fall, school districts nationwide faced serious teacher shortages that left many schools scrambling to find qualified teachers. Today, halfway through the academic year, many students are being taught by a temporary teacher because their schools could not fill positions in time — in Arizona, for example, more than 1 in 5 teaching positions remained unfilled four months into the school year, and an estimated 20 percent to 30 percent of teachers in urban school systems are hired after the school year starts. Projections suggest that the national teacher shortage is only going to get worse, particularly in hard-to-staff subjects such as mathematics, science and special education.

I looked into it. Too much of a hassle to get the credentials that are not portable from state to state.