RANT: Teachers, why are you so whiny?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To a comment above about unpaid summers -- do they get their annual salary (whatever that may be) let's say they're salaried at 55k ... do they get that 55k if they don't teach summer class? Or they do they have to teach summer school to get their annual salary of 55k?

Summer school is typically extra pay. The base salary covers the regular school year contract hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with that long rant 100%. Teachers, you do not work harder than other professionals -- PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DO. We all work long grueling hours and don't have summers and every other holiday off. Your pay is fair for what you do. What you do isn't rocket science. I'm sure it does require A LOT of patience, and I don't doubt for one second you work after hours. But again, so do all other professions. Please get off your high horse of how special you are and how you "deserve" so much more pay. Stop your whining.

I love a lot of teachers. I know many! But STOP playing your violin. You chose this career. I am so sick of alllll the teachers I know whining CONSTANTLY. Pre-COVID and post! I don't see any other professional constantly whining about how deserving they are of more and everything else you're always crying about. Ugh.

And yet after dormant for over 4 months you had to revive this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with that long rant 100%. Teachers, you do not work harder than other professionals -- PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DO. We all work long grueling hours and don't have summers and every other holiday off. Your pay is fair for what you do. What you do isn't rocket science. I'm sure it does require A LOT of patience, and I don't doubt for one second you work after hours. But again, so do all other professions. Please get off your high horse of how special you are and how you "deserve" so much more pay. Stop your whining.

I love a lot of teachers. I know many! But STOP playing your violin. You chose this career. I am so sick of alllll the teachers I know whining CONSTANTLY. Pre-COVID and post! I don't see any other professional constantly whining about how deserving they are of more and everything else you're always crying about. Ugh.

And yet after dormant for over 4 months you had to revive this thread.

Ha I didn't realize this was a zombie thread. But honestly it makes it more interesting considering our current climate. With all the uproar about defunding the police, I am glad that public school teachers are FINALLY being seen for what they really are- the weakest link in a very dysfunctional system. We can't keep hiring the least capable among us to teach our children and expect quality outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers, it's not that I dislike you. I don't. I have 3 school-aged kids and I work as a para in an elementary school, so I am around teachers and work closely with them all day. Most of my friends are teachers. I just get so tired of the whining. I am speaking from my own experiences with elementary teachers in a good school district. I realize other teachers' situations can be much different

The pay thing. I'm gonna say it. Someone has to. Teachers, I think your pay is fair. I'm sorry, but I do. First of all, your degree was not that hard. It's not rocket science. And you only work about 180 days a year. You get summers, spring break, winter break, as well as many other days off. I know you all claim to work all summer on lesson planning. I'm sure that's true for the most dedicated teachers, as it's true that most dedicated employees do some work off the clock. But the teachers I know walk out of school at the end of the year vowing to not even think about their job until the last two weeks of summer. I heard one teacher suggest to her team that they meet once over the summer to plan. They all said forget it, and that it's above their pay grade to waste a summer day thinking about work. For my job, I have to time in/out and leave at exactly 4:15 every day. ALL of the teachers are already gone by then! They usually arrive after us as well. And no, they are not taking papers home to grade. Those days are gone. Kids self grade most of their work. Often it is actually just a completion grade and nobody even grades it. Teachers have parent and HS volunteers who come in to help with copies, project prep, grading, etc. They also get an hour of plan time each day and other times when kids are at recess, reading quietly, or working independently at stations. I spend my entire day in classrooms and I can tell you that these teachers spend about two hours per day actually teaching. Again, just my personal experience and all of this will vary from one school to the next.

Side note: The other paras that I work with complain about our pay as well. I actually think our pay is pretty fair. I get about $15/hour. It seems about right for the amount of work I do and the hours I work. Before kids, I had a job in my field utilizing my degree. It didn't actually pay much more than I'm making now and was MUCH harder work. Much more intense, tons of travel, stressful. Granted, I would be making good money by now if I hadn't left to raise my kids. But still.

Teachers, I get soooo tired of hearing you complain about parents. One minute you are whining that you get so many parent emails and the next minute you are claiming parents are just not involved and don't care. I wonder if you could survive one day in the corporate world, dealing with emails from clients instead of parents. Maybe we need to have a Take A Teacher To Work day so that you can see what your students' parents do all day instead of fretting about whether or not they should email you regarding their kid's 4th grade math test.

When a student has an issue, you automatically blame the parents. you say he must get away with that at home. That's not usually the case. Whatever issue you are having is likely the same issue the parents are having at home. Let's work together instead of pointing fingers. We can't program our kids any better than you can. If we do say that we have not seen that behavior at home, we are not lying or claiming that you are lying. We are saying that we really had no idea and we are grateful that you brought it to our attention. A sudden change in behavior is cause for concern. Now let's work together to figure out why it's happening at school.

You also complain about parent teacher conferences and having to talk with each parent for 20 whole minutes twice a year! Did you not realize this would be a part of your job when you chose this career? In the corporate world, you would be spending a lot more time than that meeting with clients. Or how about being in the med field, talking with patients and families about serious health concerns? Please do us a favor and make the most of those 20 minutes. We made arrangements to be there. Parents take time off work and find babysitters so that they can speak with you. Don't just tell us the info we can get online and then try to push us out after 5 minutes.

And finally, it really makes me cringe every year around the holidays when teachers start the Just Buy Us Gift Cards campaign. you complain about all the candles, lotions, stationery, etc and you just want gift cards. Well, here's the thing. Most of us let our child pick out your gift. The point is for them to do something nice for you and show their appreciation. They get excited about this. Kids think it's boring to give gift cards and they think you will find it boring as well. It makes them feel good to see you unwrap a pretty candle. If you don't like it, donate or re-gift it. No other profession leaves work with a carload of gifts for a 2-3 week holiday break so just BE GRATEFUL for what you get. I realize you don't know what to do with all those candles, but guess what. I also have no idea what to do with the pipe cleaner cat a student made me for Christmas. But I love it anyway because it's thoughtful. I won't request that he give me a gift card instead next year.

One last thing, I get so tired of you guys gushing about how awesome you are. My fb feed is full of teachers posting about how amazing and hard-working teachers are. Please stop embarrassing yourselves by posting these self-congratulatory memes. I know you want to tell everyone how grueling and difficult your job is. Think about the people who read your posts - doctors, nurses, military. Lots of people do good and important work without pointing it out every day.

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.

Oh, good. Just what this board needs -- another teacher bashing thread. How novel! What a fresh perspective!

Idiot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with everything he said ! teachers are the whiniest people I ever come in contact with! They never have to drive in snow or ice , hardly rain for that matter , never have to worry if they’ll be home on Christmas or any other holiday or put in a request for a summer vacation because guess what , they’re already off ! Nurses don’t leave work until they are finished , yes they stay overtime all the time! But they don’t whine!! Nurses don’t get paid unless they punch the clock nor get paid for 30 min lunch break or have a planning hour ,don’t have sick days or personal days , or substitutes ! Who could substitute for a nurse! And look At the covid-19 crisis - Now most teachers are off 2&1/2 more months than they’re usual 3-4 including Christmas and spring break and getting they’re usual salary not even having to worry about not getting paid or how they’re going to pay their insurance and everything else that comes out of these people’s check that aren’t getting a check! Much less worry if they are even going to be alive at the end of their shift !And a teacher gets to retire at 30 years service when most nurses I know have to work 45-47 yrs! Teachers get medical insurance paid for after retirement if they just work something like 20 hours per year. Nurses don’t! They don’t think about all this when they whine! Plus if you look at they’re salary where I live, per hour they work they are making more than a nurse with the same years of experience. Do the math before you say you don’t get paid as much, which doesn’t matter , just don’t whine about it and then turn around and ask a nurse sitting beside you if she is having a nice summer😳That nurse will let you know when she finally gets her one week off that she had to request and bid for! It should be against the law for a teacher to ask that to anyone but another teacher!

This post has so many inaccuracies that I don’t even know where to begin.

I think that may be a troll post, but for the sake of entertainment let’s start with the claim that, “Teachers get medical insurance paid for after retirement if they just work something like 20 hours per year“. Here is what retired Fairfax teachers pay for healthcare in retirement for example:

https://www.fcps.edu/sites/default/files/media/pdf/Retiree%20Premiums_2020.pdf

It runs between $500-700/month for an individual, $1,100-1500/ month for two people.

Gasp! How dare we introduce facts? It will probably fall on deaf ears.

As I expected, so far crickets.

Still nothing.
00:50, where are you?

I’m confused. I support teachers but that is way less than others pay for insurance in retirement. I wish it was easier for everyone but suck it up buttercup seems to not apply for teachers like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with that long rant 100%. Teachers, you do not work harder than other professionals -- PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DO. We all work long grueling hours and don't have summers and every other holiday off. Your pay is fair for what you do. What you do isn't rocket science. I'm sure it does require A LOT of patience, and I don't doubt for one second you work after hours. But again, so do all other professions. Please get off your high horse of how special you are and how you "deserve" so much more pay. Stop your whining.

I love a lot of teachers. I know many! But STOP playing your violin. You chose this career. I am so sick of alllll the teachers I know whining CONSTANTLY. Pre-COVID and post! I don't see any other professional constantly whining about how deserving they are of more and everything else you're always crying about. Ugh.

And yet after dormant for over 4 months you had to revive this thread.

Ha I didn't realize this was a zombie thread. But honestly it makes it more interesting considering our current climate. With all the uproar about defunding the police, I am glad that public school teachers are FINALLY being seen for what they really are- the weakest link in a very dysfunctional system. We can't keep hiring the least capable among us to teach our children and expect quality outcomes.

The statement I want to address is that everyone works grueling hours or overtime or whatever. This is simply not true. I know lawyers who do not work grueling hours, feds who work EXACTLY 40 hours a week, not a minute more, engineers who don’t work overtime, admin assistants who don’t work grueling hours, etc. Please stop with the notion that everyone works 70 hours a week. It’s not true and it’s not something to brag about anyway.

[Anonymous]

I’m a former teacher, now lawyer, and everything OP said is spot on. And now teachers want to claim they aren’t “essential,” SMH.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with that long rant 100%. Teachers, you do not work harder than other professionals -- PLEASE STOP ACTING LIKE YOU DO. We all work long grueling hours and don't have summers and every other holiday off. Your pay is fair for what you do. What you do isn't rocket science. I'm sure it does require A LOT of patience, and I don't doubt for one second you work after hours. But again, so do all other professions. Please get off your high horse of how special you are and how you "deserve" so much more pay. Stop your whining.

I love a lot of teachers. I know many! But STOP playing your violin. You chose this career. I am so sick of alllll the teachers I know whining CONSTANTLY. Pre-COVID and post! I don't see any other professional constantly whining about how deserving they are of more and everything else you're always crying about. Ugh.

And yet after dormant for over 4 months you had to revive this thread.

Ha I didn't realize this was a zombie thread. But honestly it makes it more interesting considering our current climate. With all the uproar about defunding the police, I am glad that public school teachers are FINALLY being seen for what they really are- the weakest link in a very dysfunctional system. We can't keep hiring the least capable among us to teach our children and expect quality outcomes.

The statement I want to address is that everyone works grueling hours or overtime or whatever. This is simply not true. I know lawyers who do not work grueling hours, feds who work EXACTLY 40 hours a week, not a minute more, engineers who don’t work overtime, admin assistants who don’t work grueling hours, etc. Please stop with the notion that everyone works 70 hours a week. It’s not true and it’s not something to brag about anyway.

There is a massive gap between grueling hours and whatever you'd call the barely part time gig teachers have. Besides, it's not how long they work, it's the quality of work they perform. Be honest- think about your friends from HS that went into teaching- they were never the sharpest tools in the shed. It's the same now as adults- I have friends that are teachers, but honestly they aren't very motivated/disciplined/intelligent people.

We need to accept that, and then address how to correct the problem. We NEED to make education more competitive and lucrative. Maybe distance learning will allow more qualified people to teach a larger number of students, and therefore be compensated at a higher rate. I definitely believe it is time for vouchers. Idk. But there has to be a solution. Allowing the mediocre B- chick who went into teaching because "she loves kids and wants summers off" isn't working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a former teacher, now lawyer, and everything OP said is spot on. And now teachers want to claim they aren’t “essential,” SMH.

The shocking thing is, the pandemic has shown how non-essential they truly are. While they should be among the absolute most essential, public school teachers have been replaced by working parents juggling their own jobs and doing the work of a public school teacher as a side gig. Time to refund our taxes lol- we definitely aren't getting our money's worth and should be allowed to vote with our dollars.

[Anonymous]

Hey Paraeducator- just go to college, do your practicums, take the licensing test, get the job and then come back.

You are just pissed at yourself. And you are a whiner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hey Paraeducator- just go to college, do your practicums, take the licensing test, get the job and then come back.

You are just pissed at yourself. And you are a whiner.

This is definitely a public school teacher response. It is poorly written, non-responsive, and devolves into personal attacks. These are not the hallmarks of someone who should be teaching others.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't whine if I was a teacher moving to Barbados for DL this year: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/travel/remote-worker-visa.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a former teacher, now lawyer, and everything OP said is spot on. And now teachers want to claim they aren’t “essential,” SMH.

How can people say they want to fire all teachers and take the tax money to pay for pods, yet claim teachers are essential? No one says let’s fire all the firefighters and use the tax money to buy fire extinguishers. Or let’s fire the meat inspectors and just use the tax money to pay for Imodium.

[Anonymous]

Hey OP--- Why don't you grab a dictionary and look up the word irony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't whine if I was a teacher moving to Barbados for DL this year: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/19/travel/remote-worker-visa.html

This is amazing. I bet the check out lady at Giant would love to move to Barbados and be paid her full salary to check people out over zoom. But carry on, teachers, you have it so rough.