Why does no one acknowledge how overworked teachers are?

[Anonymous]

People who hate children and don't understand what they are like shouldn't be teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:As a teacher it has become clear to me the SEL is basically just trying to teach kids how behave in public and problem solve. These were skills kids were supposed to learn from parents but it just seems like a significant number of parents have dropped the ball. School is treated as daycare by a lot of the same parents who don’t want to deal with their own kids.

I always wondered what the new obsession with SEL is about. This explains it though. Parents just aren’t parenting anymore. How sad.

My kid is in an amazing SEL school, and the result is fantastic for teachers, students, parents and administration. Removes so much dysfunction

As would parents actually parenting... but let's keep dumping more on the teachers, seems to be working out well

It’s easier to teach SEL to 20 kids than to deal with 20 families and all their dysfunction, especially if the teacher is also dysfunctional. Much easier

Well, I do think I'm a pretty decent parent, but my kids benefited tremendously from SEL. My kids are just more likely to accept advice and guidance without a struggle from teachers, so when it was time for the whole class to sit down and learn belly breathing, they learned it in kindergarten and now, at ages 14 and 11, they still do it. It's not just for dysfunctional families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who hate children and don't understand what they are like shouldn't be teaching.

I do agree but at the same time I'd rather have a teacher who hates children in a classroom with well-behaved kids than a teacher who loves children in a classroom with kids who are off the wall. My son's teacher is fine but the students are not and it's extremely stressful for him.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If you think teaching is easy be a sub for one day in public American schools and you will be eaten alive as kids treat you like Jackie Robinson on his first game ever in MLB throwing trash and cussing you out as you lose your voice trying to talk over them. Then your principal comes in and berates you for being terrible at your job and being stupid for not being able to control students. It's horrible horrible horrible. The helplessness and zero life control give teachers pstd.

My job has meetings in the middle of the night occasionally. I survived.

Given the choice, I’ll take middle-of-the-night meetings any day over teaching. You also mention they happen “occasionally,” whereas the stress/panic of teaching happens all day, every day.

Except you’re not teaching all day, every day during the year, are you? Look, I get it, teaching is hard and maybe you don’t like your career decision. That’s totally ok. But wild exaggerations like that don’t help. We all know your get massive amounts of time off. You’re up at night in the middle of July or on Christmas Eve with night terrors about something that happened at work that day? That actually is some people’s reality. So let’s at least try to have some perspective.

This is why DCUM is so toxic. Guess what? I go to therapy because of teaching. I have been for years. This job can be so abusive and can break the toughest of people. Also: I am always working. ALWAYS. If I’m not at work, I’m at home prepping for work. That’s on weekends. That’s over the summer.

You can tell me to gain perspective, and I’m going to ask the same of you. There’s a reason DCUM is filled with threads like this one. It’s because teaching is HARD, and it’s only those who haven’t tried it who think otherwise.

I am a career changer. I came from a tough corporate job. It was a breeze compared to what I do now.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in school from 8-5. They get home at 5:30, then go to bed at 8. They spend far more hours in school than at home. We put them in private so that they could develop into good, well-rounded people in spite of not a lot of time with parents and almost no friend-time with parents. They’re doing great. I do think public school kids have parents who have to work just as long hours. Those kids would benefit from stronger all-around curriculums too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this video is an important reminder for parents and administrators

https://fb.watch/hcxdi1BUVj/?mibextid=0LFGlp

I think most of us would practically worship a teacher like this woman. It’s the SB and administrators tearing good teachers down and forcing them out of our classrooms.

[Anonymous]

This generation of teachers is the most under-worked and over-entitled ever.

In the 1970s my mother would carry bags of books home with her every single night and sit up grading her HS kids French homework, putting in corrections and encouragement and grades. Every single night.

Homework just doesn't exist on that level any more. You'r'e lucky if the teacher checks its been done, but they don't engage with it at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People who hate children and don't understand what they are like shouldn't be teaching.

I agree, but I think there would be far fewer teachers available if everyone stuck to that. Sometimes years of teaching make people hate kids. Depends on the school system and the quality of students and parents. Public schools have much more job protection via the unions, but the quality of students is so variable...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This generation of teachers is the most under-worked and over-entitled ever.

In the 1970s my mother would carry bags of books home with her every single night and sit up grading her HS kids French homework, putting in corrections and encouragement and grades. Every single night.

Homework just doesn't exist on that level any more. You'r'e lucky if the teacher checks its been done, but they don't engage with it at all.

I do this. Every single night. I work every Saturday. Every Sunday. I am comfortable estimating I work 70 hours at least one week a month and never under 60. My coworkers are quitting because of the workload and I’m seriously considering it.

I’m underworked and over-entitled?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This generation of teachers is the most under-worked and over-entitled ever.

In the 1970s my mother would carry bags of books home with her every single night and sit up grading her HS kids French homework, putting in corrections and encouragement and grades. Every single night.

Homework just doesn't exist on that level any more. You'r'e lucky if the teacher checks its been done, but they don't engage with it at all.

I do this. Every single night. I work every Saturday. Every Sunday. I am comfortable estimating I work 70 hours at least one week a month and never under 60. My coworkers are quitting because of the workload and I’m seriously considering it.

I’m underworked and over-entitled?

Most teachers are not grading. It’s auto grade on the computer and if teachers review it it’s a grade and no comments.

[Anonymous]

People don’t acknowledge how overworked teachers are because they don’t acknowledge how overworked everyone is. It’s not unique to teachers. I think teachers actually get slightly more recognition for their hard work than other jobs. Maybe not as much as they deserve, but I mean, who outside of high paid professionals like doctors and lawyers gets recognized as much as they should. Do trash collectors get recognized enough? We’d all be totally screwed without them, their jobs are hard labor and very few people want to do it, and when is the last you took a moment to appreciate it? Like never.

I think teachers on DCUM see the people posting about their huge incomes and fancy vacations and vacation homes and they think “look at these parents with everything who don’t appreciate how hard I work?” But most parents of public school kids work, and most of us work in jobs where we are underappreciated and overworked. So it’s just weird to phrase this as though teachers are unique in this regard. The very people you are asking to recognize your hard work are probably rarely recognized for their hard work. That’s the culture we live in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This generation of teachers is the most under-worked and over-entitled ever.

In the 1970s my mother would carry bags of books home with her every single night and sit up grading her HS kids French homework, putting in corrections and encouragement and grades. Every single night.

Homework just doesn't exist on that level any more. You'r'e lucky if the teacher checks its been done, but they don't engage with it at all.

I do this. Every single night. I work every Saturday. Every Sunday. I am comfortable estimating I work 70 hours at least one week a month and never under 60. My coworkers are quitting because of the workload and I’m seriously considering it.

I’m underworked and over-entitled?

Most teachers are not grading. It’s auto grade on the computer and if teachers review it it’s a grade and no comments.

Not in ES. (I'm in FCPS.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don’t acknowledge how overworked teachers are because they don’t acknowledge how overworked everyone is. It’s not unique to teachers. I think teachers actually get slightly more recognition for their hard work than other jobs. Maybe not as much as they deserve, but I mean, who outside of high paid professionals like doctors and lawyers gets recognized as much as they should. Do trash collectors get recognized enough? We’d all be totally screwed without them, their jobs are hard labor and very few people want to do it, and when is the last you took a moment to appreciate it? Like never.

I think teachers on DCUM see the people posting about their huge incomes and fancy vacations and vacation homes and they think “look at these parents with everything who don’t appreciate how hard I work?” But most parents of public school kids work, and most of us work in jobs where we are underappreciated and overworked. So it’s just weird to phrase this as though teachers are unique in this regard. The very people you are asking to recognize your hard work are probably rarely recognized for their hard work. That’s the culture we live in.

Major +1. It’s unclear why teachers think they are at all unique or special in this. Plus, they get more time off than pretty much any other job…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don’t acknowledge how overworked teachers are because they don’t acknowledge how overworked everyone is. It’s not unique to teachers. I think teachers actually get slightly more recognition for their hard work than other jobs. Maybe not as much as they deserve, but I mean, who outside of high paid professionals like doctors and lawyers gets recognized as much as they should. Do trash collectors get recognized enough? We’d all be totally screwed without them, their jobs are hard labor and very few people want to do it, and when is the last you took a moment to appreciate it? Like never.

I think teachers on DCUM see the people posting about their huge incomes and fancy vacations and vacation homes and they think “look at these parents with everything who don’t appreciate how hard I work?” But most parents of public school kids work, and most of us work in jobs where we are underappreciated and overworked. So it’s just weird to phrase this as though teachers are unique in this regard. The very people you are asking to recognize your hard work are probably rarely recognized for their hard work. That’s the culture we live in.

Some of us don’t have big fancy homes, take vacations or have two homes. And, there are many similar jobs paid less that put people in even riskier situations and they are also thankless jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People don’t acknowledge how overworked teachers are because they don’t acknowledge how overworked everyone is. It’s not unique to teachers. I think teachers actually get slightly more recognition for their hard work than other jobs. Maybe not as much as they deserve, but I mean, who outside of high paid professionals like doctors and lawyers gets recognized as much as they should. Do trash collectors get recognized enough? We’d all be totally screwed without them, their jobs are hard labor and very few people want to do it, and when is the last you took a moment to appreciate it? Like never.

I think teachers on DCUM see the people posting about their huge incomes and fancy vacations and vacation homes and they think “look at these parents with everything who don’t appreciate how hard I work?” But most parents of public school kids work, and most of us work in jobs where we are underappreciated and overworked. So it’s just weird to phrase this as though teachers are unique in this regard. The very people you are asking to recognize your hard work are probably rarely recognized for their hard work. That’s the culture we live in.

If everything’s changed such that everyone is working this hard, there’s a good chance a large number of kids are being emotionally neglected at school. Then come home to quickly eat, do work and bed. That would explain the increased need for SEL. Everyone from the trash collector’s kid to the teacher’s kid. This is why maybe European children are different. When adults live in a more reasonable world, they can nurture the children better.