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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's interesting teacher threads are always filled with teachers claiming they work 60+ hours a week, but there's always a delay in grading, sending communication, etc. 🤔[/quote]

You have no idea how much BS teachers have to deal with.  Learning support meetings. Team meetings. Grade level meetings. Department meetings. Curriculum change meetings. Faculty professional development. If you're at a private school, teachers often have to run clubs, attend games and faculty events, and coach.[/quote]

But that’s a lot of jobs even if the packaging is different. I work in a client facing job, and I have plenty of admin work, projects I am “voluntold” to work on, etc. what makes teachers so different or special?[/quote]

There’s zero room for promotion or pay raises in teaching. Presumably many people do all the extra voluntold BS in their careers to impress higher ups and potentially get a bonus at the end of year for meeting sales targets or hitting some metric, or add it to their resume for the next career move. There is no “up” in teaching unless you want to completely remove yourself from the classroom and go into administration (arguably a completely different field). Roles like “team lead” or “department chair” or “club lead” are just more work with no extra time/money/privileges that come with the title. It’s just “teach all your same classes AND find time to plan a meeting and organize logistics for a team of adults too”.

If there was no such thing as a raise or a bonus or a promotion for good performance, would you still work as hard at all the extras in your job? I don’t think many people would. It’s impressive so many teachers do. There is zero external motivation, it’s all internal.[/quote]

I think your impression of private sector is a bit off, many companies level out quickly. I work for a F500 and people are told to do extra for no extra pay or are in fear of losing their job and there are no step increases guaranteed like in teaching. Client service is exactly the same. More work where you are paid a set salary and told to figure it out. I'm not saying teaching is not hard or that the world hasn't changed.... but what I am saying is that it's really no different than any other job? We adapt or we decide we don't want to do it anymore and move on.[/quote]

I’ve worked in a corporate environment and as a teacher. (I’m a career changer.) They aren’t remotely the same.

That doesn’t take anything away from you. You can still have a demanding job with a lot of frustrations and pressures.

But teaching IS unique in some ways. We deal with frustrating adults (incompetent administrators and angry parents), but mostly we deal with children. In my case, I’m responsible for 160 teenagers a day and it is an overstimulating attack on my senses. I have 4-5 people demanding my attention literally every single minute, and I often have to wait 2 hours before I can actually make it to a bathroom stall for 1.5 minutes to decompress. I miss lunch three days a week (at least) because somebody needs me to tutor, or cover a class, or attend a meeting.

I would give up my entire summer in exchange for a locking door and 30 minutes a day of quiet, uninterrupted work time. I’m serious.

And again: this doesn’t take away from your hard job and the pressures you experience. I respect you have a lot on your plate. But so do I, and having been in both environments I can tell you the stress is different… perhaps not MORE, but different. [/quote]

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