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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My kid’s teachers make more money than I do and get better benefits. I very much appreciate them, am always polite, do not try to take their time or make their lives harder. But this idea that I somehow inadequately appreciate teachers is weird to me. Or the idea that I owe them lots of gift cards or gifts. I always make a point of sending thank you cards and, if it is in budget, a target gift card. Beyond that I really don’t think anything else should be expected of me as a parent.

Just how appreciative do I need to be? I am honestly not that appreciated in my job.[/quote]+10[/quote]

Teacher here, who posted above about AP workloads. I don’t need appreciation. I don’t expect it at holidays or at the end of the year. I do appreciate thank you letters when I write college recommendations, but I know not to expect them since they come about 2-5% of the time.

I’d be happy if I can just get some respect. That might look like not [b]calling my job “easy” and telling me to appreciate my summers off.[/b] Those 4-5 weeks aren’t much of a trade-off for the grueling 60-70 hour weeks throughout the year. [/quote]

Nobody does that.  No one.[/quote]

oh please-they do!!![/quote]

But dii ok you get that the jerks who say teachers jobs are easy or “enjoy your summers off” also put other people down for their jobs. I work in marketing, I make 85k a year, I work long hours for some people who are very full of themselves (lawyers). They all think my job is super easy and that anyone can do it, in part because they don’t understand that like 70% of my job is trying to make them happy which is impossible. I’ve heard any manner of snide comments from not just people I meet but people I actually work with about how my job is easy or is just sitting around resizing photos or something. I also do several client retreats a year and people act like this is done kind of relaxing vacation for me (“enjoy your vacation”) because they don’t understand that while the lawyers are out to dinner with clients I’m sitting in my hotel room until 1am collating handouts and finalizing the power point the partners will claim credit for in the morning. And while I’m on these “trips” my DH is pulling double duty at home and I miss my kids.

Is my job as important or necessary as a teacher’s? No, I realize that. But I work very hard, am not particularly well compensated, get treated not great by a bunch of people who make WAY more than me (and more even than the go consultants who do make dumb curriculum decisions that impact teachers) and regularly feel pretty underappreciated.

But no one ever asks “Why does no one acknowledge how overworked marketing professionals are?” And I wouldn’t ask that either, it’s silly. I chose this dumb profession and this dumb job, and while I fantasize about doing something else, the money isn’t horrible for someone with a BA and I get a good employee match on my 401k.

Work is work. Teachers are not uniquely beleaguered and they are NOT underappreciated. I appreciate my kids teachers everyday. Of course there are people who are going to put it down— the world is full of arrogant jerks who don’t think anyone making less than 500k/yr (and especially anyone in a female-dominated profession) is worthwhile. Welcome to the club.[/quote]

There is a big difference between you and a teacher -  you can move up, get more responsibility, get more prestige.  Teachers can't - you live at the bottom of the barrel in the educational system, and it never gets any better no matter how hard you work or how good you get.  I'm not suggesting teachers need more appreciation or even more money - they don't, actually.  What they need is for people to recognize that the problem with the teacher shortage is not that we need we need better working conditions.  We need respect from administration, we need some voice in the system.   I found my experience as a teacher demeaning and generally bad for my self-esteem.  I left for a job with one half the pay and was much happier.[/quote]

Teachers can become principals, administrators, etc.  they are definitely not stuck.[/quote]

No, this is a misconception.  First, administrator and principal is the same thing, but it's not a promotion from teaching.  One has to get a whole new graduate degree.  After getting the degree, a teacher can apply for Assistant Principal positions. If they get one, then they have to spend at least 5 years as AP before applying for a principal job.  A lot of people never make it to principal.  It's definitely not about being a good teacher, that's for sure, and not something you can get moved up to just by working hard and being good at your job.[/quote]

Becoming an administrator also means you are no longer a teacher. Many teachers don’t WANT to be administrators. We want to remain in the classroom doing the work we came into this profession to do.

There is no way to be promoted within teaching. You can only be promoted OUT of teaching. Truthfully, most of my administrators were lackluster teachers. (I’ve been around long enough to remember.) There’s where the demeaning part comes in. I am evaluated by people who didn’t do the job as well as I do it. I have to follow the direction of people with less training and experience as I have.

I’m sure this is true in other professions, but  I argue this is one of the biggest problems with education. [/quote]

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