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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Too many pages to read but if you want a perspective from a veteran teacher you can take this at face value.

You want to know why teachers are resentful?
Because for years we’ve watched people who [b]couldn’t survive a single chaotic Monday[/b] in a classroom act like they’re qualified to question our competence, our motives, and our professionalism.

Teachers aren’t resentful—they’re [/b]fed up[b] with a culture that demands educators be superheroes while treating them like disposable background characters.

Let’s cut through the nonsense; Teachers hold together a system that is collapsing under political meddling, chronic underfunding, and the refusal of society to take responsibility for the very problems it dumps at our door. And then people have the gall to ask why we’re not beaming with gratitude.

Here’s why teachers are resentful:

A) Because every time we raise concerns, some armchair critic who hasn’t opened a textbook since high school thinks they know better.
B) Because we’re expected to fix educational inequality, childhood trauma, behavioral crises, family instability, and social dysfunction—but God forbid we mention that these things even exist.
C) Because the people quickest to judge are the ones who do absolutely nothing to help.
D) Because somehow teachers are simultaneously “glorified babysitters” *and* the reason society is falling apart—depending on which excuse is more convenient that day.
E) Because our expertise is dismissed by people who couldn’t explain a fraction of the work we do, but sure know how to complain about it.

If teachers sound resentful, it’s because they’re tired of being blamed for a system they didn’t design, under conditions no reasonable adult would tolerate, while listening to the loudest critics contribute nothing but noise.

And let’s be brutally honest:
If more people understood even a tiny fraction of what teachers actually endure, they wouldn’t be asking why teachers are resentful—they’d be asking how teachers haven’t burned the whole system to the ground out of sheer exhaustion.

So yes, teachers are resentful.
Not because they’re ungrateful or dramatic, but because[b] they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure[/b].

Does this sound harsh? It’s because the truth is.[/quote]

You’re resentful because you believe this.   Teaching is hard and demanding. It is not the hardest or most demanding work. Constantly telling yourself this is why you feel like such a victim.

— close family member of an award winning teacher who is candid about the struggles teachers have but thinks this kind of talk is self indulgent b*llshit especially after 2020.[/quote]

I haven’t had a lunch break for 15 years. I’m not saying a working lunch break.  I am saying because of my special population, I am with the kids all day long (minus a 20 minute special).

[/quote]

And so you think this means you have a harder job than others who only get a 20 minute (in their case, unpaid) lunchbreak?

I get that teachers have hard jobs but this idea that no one could possibly have it as hard as you is so flawed. Go work at an amazon packing warehouse in November. Be a healthcare aide. Be the resident coordinator in a group home. Work in the VA mental healthcare system. And then count your blessings before you complain that you only get a 20 minute break.[/quote]

I’m a little tired of the hyperbole. It’s exhausting.

Teachers aren’t saying they have it HARDER. They are saying they have it HARD.

This is absurd. Stop trying to silence teachers who, incidentally, are more aware of the conditions of their jobs than you are.

When a teacher says they have it hard, try commiserating. Stop trying to belittle what we experience. Guess what? You don’t actually know what we experience.

Saying we have it hard doesn’t mean that you can’t have it hard, also. It’s not a dang competition. [/quote]

Here’s the exact quote I’m responding to:

“because they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If teachers truly believe this, that no other profession on earth endures what they do, then they will feel victimized and resentful . They will also be wrong. By any measure, medical professionals had it harder from 2020 through 2023 thab teachers did. If they can’t even have that much self-awareness, how are they ever going to gain per perspective?
[/quote]

Well, how about this:

Have those medical professionals had their yearly appreciation donut punitively taken away in front of their colleagues? Have they had to sit on the floor to hear a towering “expert” tell them how posted objectives will make them better teachers? Have they had meetings start with “one-two-three-eyes on me?” (The correct response is “one-two-eyes on you!”) Have they been held against a wall by a patient, only be told by their boss that they asked for it because they hadn’t formed proper relationships?

See, here’s the thing: I doubt doctors endure that. No doubt they endure other hardships, just as hard and even harder, but these ones? The ones that mock, belittle, infantize, and devalue? No, I doubt they do.

I have the self-awareness to know that there are aspects of teaching other professionals don’t experience. That doesn’t mean it’s HARDER, but let’s be honest with ourselves here. Many people aren’t putting up with the conditions above, evidenced by the teachers currently fleeing the profession.

And if a doctor were to tell me their hardships, I’m not going to say, “well, I have it much harder.” I’m going to say, “that stinks. I’m sorry to hear that.” But that’s because I respect them and don’t feel this ingrained need to put them in their place (like we do so often to teachers). [/quote]

Something doesn’t have to be the same to be worse.

Nurses are frequently are routinely attacked by patients and often gaslighted by their leadership, if you didn’t know that, shame on you, here is a resource to educate yourself:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1541461224003252

Doctors and nurses literally risked their lives while teachers stayed at home.
I’m sorry someone took a donut away from you. I’m sure that was upsetting.

If you persist in believing no one has ever had it as bad as you, and that you’ve “spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.” then believe that. But you’re wrong, and people will continue to tell you that.

[/quote]

I LITERALLY wrote that medical professionals can have it harder. But you decided to skip over that just so you can cut a teacher down. Feel better?

Oh, and I worked in person during Covid. I caught it twice, bringing it home each time to a compromised family member. I also had no planning periods for months because I had to cover my colleagues as they got sick. I had to deal with screaming parents about policies I didn’t create. I had to do double work, teaching during the day and Zooming at night with sick students.

And OF COURSE nurses are attacked. But so are teachers. One matters to you; the other does not. Clearly.

One of us is being respectful and balanced. One of us is being ignorant and rude. I’ll leave you to figure out which is which. [/quote]

The ignorance is the teacher who said “they’ve spent years being ground down by expectations no other profession on earth would endure.”

If that’s you, work harder to gain perspective. If you acknowledge plenty of other professionals have worse conditions, then there’s no need to try to win the suffering olympics because you once had a donut taken away.[/quote]

That wasn’t me. There are plenty of people posting on this site. But I will admit that I have no problem with teachers talking about the challenges of the profession, especially on a thread LITERALLY ABOUT TEACHERS’ STRUGGLES.

Regarding the donut: that was me. I suppose it isn’t a big deal to you, but being disciplined publicly is a big deal to me. (Want to know what got me written up that day? I was helping a student with a crisis in the parking lot and signed in late. I was too busy calling for medical aid to make it to admin’s “teacher appreciation” event. That write-up still stands in my file.)

Regarding the suffering Olympics: I’ve never participated. I’ve repeatedly given respect to other professions. Apparently to you, I haven’t given enough. Unless I concede that my job is easy? Is that what it will take for YOU to end the Olympics? [/quote]

No one is saying teachers can’t say how hard they feel they have it. If they make public claims that they have it worse than anyone else, people will correct that misperception— including other teachers.

But constantly saying, or believing, you have unconscionably dire working conditions will certainly create the culture of resentment the OP has observed.[/quote]

This is a thread about teachers and their working conditions. Teachers are the experts when it comes to conversations about their working conditions. That’s simple fact.

Teachers CAN have dire working conditions. That doesn’t take away from your dire working conditions. Both can be true.

If you want to start a thread about yours, then go ahead. I’ll visit and be respectful. I won’t demean you or tell you that your lived experiences are wrong. I’ll accept you know more about your job than I do.

Please provide the same respect here, on a thread about teachers.

[/quote]

This is a thread about why teachers are resentful. It seems to me that people like you who tell teachers, especially young teachers, that they have it so rough, that
they are enduring things no one else could imagine, is why they’re so resentful. They lack perspective.

You constantly refusing to see that people who genuinely risk their lives have it harder than someone who only gets a 20 minute lunchbreak, or that sitting through inane presentations is a basic expectation of most professions, is a great example of the kind of victim complex that leads to resentment.[/quote]

I’m not a teacher and not PP but you seem really oddly obsessed about something that happened 3-4 years ago. Yes it SUCKED to be in healthcare over Covid and was a very dangerous job. Is that happening still? Is it a CURRENT problem we need to solve like how broken working conditions are for teachers? [/quote]

Yes quite a lot of healthcare working conditions are still incredibly broken and often dangerous. Look at the article about how many nurses were attacked by patients last year.

The reason I think COVID has a role in the resentment question is because teachers spent 2-3 years at home, becoming accustomed to the idea that they were entitled to better/safer conditions than anyone else. So now they think “worst conditions ever!” when they experience workplaces that are about the same as everyone else. [/quote]

It was as safe as 90% of other white collar workers. I could look out my window and see my Silver Spring neighbors at home during the workday. Do you expect me to believe they were all teachers? [/quote]

Perhaps that’s the real problem— teaching isn’t a “white collar” job, and that is who you’re comparing yourself with.  If you think your working conditions should be the same as someone in a law firm, yes you will be dissatisfied with a public school.

However if you compared yourself with nurses and social workers and other service professionals you would find your working conditions were about average now and much better than most then.[/quote]

Can I get nurses’ pay and hours? I have several friends and relatives who are nurses. They take home far more pay and work fewer hours. If they have to work outside of their scheduled duty, they get fantastic overtime pay. [/quote]

Absolutely you can— plenty of nursing courses exist in local colleges. The ones with similar entry-level degrees as teaching don’t being home as much, but just like teaching the more degrees you have the more you’re paid.

I don’t know if you’ll like their hours as much when you realize they work year round, but enjoy your new profession!![/quote]

DP. My neighbor (who is a nurse) works 3 days a week, 12 hour shifts. That’s 156 days a year, less than teachers.

What’s wrong with those hours? [/quote]

Those hours will include weekends, holidays, summers, and not include early dismissals or “professional development” days. Early on, before seniority, you can expect to work every Christmas and every Thanksgiving.

Also, at. 12 hour shifts vs 8 hour shifts, the number of days is higher— 234. Not a lot of teachers signing up for that many workdays.
[/quote]

But teachers do work 12 hour days, often 5 days a week. They also work weekends. They simply don’t get overtime pay for all the grading and planning they do.

I’ll give you that nurses work inconvenient days like holidays. That’s an excellent point. But hour for hour? It doesn’t sound bad, and I love the idea of not bringing work home.

[/quote]

Then by all means enjoy your new profession. They are hiring! [/quote]

Well, I’d have to leave a profession that is also bleeding people and I happen to be pretty good at what I do. I’m probably one of the few teachers I know who isn’t looking to jump right now.

But my hours aren’t great. I would love better hours.[/quote]

What is your district? The DCUM near-in districts don’t have a meaningful shortage.[/quote]

Some of the recent hires are not so great at one local high school, to put it nicely. They may have been emergency fill ins but why are they still allowed to stick around? Anyone else's high school like this too?[/quote]

This isn’t the same as PP’s constant assertion there’s a shortage. Theres not in the DC metro area, and unlikely to be one given the job market.[/quote]

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