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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]BFF teaches HS private in the DC area (not at a big 3).  She has a Phd in her subject and makes $80k.  She gets about  50% tuition assistance for her son.

She laments about benefits but likes the ability to teach in a more collegiate manner than having to teach to specific standards.[/quote]

Exactly. Private school teachers can TEACH without the bureaucracy, testing requirements, and behavior problems that often plague public schools.[/quote]

Yeah.  But now, at 39, I'm starting to regret the romantic idealism that shaped my early choices in schools.  I've had great students and worked in lovely settings, but I am starting to worry about what my future will look like.  I'll have good memories of my students and my job, but that isn't much to live on when I'm old.

I know that my students' wealthy parents realize how little I earn, but they value my dedication to their children and my job .  However, I've been teaching long enough to have heard multiple high school students (and parents) speak disparagingly about my profession; I know the same parents who pay tuition so their children can be in the classrooms of poor, "dedicated" teachers who love teaching would never, ever encourage their children to become teachers.  I didn't realize this when I was younger.

I know, I know.  This might mean it is time to reconsider my professional trajectory and choices.  [/quote]

At my child's school, the classes range from 8-16 kids per class in HIGH SCHOOL.  A few classes had a handful of kids in them.  THAT is what the parents pay for.  Extremely low teacher to student ratio.  And the teachers to teach to them without standardized testing and freedom to bring in their passions and preferred learning style to the classroom.  They get to take sabbaticals, get their tuition partially paid for furthering education, have more time to do research, write in teaching journals, and go on FREE national and international trips with students if they prefer.

If you prefer better pay, of course it is better to go to a massive school district.  You will then have 30 kids per class and at least 1/3 of them won't give two craps about what you are teaching or even show up to your class.  You will also spend countless hours a week grading and planning for the 100+ more kids you teach each week.  Not to mention more mindless training/meetings, forcing kids to take standardized testing, being judged on trying to get Spanish speaking only kids to pass your classes,  etc...

You are comparing apples to oranges here....

I am not saying ALL teachers do not deserve more.  They do.  But there is a reason many teachers pick private schools over public.  I am a nurse and I could make a lot more money working night shifts with 15 patients at a major DC hospital.  But I chose a massive pay cut to be an outpatient infusion nurse.  Less stress, better hours, more positive working condition.  Not everyone picks the highest paycheck for their career.  [/quote]

I teach in a massive school district, and do not have 30 kids in my class. Nor do I have a lot of experience with kids who don’t give a crap about what I am teaching, and they do show up to my class. I am the PP used to teach a Big Three, so I  have experience in both systems.  It is true that the bureaucracy could drive you crazy. But it is also true that the private school parents could drive you crazy.  And all parents care about their kids’ education. That is true without exception in my  28 years of experience.

In any case, if you have a family, then someone has to have a job to support that family, and that job has to provide good pay and benefits including health insurance and retirement.  If your employer won’t provide that, then your spouse’s employers has to. It’s one or the other.    Writing in journals and taking “free” international trips as a chaperone won’t do anything for you in retirement. [/quote]

I have 4 kids. 3 in public. 1 in private

Senior private: highest class this year is 15 kids
8th public: last year her smallest class was 28.  Most were 30-31
4th public: 29 kids homeroom/32 kids compacted math 
K public:  27 kids, no aide.

Sorry, but just because you have never had 30 doesn’t mean others don’t.  It is a terrible system. [/quote]

Reasonable people can disagree on whether or not it is a "terrible system," but that doesn't speak to the point I made above, i.e., that small class sizes, "free" trips (during which you work as a chaperone), and writing in journals doesn't pay the bills or provide retirement security.[/quote]

Yeah, and I think it is mainly parents who choose private who like to insinuate that the teachers at their kids' schools, who are terribly underpaid, are somehow better because they choose small class sizes, free travel (by the way, traveling with a group of teenagers is NOT the same as a vacation: I am exhausted after one of those trips, and on the trip, am always on duty and up late), etc, etc.  But notice that none of those parents are hoping their own children will become teachers at privates (or anywhere else).  They speak about private school teachers in the same tones my grandma used to talk about her sister who became a nun: my grandma thought her sister was practically a saint, but would never, ever have become a nun herself, or wanted her granddaughters to do so.

Actually, apparently elderly nuns are assured of having care and support.  Elderly private school teachers don't have that security.  [/quote]

And of course private school parents HAVE to assure themselves of the selfless devotion of the work-for-peanuts private school teachers (because the alternative is that many private school teachers just aren't employable by public, lack experience, and just might not be better in the classroom).[/quote]

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