Your post is stupid and even more so behave you posted it in the private forum. None of what you mentioned is true; decent pay, fulfilling, paid 3 month vacation. You are stirring the pot.

Because they think they deserve a lot more money and respect than the job actually calls for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

I’m the teacher PP.

We have lost our way. 20 years ago, my job was to teach. I had clear lessons, clear expectations, and time to provide clear feedback. I had fewer students and more planning time.

Now I have larger classes and more of them. I am no longer supposed to teach. We aren’t supposed to be “the sage on the stage”; in fact, we are marked down in our evaluations if we are caught doing that. We are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” as students learn cooperatively through group work and gallery walks. I am now a guide, a counselor, a social worker, a nurse, an entertainer, a mentor, and a data collector. Teacher? That’s just one of many hats now and I don’t think it’s considered the most important.

And this new version of teaching isn’t benefiting the students. And those of us who have been in the profession a long time know it.

+1

Add to this the lack of discipline and accountability due to lax and overindulgent parenting, and administrations more interested in the shiny new thing they can market rather than the daily work of education, teaching is not what it should be.

Absolutely. And administration has grown. Each new admin comes up with some sort of initiative which leads to more work for teachers, and often the work leads nowhere useful. It simply takes us away from what we should be doing: teaching.

Well, they have to justify the big salary somehow, and since many don't actually interface much with kids, they have to pretend like they're bringing novel ideas and expertise.

Or worse. They try to run the school as any other corporation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

I’m the teacher PP.

We have lost our way. 20 years ago, my job was to teach. I had clear lessons, clear expectations, and time to provide clear feedback. I had fewer students and more planning time.

Now I have larger classes and more of them. I am no longer supposed to teach. We aren’t supposed to be “the sage on the stage”; in fact, we are marked down in our evaluations if we are caught doing that. We are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” as students learn cooperatively through group work and gallery walks. I am now a guide, a counselor, a social worker, a nurse, an entertainer, a mentor, and a data collector. Teacher? That’s just one of many hats now and I don’t think it’s considered the most important.

And this new version of teaching isn’t benefiting the students. And those of us who have been in the profession a long time know it.

I feel you. As a college professor, i feel exhausted all the time. Non stop preparing. Students always complain about grading.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

I’m the teacher PP.

We have lost our way. 20 years ago, my job was to teach. I had clear lessons, clear expectations, and time to provide clear feedback. I had fewer students and more planning time.

Now I have larger classes and more of them. I am no longer supposed to teach. We aren’t supposed to be “the sage on the stage”; in fact, we are marked down in our evaluations if we are caught doing that. We are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” as students learn cooperatively through group work and gallery walks. I am now a guide, a counselor, a social worker, a nurse, an entertainer, a mentor, and a data collector. Teacher? That’s just one of many hats now and I don’t think it’s considered the most important.

And this new version of teaching isn’t benefiting the students. And those of us who have been in the profession a long time know it.

+1

Add to this the lack of discipline and accountability due to lax and overindulgent parenting, and administrations more interested in the shiny new thing they can market rather than the daily work of education, teaching is not what it should be.

Absolutely. And administration has grown. Each new admin comes up with some sort of initiative which leads to more work for teachers, and often the work leads nowhere useful. It simply takes us away from what we should be doing: teaching.

No textbooks. Too much standardized testing. No real disciplinary options so kids don’t have to behave. Crowded classrooms. Kids are device/screen zombies. Parents aren’t on the teachers’ side the way they used to be. Too much is done online.

Kids don’t read. Curriculum doesn’t involve real writing instruction in most instances (my DC’s AP English language class is an absolute joke). Some instruction modules are antiquated so why should kids care? (How many different grades do they learn about, say, ancient Egypt?!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

I’m the teacher PP.

We have lost our way. 20 years ago, my job was to teach. I had clear lessons, clear expectations, and time to provide clear feedback. I had fewer students and more planning time.

Now I have larger classes and more of them. I am no longer supposed to teach. We aren’t supposed to be “the sage on the stage”; in fact, we are marked down in our evaluations if we are caught doing that. We are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” as students learn cooperatively through group work and gallery walks. I am now a guide, a counselor, a social worker, a nurse, an entertainer, a mentor, and a data collector. Teacher? That’s just one of many hats now and I don’t think it’s considered the most important.

And this new version of teaching isn’t benefiting the students. And those of us who have been in the profession a long time know it.

+1

Add to this the lack of discipline and accountability due to lax and overindulgent parenting, and administrations more interested in the shiny new thing they can market rather than the daily work of education, teaching is not what it should be.

Anonymous wrote:Decent pay and 3 months of paid vacation has never been true.

I second this.

It isn’t paid vacation. We are contracted for 10 months. Our pay may be spread across 12, but we aren’t paid for 12 months.

And as this is on the private school forum, “decent pay” seems to be a stretch.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

I’m the teacher PP.

We have lost our way. 20 years ago, my job was to teach. I had clear lessons, clear expectations, and time to provide clear feedback. I had fewer students and more planning time.

Now I have larger classes and more of them. I am no longer supposed to teach. We aren’t supposed to be “the sage on the stage”; in fact, we are marked down in our evaluations if we are caught doing that. We are supposed to be the “guide on the side,” as students learn cooperatively through group work and gallery walks. I am now a guide, a counselor, a social worker, a nurse, an entertainer, a mentor, and a data collector. Teacher? That’s just one of many hats now and I don’t think it’s considered the most important.

And this new version of teaching isn’t benefiting the students. And those of us who have been in the profession a long time know it.

Anonymous wrote:When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

As a parent, I also felt we have to enrich so much outside school. Somehow it is very exhausting to be parent in this country.

When I started twenty years ago, I could get my work done in 40 or 45 hours a week. I had balance.

I work 7 days a week now. It never ends. I’m always grading papers, responding to emails, and revising lessons. If I’m awake, I’m working or thinking about the work that needs to get done.

The demands of the job have grown exponentially.

Anonymous wrote:Two things IMO:

(1) Educational standards have changed, making teaching more difficult. Textbooks are not used, which force teachers to come up with curriculum every day and find resources on their own. There are expectations that teachers teach to every level of student, which is, of course, impossible. It's exhausting and you cannot be successful.

(2) Parenting has changed. We wanted to believe that our child's peers would have engaged parents who cared about them and truly wanted to be there for their kids. What we found at private school was that the parents were disengaged and the kids were brats. At public, it was split with the good kids in the advanced classes and the kids with totally checked out parents in the other classes. You cannot teach when the kids don't care to learn.

I wanted to be a teacher and thought I would move to it when my financial situation allowed, but now at age 52, I have no interest in returning. I don't think they want teachers like me who like to teach math by the book with plenty of practice and repetition, regular tests and quizzes with fair grades, and a strict classroom with no phones or devices period.

We want that. Exactly that. That is why we send the kids to RSM.

Two things IMO:

(1) Educational standards have changed, making teaching more difficult. Textbooks are not used, which force teachers to come up with curriculum every day and find resources on their own. There are expectations that teachers teach to every level of student, which is, of course, impossible. It's exhausting and you cannot be successful.

(2) Parenting has changed. We wanted to believe that our child's peers would have engaged parents who cared about them and truly wanted to be there for their kids. What we found at private school was that the parents were disengaged and the kids were brats. At public, it was split with the good kids in the advanced classes and the kids with totally checked out parents in the other classes. You cannot teach when the kids don't care to learn.

I wanted to be a teacher and thought I would move to it when my financial situation allowed, but now at age 52, I have no interest in returning. I don't think they want teachers like me who like to teach math by the book with plenty of practice and repetition, regular tests and quizzes with fair grades, and a strict classroom with no phones or devices period.

Decent pay and 3 months of paid vacation has never been true.

It used to be that teaching was one of the best jobs around — decent pay, good work–life balance, and a fulfilling career with three months of paid vacation. Yet when I talk to current teachers, they don’t seem to feel that way anymore in any of these areas.

What exactly has changed in recent years that turned teaching from a dream job into such a difficult one? Do you think teachers now see students, administrators, and parents as ungrateful?