I'm a financial/budget analyst. A lot of people I know think that finance/accounting people are boring unless they're on the brokerage side. I'm very creative, so people are often surprised to find out that I have such a boring job.

Re: the teacher argument. A number of close family friends are teachers and here's my take. During the school year they work very hard. Often from 7am to 6pm, when you consider planning, meetings, etc. That said, they DO get a LOT of vacation time. Two weeks at Christmas (that's all I get all year at my job in the private sector), a week for spring break, all holidays, snow/hurricane days, and the summer (which is more like two months for most). And most of that vacation time is not spent working.

There are also other things like the fact that during they day they rarely if ever go out to lunch. They can't hop online and shop for a gift or read DCUM. Often they can't even go to the bathroom when they need to.

So in short - they work very hard but get a lot of time off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummm....I do know lots of good teachers who don't put in those hours, and yes they are good teachers......

Ummm. . . by whose standards?

Unless you're in the system, you can't judge. Have you seen a formal observation? Have you observed opening procedures? Have you analyzed discourse? Are questioning strategies a strength you have? Can you recognize routines? pacing? transitions? the use of manipulatives (yes, even at the secondary level)? critical thinking skills? closure?

There are MANY aspects of which you are unaware.

So don't think you can understand GOOD teaching practices unless you're in the know. Anyone can claim s/he is good. And in most cases, if kids are complaining, parents think everything's just dandy. not so . . .

Without all the jargon:

Good teacher: Children are engaged, learning, their creativity is encouraged, they are not coddled, and they are well behaved in class. Theory is as theory does---and I prefer results.

Bad teacher: Knows all the newest buzzwords, flits about "nurturing" and the kids run the classroom. Unable to maintain discipline without constantly resorting to parent involvement.

Anonymous wrote:

14:58-I imagine the teachers posting about not getting paid all year work for MCPS. MCPS does not offer a 12 month pay option. They truly only give you paychecks from September-June. The best they have done is paired up with a credit union who will "hold" money for you in a summer pay account and then "release" it to you at specific dates over the summer. You have to work with the credit union to set that up, and you have to tell them how much money to take out of each of your paychecks based on what you'd need to live off of over the summer.

I don't understand why anyone would want to defer payment in order to just get a paycheck every month?? How does allowing MCPS to keep a % of pay set aside for you, net you anymore money? If anything they benefit from interest gained.

I am assuming that start dates are at the beginning of the fall school year. However, even if you started in the spring time, it would still be in your interest to switch back to 9 month in the fall.

I never had a problem with it, but some people are horrible at managing money and cannot responsibly save-and not touch-their own money throughout the year to use over the summer to cover expenses. The new summer pay option with the credit union does earn you interest, but people still complain about it. I was just answering your question, because teachers are telling the truth when they say they don't get paid over the summer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if I work and raise my kids....do I have two jobs?

If you work full time someone else is raising your kids during the 40-50-60 hours a week you are at work and you are paying someone to do that job. If it wasn't a job we wouldn't pay nannies and daycare workers.

This is a ridiculous response that is commonly thrown out by SAHPs. So, when your kids start school do SAHPs STOP doing their jobs as parents from 9-4 while they are in school having the teacher raise your kids? If you get someone else to watch your kids (babysitter, mom, friend) are they "raising" them for the hour or two you are out? This is just a silly argument.

Unless you home school, lock your kids in a basement, never leave you kids with a babysitter of any kind I can say the same thing about any amount of time you are not with your kids. Just plain ol' silly argument.

14:58-I imagine the teachers posting about not getting paid all year work for MCPS. MCPS does not offer a 12 month pay option. They truly only give you paychecks from September-June. The best they have done is paired up with a credit union who will "hold" money for you in a summer pay account and then "release" it to you at specific dates over the summer. You have to work with the credit union to set that up, and you have to tell them how much money to take out of each of your paychecks based on what you'd need to live off of over the summer.

I don't understand why anyone would want to defer payment in order to just get a paycheck every month?? How does allowing MCPS to keep a % of pay set aside for you, net you anymore money? If anything they benefit from interest gained.

I am assuming that start dates are at the beginning of the fall school year. However, even if you started in the spring time, it would still be in your interest to switch back to 9 month in the fall.

Anonymous wrote:"I'm the poster you're responding to. I do have kids, but don't run around saying I have 2 jobs - working outside the home and raising my kids. Raising your kids is life not a job. Is it hard work, yes, but so is managing a relationship with my MIL, so is keeping my house clean, so are a lot of things that are considered LIFE not a JOB. The OP stated job slash career which to me implied paid employment. You have nothing to feel sorry about with my kids. They are most definitely the most important responsibility I have, but not the most important job. I feel sorry for your kids that you consider raising them a job."

Calling bull$hit here. Hard to believe you really give a rat's a$s about PP's kids.

Brownie points for the high school response!

Well, you are entitled to your opinion as I am to mine. I do feel sorry for any child with a parent who approaches parenting as a "job". Not sure what's high school about my response.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So if I work and raise my kids....do I have two jobs?

If you work full time someone else is raising your kids during the 40-50-60 hours a week you are at work and you are paying someone to do that job. If it wasn't a job we wouldn't pay nannies and daycare workers.

Gosh, what if my kids are all in school when I'm working, except for 5 hours a week? Is before care raising my kids?

Software developer. People think I know everything about computers and that I am a nerd. Oh wait, I am a nerd. I am also female and American which shocks people.

Me too! For me, it seems to mean that every time I see my parents, I am asked to fix their printer. I don't even own a working printer (as I print very little so I can do that at work) and hate it that they think I can fix theirs. And why is it always broken? Argh.

Oh, and one more - that I'm introverted. Lol. I'm very outgoing. When my DH, who was my BF at the time, asked me what I did for a living, and I answered that I wrote code, he almost drove the car off the road, no kidding. He was shocked.

14:58-I imagine the teachers posting about not getting paid all year work for MCPS. MCPS does not offer a 12 month pay option. They truly only give you paychecks from September-June. The best they have done is paired up with a credit union who will "hold" money for you in a summer pay account and then "release" it to you at specific dates over the summer. You have to work with the credit union to set that up, and you have to tell them how much money to take out of each of your paychecks based on what you'd need to live off of over the summer.

pp here again - and teachers - explain your theory that you don't get paid summers off? You get an annual salary - whether you choose to get that salary over 10 months or 12 months is up to you. If I get $50,000 a year and ask my employer to pay me from september to june, then can I claim I don't get paid over the summer?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ummm....I do know lots of good teachers who don't put in those hours, and yes they are good teachers......

Ummm. . . by whose standards?

Unless you're in the system, you can't judge. Have you seen a formal observation? Have you observed opening procedures? Have you analyzed discourse? Are questioning strategies a strength you have? Can you recognize routines? pacing? transitions? the use of manipulatives (yes, even at the secondary level)? critical thinking skills? closure?
There are MANY aspects of which you are unaware.

So don't think you can understand GOOD teaching practices unless you're in the know. Anyone can claim s/he is good. And in most cases, if kids are complaining, parents think everything's just dandy. not so . . .

And what part of those skills require you to work overtime? You can have formal observation, analyzed discourse, critical thinking skills, etc. and get your job done within 8 hours. That argument has nothing to do with the pp claim that she knows teachers that are good that don't work the long brutal hours you claim you do.

Elementary School Teacher: So many misconceptions...
Work from 9 - 3 (I may spend 10 hours in my building some days and ALWAYS have work to bring home)
Have summers "off" (Must take classes to keep teaching certification & usually have some type of training to attend)

Interesting. I have 4 elem/middle school teachers in my family and your facts don't jibe with their lifestyle at all.

I think both posters are correct. The workload really depends on the state and type of school. An elementary school teacher in MCPS now has to deal with the new curriculum, come up with lesson plans but not deviate too much from what is prescribed, make sure all kids are test prepped or face the wrath of the principal if they don't beat out the other clusters, and not forget to bring in supplies for class. In private school, as long as she has good lesson plans, she can reuse them year to year, and doesn't need to deal with the testing nonsense.

I'm a lawyer. People think that I should like to argue, which I really do not. People also believe all lawyers go to court and argue Michael Jackson type cases.

SAHM/D do not have a job. I agree that they work. I'm sure what they do each day can be harder than a traditional job at times. But, please. It's not a job. You don't need to call it a job to make people think you aren't sitting on your ass eating bon bons all day.