Anonymous wrote:I was a teacher for 6 years and now am doing something else. Teaching was the most fun job in the world. Also, as a teacher, I got the summer months off as well as all of those school holidays!! I wish I could be a mom with a teacher schedule again. Really, I am not trying to be snarky OP. Now that I am in a non-teaching job, I am working harder than when I was a teacher. Be thankful for the reasonable hours job that you have.

Yes, teaching is hard... but it's really not that hard. The kids make you smile most of the time. I left because I didn't find it challenging enough, but I still miss those kids!

Interesting, b/c I was a teacher and now work FT but not as a teacher. Both have their challenges, but overall teaching was more challenging. I worked 70 hour weeks as a teacher.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I forgot to mention: don't bother responding if you're goinG to be rude and nasty. This question was for teachers because of the type of work but certainly anyone who has to take work home. Just don't be nasty about it. Geeze!

Most professionals take work home...year round...because we don't have summers off or get a week and a half break in the winter and spring. We typically don't get snow days either. Yet we all somehow manage to juggle and make it work.

Why do so many teachers act like victims?

Try leaving school at 4:30 and grading papers at home. Ditto for planning. Or perhaps arrive a little early to plan?

RE: Me time - You'll have plenty of me time when your kids are in MS and only need you to drive them somewhere. Punt to your husband or another parent.

Anonymous wrote:OP here: I forgot to mention: don't bother responding if you're goinG to be rude and nasty. This question was for teachers because of the type of work but certainly anyone who has to take work home. Just don't be nasty about it. Geeze!

Lol... Isn't every sincere post deserving of no rude responses?

I switched to an itinerant position (SPED teacher) - more flexible and not as much work that needs to be done outside of work hours.

To the poster who said teaching was easy and "fun" - I'm guessing you taught in the days before testing insanity, reducing prep times to 30 minutes per day (really, 20), and all that other nonsense I was putting up with. I was working and additional 20-30 hours in addition to what I was doing during school hours in order to catch up on paperwork, data collection, IEPs, SB191, induction, behavior plans/folders, parent communication, lesson plans, prepping materials... etc. The 6 weeks "off" in the summer was spent catching up on licensure requirements/required trainings and traveling to see family.

I too loved the kids, and I still miss having my own classroom but I couldn't put up with the bullshit any longer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is being a teacher different than any other job for a wohm?

NP here. I'm a teacher and don't have kids, not sure I want any (27 years old). I don't understand how teachers have kids. I am so exhausted at the end of many days. I think I may treasure and desire "me time" more than others.

I also felt this way and it's one of the main reasons why I was so hesitant to have my own child. I ended up having a child and it changed my priorities. Whereas my students were my #1 priority previously, now my own family is. Like others have said here, it means that I do "B" work instead of "A+" work, but it is what it is. Teaching is my job. My family is more important than my job.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone want to hear from people that work in the ER for a real tit-for-tat?

Do ER doctors work alone without any backup in a room with 30+ patients for 45 minutes? Then get another batch of 30 patients after a 5 minute "break"? Repeat three more times.

Teachers and their "woe is me" have gone completely off the rails if you are trying to compete with freaking emergency room workers on whose job is harder. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go there.

You do realize what that kind of work entails (hint: death, lots of death) and, gasp, they also don't get to leave their GSW to go to the bathroom, so the tried and true "but I can't go to the bathroom when I want" hyperbole doesn't work here.

You really hate teachers, don't you.

I love doctors, actually.

Anonymous wrote:How is being a teacher different than any other job for a wohm?

NP here. I'm a teacher and don't have kids, not sure I want any (27 years old). I don't understand how teachers have kids. I am so exhausted at the end of many days. I think I may treasure and desire "me time" more than others.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so. Much. Whining.

All I have to say is that you chose the profession and the fact that it is low pay AND difficult seems to be common knowledge. i sympathize with all the problems in and around the work, but it would be nice if all the complainers admit that this is a bed of their own making.

It's like becoming a garbage man and then complaining that the people make smelly garbage.

If you feel that teachers are being so ridiculous, why do you waste your time disrupting teaching related threads? OP asked a reasonable question about worklife/balance. Would you have chimed in if her career had been in sanitation or she was a Walmart cashier?

Seems like teachers threaten you somehow. You keep posting all over DCUM about teachers' having the lowest SAT scores. Doesn't apply to all of us --especially people who are career changers. I came from public health career and graduated with honors from a prep school and my top-rated undergrad. None of my grad degrees are in education. I have two coworkers who are former attorneys, one that was a banker, one that was an Air Force Nurse, two that were engineers (one for Ford, the other for Northrop), and two that are published authors. And that's just my current school.

Agree completely. I went to an Ivy and wanted to teach because I think it's important for children to learn to love learning. I'm not unique.

Same. I could've done anything. I believe in teaching. Lots of teachers are like us.

Regardess, OP is in a tough transition asking for help from others who've been there. How that warrants certain people lashing out is truly mind-boggling. Teaching can be very difficult to discuss with non-teachers sometimes. (Not always! Lots of supportive people out there, too!) Some people are truly ignorant.

Jumped to the end of this thread when the teacher bashing started but to say we aren't smart? How ignorant, pathetic, and angry are you? I was an aerospace engineer at NASA for most of my career before kids and teaching. Worked on Space Station and Hubble. Loved it, love teaching too so don't be an ass.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:so. Much. Whining.

All I have to say is that you chose the profession and the fact that it is low pay AND difficult seems to be common knowledge. i sympathize with all the problems in and around the work, but it would be nice if all the complainers admit that this is a bed of their own making.

It's like becoming a garbage man and then complaining that the people make smelly garbage.

If you feel that teachers are being so ridiculous, why do you waste your time disrupting teaching related threads? OP asked a reasonable question about worklife/balance. Would you have chimed in if her career had been in sanitation or she was a Walmart cashier?

Seems like teachers threaten you somehow. You keep posting all over DCUM about teachers' having the lowest SAT scores. Doesn't apply to all of us --especially people who are career changers. I came from public health career and graduated with honors from a prep school and my top-rated undergrad. None of my grad degrees are in education. I have two coworkers who are former attorneys, one that was a banker, one that was an Air Force Nurse, two that were engineers (one for Ford, the other for Northrop), and two that are published authors. And that's just my current school.

Agree completely. I went to an Ivy and wanted to teach because I think it's important for children to learn to love learning. I'm not unique.

Anonymous wrote:so. Much. Whining.

All I have to say is that you chose the profession and the fact that it is low pay AND difficult seems to be common knowledge. i sympathize with all the problems in and around the work, but it would be nice if all the complainers admit that this is a bed of their own making.

It's like becoming a garbage man and then complaining that the people make smelly garbage.

This is exactly the kind of parent/person I can't stand in DC. The topic is why it's difficult to be a teacher and have your own children. You wouldn't last one day as a teacher. You should try it though, you'd have more empathy/respect for your daughter Larla's teacher if you did.

Anonymous wrote:so. Much. Whining.

All I have to say is that you chose the profession and the fact that it is low pay AND difficult seems to be common knowledge. i sympathize with all the problems in and around the work, but it would be nice if all the complainers admit that this is a bed of their own making.

It's like becoming a garbage man and then complaining that the people make smelly garbage.

If you feel that teachers are being so ridiculous, why do you waste your time disrupting teaching related threads? OP asked a reasonable question about worklife/balance. Would you have chimed in if her career had been in sanitation or she was a Walmart cashier?

Seems like teachers threaten you somehow. You keep posting all over DCUM about teachers' having the lowest SAT scores. Doesn't apply to all of us --especially people who are career changers. I came from public health career and graduated with honors from a prep school and my top-rated undergrad. None of my grad degrees are in education. I have two coworkers who are former attorneys, one that was a banker, one that was an Air Force Nurse, two that were engineers (one for Ford, the other for Northrop), and two that are published authors. And that's just my current school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone want to hear from people that work in the ER for a real tit-for-tat?

Do ER doctors work alone without any backup in a room with 30+ patients for 45 minutes? Then get another batch of 30 patients after a 5 minute "break"? Repeat three more times.

Teachers and their "woe is me" have gone completely off the rails if you are trying to compete with freaking emergency room workers on whose job is harder. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go there.

You do realize what that kind of work entails (hint: death, lots of death) and, gasp, they also don't get to leave their GSW to go to the bathroom, so the tried and true "but I can't go to the bathroom when I want" hyperbole doesn't work here.

You really hate teachers, don't you.

My mom was an elementary teacher when I was growing up. I remember her being too tired to talk to me at the end of the day. I would eat dinner alone (only child) often. Don't be like her.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone want to hear from people that work in the ER for a real tit-for-tat?

Do ER doctors work alone without any backup in a room with 30+ patients for 45 minutes? Then get another batch of 30 patients after a 5 minute "break"? Repeat three more times.

Teachers and their "woe is me" have gone completely off the rails if you are trying to compete with freaking emergency room workers on whose job is harder. I'm pretty sure you don't want to go there.

You do realize what that kind of work entails (hint: death, lots of death) and, gasp, they also don't get to leave their GSW to go to the bathroom, so the tried and true "but I can't go to the bathroom when I want" hyperbole doesn't work here.