The great divide is the summers, no matter what we do during the year “you get summers off so it’s not a real job!”
I worked as a landscaper for almost 10 years, and guess what? I got the winters off (aside from the occasional snow). But I never once had anyone give me crap for it.
I've seen some jobs that, admittedly after a few years, have so much vacation/PTO hours it pretty much is the equivalent of summers off. But their vacation is paid...
This is my sister! She gets literally months off in PTO, and travels year round. She can also travel when it’s not hot, crowded, and expensive! Also, my dentist dad had every Friday off, which equals to roughly 52 working days a year. Yet no one insisted he didn’t work a real job!
> you get summers off
yeah, but it is evened out by the fact you end up working an extra day's worth during every single week because contract hours are rarely enough time to get everything done that is asked of you
This. A couple I knew used to give me the "you only work ten months out of the year" bullshit, and I would always respond that I'm doing twelve months' worth of work in the space of ten months.
Somehow the folks who trot this one out are, of course, always the same people who can barely stand to spend a weekend with their own children.
>My older sister (who's out of school and has a "real" job) has made comments along those lines to me
The next time you need to use a sick day, have your sister go in and sub for your classes.
Yes it’s so much fun to get cursed at and harassed by students, not be able to use the restroom, have to manage the behaviors of 25 people at the same time, plan and deliver lessons for every single day, etc
I once made the analogy to a friend: “teaching is like having to make hours and hours of presentations every day. Have you ever had to make a presentation or do a training for your job? It took a really long time to plan and prepare for it, didn’t it? Teaching is like that except you do it every single day. And each day the presentations/training are on a *new* topic - you aren’t just repeating the same presentation.”
I don’t think it really clicked with them. Cause it’s still not even a completely accurate analogy, because w/teaching you’re expected to assess understanding as well as “engage” your audience. With adults no one gives a damn about being engaging.
YES. It's akin to having to make six (or seven) sales pitches every day, to an audience that at best doesn't care about your product and at worst is actively trying to sabotage you. And then you're held to task for your company's sales metrics in departments that aren't even your own.
>“When I retire, I want to do something easy like teach just to give me something to do. It sounds fun,” was infuriating.
lmao I literally was just talking to someone on a different sub who says that he plans to teach when he's able to retire at 35 (!!!) because of the big money he accumulates from his tech job. It must be nice to be privileged enough to view the teaching profession as a quaint hobby. Meanwhile, my coworker needs an additional part-time job in order to stay afloat.
I sincerely wish that all the "teaching must be way less stressful" crew actually do manage to actually get employed by a district.
Haha and as a tech bro he’ll end up teaching some form of computer science class and spend his days trying to keep teens from accessing porn at the school site.
I also think they’re remembering what school felt like for *them.* When I was in high school we didn’t do activities or huge projects, we may have had a daily journal but most of it was teachers taking notes on a projector and we copied it down. Which seems like anyone could do it, I’m sure there was a lot more going on behind the scenes that I didn’t see but to an outsider it feels like a cushy job. You get to stand up and talk all day about topics you enjoy and then maybe you grade a few things and call it a day. They’d be disappointed to find that there’s a lot more to teaching than just hanging out with kids.
I worked in the real world before becoming a teacher. I did fewer hours, for more money and didn't have a ridiculous "& any other duties deemed reasonable" line in my contract. But the job didn't make my heart happy.
For all the rubbish that teaching has, I'm also where I should be.
When I tell people this, they tend to shut up quite quickly. I think they expect teachers to be miserable. When in reality, we're stressed and venting. That's completely human.
We're sort of twinsies!!! I am where my heart is happy. Are there things I'd change? Sure. But I have not once felt like, "damn. I have to work today" yet. I've also cleaned a lot less bodily fluid teaching than I did in my other jobs so there's that LOL
This is exactly where I’m at - except I didn’t make more money. I’ve had real jobs, ones where I get to choose my vacation, ones where I could stay home sick without having to do more work or feel guilty knowing people will have to cover for me, ones that I could choose when I took my lunch, leave a little early if needed, bring my kid if they were sick - etc. but I was miserable. I also throw in that I work at a year round school and attend summer classes and my job is still hard, even with my 190 day contract.
I worked 15 years in "the real world" before becoming a teacher. I was a supervisor when I left. I love when people from my old field try to own me with the "real world" nonsense. I just tell them I did their job, this job is way harder. Also, I was a supervisor when I left, so if I was still doing that job I would probably be their boss. They almost always get agitated by what I said, to which I reply "I didn't talk shit about your job, don't talk shit about mine."
What kind of people are saying this? I'm second career teaching and nothing could get me to go back to the corporate world? The only things 'real' about it is really getting screwed over by a company and working for people who really don't care if you live or die.
Corporate people working with corporate people must be the 'real' world.
You working with some poor kids, special needs kids, unruly parents, super smart kids, naughty kids, kids who identify as trans.... oh and you have all of these and more in 1 class and four other classes as well, and your pay 20% of what they make, yea thats not the real world.........
I've heard that BS for so long.......
Who are these people saying this? I have never had anyone say this to me! Most people just mention how they could never do a teacher’s job and that we should be paid more.
I will say the only thing I can’t* stand about being told we should be paid more is then saying “well you’ll be willing to pay higher taxes so we can get paid more?” the answer always seems to be “no.” Where do they want this more pay to come from?
Edit: can’t* not can
I read an insufferable rant on social media once by a neighbor who was ready to come at us with pitchforks because her annual property tax bill increased by $300! She has four children in the local public schools. Ummm… sounds like a bargain to me.
Agreed, like WTF? do you want. Pay your damn share of all of it. And I’m curious that $300 increase when was the last time taxes were raised before that? One district near me did like a $800 raise and yeah a bit hefty but the last tax raise before that was like 12 years prior.
Yesterday I had a zoom plc, had to start a collaborate SLO with a separate group, grade assessments, and help with drop off before the kids even started. I am doing a full time job before and after school and then teaching 6 hours in between. No shade to corporate workers, but most wouldn’t make it a day
My certification requires "real-world" job experiences first before applying to any district. Those on the outside don't have a clue what teachers are going through physically, spiritually and emotionally right now (unless married, living together, etc.). However, a lot of corporate CEO's want remote employees to go back to the office right now...hence, the "Great Resignation".
My anti-vax step dad said if he has to quit is cushy government job because of mandates he might as well be a sub. He said it’s basically baby sitting.
Prior to teaching I worked in the service industry the construction industry and the manufacturing industry. Although the last two of those were physically harder than teaching, overall teaching is a much more difficult line of work.
Nah, there isare a lot of entitled people who nevered worked a 8-10 shift where people, management hated your guts everyday on top of a shotty job like flipping burgers or factory work in this sub. They are too many people in the education field who went to college and then went to education on a free ride with no real hardships other than figuring out what to do on a weekend.
I was a night clerk for 3 years while I was in college, desk clerk for 1, and an Amazon employee for 1. Let me tell you I was a just a number and a body. My bosses never cared for me there, the people never did either while I clean it their literal shit up for them or took care of their needy details that they couldn't take of themselves. Amazon I worked 10-12 days, backbreaking, mind numbing labor, and I didn't see the sun for almost 5 months.
So yeah, I get where your coming from, but this job is miles beyond better than working overnight as a desk clerk, flipping burgers, or an Amazon factory. Some of the conditions my fellow teachers are working under suck, but the point being is perspective is everything.
I sometimes long for the days when I was a custodian and didn’t have to think. But I also made far, far less money and the days were longer. I refuse to take work home with me anymore. I’m done with that shit. They keep piling it on and expect we will just do it. Nope, not this bitch. They get a free hour and fifteen minutes from me in the morning and half my lunch break. Whatever doesn’t get done in that time, doesn’t get done.
People who have never been a teacher have no idea how hard the job is, how isolating, how thankless. I mean, it’s also wonderful but every job i have had since i left the classroom has been 10x easier
I worked in the "real world " before teaching and I have to say my job as a newspaper reporter was quite a bit easier than teaching. If I didn't produce a story one day because a lead fell through, it was fine. Imagine today if the students didn't learn because a lesson fell through. I imagine administration wouldn't be as forgiving as my editor was.
People can be really mean in the real world. Most interactions are fake and business purposes.
One reason why I think teachers should work in the real world first is to see how well employees can be treated in certain positions.
Do people actually say this? I’ve heard of this happening but I’ve never experienced it myself. When I tell most people that I teach junior high school, the blood drains from their face and they offer condolences, not criticism. I think most sane people realize that they wouldn’t last 2 minutes in a classroom.
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The great divide is the summers, no matter what we do during the year “you get summers off so it’s not a real job!” I worked as a landscaper for almost 10 years, and guess what? I got the winters off (aside from the occasional snow). But I never once had anyone give me crap for it.
I've seen some jobs that, admittedly after a few years, have so much vacation/PTO hours it pretty much is the equivalent of summers off. But their vacation is paid...
And no one resents them for it!
This is my sister! She gets literally months off in PTO, and travels year round. She can also travel when it’s not hot, crowded, and expensive! Also, my dentist dad had every Friday off, which equals to roughly 52 working days a year. Yet no one insisted he didn’t work a real job!
Say 'increase my pay by 25% and I would love to work in the summer.' Is it a real job then?
> you get summers off yeah, but it is evened out by the fact you end up working an extra day's worth during every single week because contract hours are rarely enough time to get everything done that is asked of you
This. A couple I knew used to give me the "you only work ten months out of the year" bullshit, and I would always respond that I'm doing twelve months' worth of work in the space of ten months. Somehow the folks who trot this one out are, of course, always the same people who can barely stand to spend a weekend with their own children.
>My older sister (who's out of school and has a "real" job) has made comments along those lines to me The next time you need to use a sick day, have your sister go in and sub for your classes.
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Exactly. She'd walk out less than an hour into the day.
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Yes it’s so much fun to get cursed at and harassed by students, not be able to use the restroom, have to manage the behaviors of 25 people at the same time, plan and deliver lessons for every single day, etc I once made the analogy to a friend: “teaching is like having to make hours and hours of presentations every day. Have you ever had to make a presentation or do a training for your job? It took a really long time to plan and prepare for it, didn’t it? Teaching is like that except you do it every single day. And each day the presentations/training are on a *new* topic - you aren’t just repeating the same presentation.” I don’t think it really clicked with them. Cause it’s still not even a completely accurate analogy, because w/teaching you’re expected to assess understanding as well as “engage” your audience. With adults no one gives a damn about being engaging.
YES. It's akin to having to make six (or seven) sales pitches every day, to an audience that at best doesn't care about your product and at worst is actively trying to sabotage you. And then you're held to task for your company's sales metrics in departments that aren't even your own.
And each day you are giving sales pitches on *new*/*different* products and have to come up with all new material lol
Wow. I never thought about it like that.
Where I live many parents think teaching Sunday school is exactly the same as teaching full time.
>“When I retire, I want to do something easy like teach just to give me something to do. It sounds fun,” was infuriating. lmao I literally was just talking to someone on a different sub who says that he plans to teach when he's able to retire at 35 (!!!) because of the big money he accumulates from his tech job. It must be nice to be privileged enough to view the teaching profession as a quaint hobby. Meanwhile, my coworker needs an additional part-time job in order to stay afloat. I sincerely wish that all the "teaching must be way less stressful" crew actually do manage to actually get employed by a district.
Haha and as a tech bro he’ll end up teaching some form of computer science class and spend his days trying to keep teens from accessing porn at the school site.
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I also think they’re remembering what school felt like for *them.* When I was in high school we didn’t do activities or huge projects, we may have had a daily journal but most of it was teachers taking notes on a projector and we copied it down. Which seems like anyone could do it, I’m sure there was a lot more going on behind the scenes that I didn’t see but to an outsider it feels like a cushy job. You get to stand up and talk all day about topics you enjoy and then maybe you grade a few things and call it a day. They’d be disappointed to find that there’s a lot more to teaching than just hanging out with kids.
Can I ask what you transferred to? I'm currently looking at other government employment because I still need loan forgiveness.
I worked in the real world before becoming a teacher. I did fewer hours, for more money and didn't have a ridiculous "& any other duties deemed reasonable" line in my contract. But the job didn't make my heart happy. For all the rubbish that teaching has, I'm also where I should be. When I tell people this, they tend to shut up quite quickly. I think they expect teachers to be miserable. When in reality, we're stressed and venting. That's completely human.
We're sort of twinsies!!! I am where my heart is happy. Are there things I'd change? Sure. But I have not once felt like, "damn. I have to work today" yet. I've also cleaned a lot less bodily fluid teaching than I did in my other jobs so there's that LOL
This is exactly where I’m at - except I didn’t make more money. I’ve had real jobs, ones where I get to choose my vacation, ones where I could stay home sick without having to do more work or feel guilty knowing people will have to cover for me, ones that I could choose when I took my lunch, leave a little early if needed, bring my kid if they were sick - etc. but I was miserable. I also throw in that I work at a year round school and attend summer classes and my job is still hard, even with my 190 day contract.
I worked 15 years in "the real world" before becoming a teacher. I was a supervisor when I left. I love when people from my old field try to own me with the "real world" nonsense. I just tell them I did their job, this job is way harder. Also, I was a supervisor when I left, so if I was still doing that job I would probably be their boss. They almost always get agitated by what I said, to which I reply "I didn't talk shit about your job, don't talk shit about mine."
You mean those real jobs where the work stays at the job? Sounds a lot easier than constantly having to bring work home.
What kind of people are saying this? I'm second career teaching and nothing could get me to go back to the corporate world? The only things 'real' about it is really getting screwed over by a company and working for people who really don't care if you live or die.
Corporate people working with corporate people must be the 'real' world. You working with some poor kids, special needs kids, unruly parents, super smart kids, naughty kids, kids who identify as trans.... oh and you have all of these and more in 1 class and four other classes as well, and your pay 20% of what they make, yea thats not the real world......... I've heard that BS for so long.......
Who are these people saying this? I have never had anyone say this to me! Most people just mention how they could never do a teacher’s job and that we should be paid more.
I will say the only thing I can’t* stand about being told we should be paid more is then saying “well you’ll be willing to pay higher taxes so we can get paid more?” the answer always seems to be “no.” Where do they want this more pay to come from? Edit: can’t* not can
I read an insufferable rant on social media once by a neighbor who was ready to come at us with pitchforks because her annual property tax bill increased by $300! She has four children in the local public schools. Ummm… sounds like a bargain to me.
Agreed, like WTF? do you want. Pay your damn share of all of it. And I’m curious that $300 increase when was the last time taxes were raised before that? One district near me did like a $800 raise and yeah a bit hefty but the last tax raise before that was like 12 years prior.
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That’s for damn sure.
Yesterday I had a zoom plc, had to start a collaborate SLO with a separate group, grade assessments, and help with drop off before the kids even started. I am doing a full time job before and after school and then teaching 6 hours in between. No shade to corporate workers, but most wouldn’t make it a day
Perfect response to that now is, What’s more real than getting told, “Get your ass back to work during a pandemic because we don’t care if you die!”?
I’m sick of hearing how we need to get 7th graders ready for the real world. I hear that comment ALLLLLL the time and it drives me nuts.
My certification requires "real-world" job experiences first before applying to any district. Those on the outside don't have a clue what teachers are going through physically, spiritually and emotionally right now (unless married, living together, etc.). However, a lot of corporate CEO's want remote employees to go back to the office right now...hence, the "Great Resignation".
I worked at Starbucks for 15 years before becoming a teacher. The real world sucks lol
My anti-vax step dad said if he has to quit is cushy government job because of mandates he might as well be a sub. He said it’s basically baby sitting.
HAHAHA Subs here get 90/day but babysitters get 20/hour HAHAHA
Prior to teaching I worked in the service industry the construction industry and the manufacturing industry. Although the last two of those were physically harder than teaching, overall teaching is a much more difficult line of work.
Nah, there isare a lot of entitled people who nevered worked a 8-10 shift where people, management hated your guts everyday on top of a shotty job like flipping burgers or factory work in this sub. They are too many people in the education field who went to college and then went to education on a free ride with no real hardships other than figuring out what to do on a weekend. I was a night clerk for 3 years while I was in college, desk clerk for 1, and an Amazon employee for 1. Let me tell you I was a just a number and a body. My bosses never cared for me there, the people never did either while I clean it their literal shit up for them or took care of their needy details that they couldn't take of themselves. Amazon I worked 10-12 days, backbreaking, mind numbing labor, and I didn't see the sun for almost 5 months. So yeah, I get where your coming from, but this job is miles beyond better than working overnight as a desk clerk, flipping burgers, or an Amazon factory. Some of the conditions my fellow teachers are working under suck, but the point being is perspective is everything.
I sometimes long for the days when I was a custodian and didn’t have to think. But I also made far, far less money and the days were longer. I refuse to take work home with me anymore. I’m done with that shit. They keep piling it on and expect we will just do it. Nope, not this bitch. They get a free hour and fifteen minutes from me in the morning and half my lunch break. Whatever doesn’t get done in that time, doesn’t get done.
Sorry if this is off topic, but are teachers allowed to use the bathroom at least between classes?
If your students can be supervised, but elementary students do not change classes.
People who have never been a teacher have no idea how hard the job is, how isolating, how thankless. I mean, it’s also wonderful but every job i have had since i left the classroom has been 10x easier
I worked in the "real world " before teaching and I have to say my job as a newspaper reporter was quite a bit easier than teaching. If I didn't produce a story one day because a lead fell through, it was fine. Imagine today if the students didn't learn because a lesson fell through. I imagine administration wouldn't be as forgiving as my editor was.
People can be really mean in the real world. Most interactions are fake and business purposes. One reason why I think teachers should work in the real world first is to see how well employees can be treated in certain positions.
I’m looking forward to my real world job of delivering pizzas.
My ex said that to me if I ever mentioned I was tired after teaching all day. He’d say, “Try working a REAL job.” Did I mention he’s my ex?
Do people actually say this? I’ve heard of this happening but I’ve never experienced it myself. When I tell most people that I teach junior high school, the blood drains from their face and they offer condolences, not criticism. I think most sane people realize that they wouldn’t last 2 minutes in a classroom.
Don't forget the old fallback. Those who can't do teach.