Posted on 05/27/2010 6:14:47 PM PDT by Publius772000
[http://www.youtube.com/v/aw0aBkt8CPA&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xd0d0d0&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&fs=1]
After seeing this video, many people are coming out against the statements by Ms. Wilson and, as a corollary, teachers in general. Teachers are overpaid, they say. Teachers only work nine months out of the year, they say. Teaching isn’t all that tough, they say. Teachers are controlled by the unions, they say. Ms. Wilson herself used the ages-old teacher line, “We do it because we love it,” as she complained about her “low” compensation of $86,000 plus benefits. I’ve perused the blogs and message boards today, and, as the criticisms of Ms. Wilson have been made, invariably someone responds with something poignant like, “Well, you’re not a teacher, so you can’t possibly know what you’re talking about.” This is where I come in.
I am a teacher. In my teaching career, which has now spanned eight years, I have taught primarily middle and high school students. I did teach third grade for two days as an audition for my first position at a charter school in Aurora, CO, and I developed a healthy respect for the patience and skill of elementary teachers. I felt like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop, reading books about bears that go shopping. But most of my experience has been with older children.
In my teaching career, I’ve never been paid more than $32,000. This is partly because I’ve only taught for a few years, and partly because I’ve changed schools a couple of times. I teach in a private school in the metro Atlanta area. I coach basketball. I love every… well, almost every minute of it. Being a Christian, it’s what I felt I was called to do by God, so I try to teach to the best of my ability. And I have never once complained about my salary. Ever. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at theconstitutionalalamo.com ...
This is sort of a vanity post, but I just got very tired of reading the posts of those who were defending this woman when she was obviously showing her true colors and motivations. I just wanted everyone to know that not all teachers feel the same...
All these whiny union crybabies can rot in hell for all I care. I can't stand them. If they all came down with the swine flu and died, I'd cheer in the streets like a muzzie on 9-11.
"My advice, therefore, to Ms. Wilson and all those of her ilk is very similar to the plea I made to Mexico’s president Calderon earlier this week: “Do your job and keep your mouth shut. You’re making us legitimate teachers look bad.”
And, likely, these are the same teachers who gladly show “An Inconvenient Truth” and “The Story of Stuff” to their classes... makes my skin crawl.
Just as it has been my experience in every other profession.
No, we should feel sorry for their students.
Absolutely correct. My experience has been the same.
I did think it was quite sweet to discover that with full wage and benefit load she probably makes something like $105-118K per year. So, she's a liar to boot, and now the whole world knows.
I have no pity for anyone in that part of the country unless they are forced to stay there.
But I like their new governor, so maybe there’s hope...
Many teachers are infected with this peculiar form of narcissism. I recall one poor soul who thought she deserved a medal because as a teacher she "had to attend so many hours of continuing education," and take work home at night to boot.
As if every profession worth its salt doesn't require CE's, and as if she is the only person who has to take work home at night. Welcome to the adult world, teach. Get used to reality.
And for those who have been involved in the teaching world, they attempt to make it sound much more complicated than it actually is. Terms like “Bloom’s taxonomy” and “kinesthetic” are tossed around to make it all seem so technical. What it boils down to is connecting with the kids and getting them to understand what it is they need to know.
I do CE, as well, but it’s just part of the job, not something to be complained about as if going to class is somehow beneath a teacher.
Unionism is the final refuge of the incompetent.
I wonder how many "all-nighters" these delusional leeches have to do during their careers. I lost track, during my career, based on results, not whines or threats.
These simpletons go to graduate schools of education, which makes them even dumber than the undergraduate school of education they attended made them. Then they have the nerve to suggest that, since they are way dumber now then before, they need more money.
Have always tried in my nearly 40 years of teaching and admInistering in public and private schools to avoid the teacher’s lounge. Too much character assassInation going on in there. Usually at the expense of students.
Exactly. Anyone hear if she's tried to refute this yet?
Again, as a teacher, I have to agree. Anyone who teaches for any length of time can tell you stories about people who have chosen education as a profession because it’s possible to float through without knowing a whole lot. My ed classes in college were filled with people who weren’t exceptionally bright. I used to wonder if the best students avoided education because of the low salaries, but with idiots making $86K and up, I don’t think that flies. There are a few people in the profession who could be successful in other areas and choose to make the sacrifice for the kids, but many, many more who see education as some sort of dodge or hustle.
There are a few people in the profession who could be successful in other areas and choose to make the sacrifice for the kids, but many, many more who see education as some sort of dodge or hustle...
...at one time in my life, I used to bash public school teachers with the greatest of glee, verging on fisticuffs at times which not many wanted to do with me because I was 6’4 and 240 pounds...very poor judgement on my part and one of the many things I’ve done that I wish I could have back...
My only experience with teaching is at the CCD level on Sunday mornings for an hour, which I did for two years. Of course it goes without saying that this was a freebee, which of course I knew about up front. I really didn’t like it, because the satisfaction I gained from watching the kids at their confirmation Mass was more that offset by the two or three asinine children I had that made it hard to get the needed material to the students. There was really nothing for it, as their was no hierarchical system in place to send these lamebrains to when they decided their time of listening to me was over (generally five to ten minutes, except on those blessed days when they were not in attendance. I can sympathize with public and private school teachers who face these types on a far more regular basis, and are subjected to much worse harassement on some occasions.
About private school teachers, I know something...I assissted a friend for a couple of months in the accounting department of a Christian school, grades 1-12, with a total enrollment of about 250 kids. I did the payroll while I was there, and it boggled my mind...the principal made 44k a year, the top senior teacher made 32k, and on or two others made in the upper 20’s. The great bulk of the teachers made in the low 20’s. Second jobs during the summer was not a luxury for them, it was incumbent...these are the people, were I a teacher, I would like to emulate, not the popoff from my own home state of New Jersey...
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