BTW, I teach in a middle school in the state of NJ.
Posted on 07/16/2007 8:19:54 AM PDT by NewMediaJournal
In the July 9, 2007 Issue of National Review is a short piece on “Workaholics”. In it, the author makes the argument that Americans are preoccupied, actually obsessed, with work. He comes to this conclusion based on a number of factors. First, he points out that any increase in leisure activities over the past four decades is due to electronic appliances making our lives easier. Secondly, people living in Italy, France, Germany, the UK, Canada and Japan can take advantage of 10-28 more vacation days than the average 14 allotted to Americans. Most remarkable is that, on average, Americans, don’t even take advantage of three of their vacation days.
Reading the aforementioned article, I couldn’t help but feel that the author, Kevin Hassett, could have explored this subject much further. Although interesting in and of itself, this tidbit of information was just the jumping off place for something more central in understanding what a cross section of Americans are willing to do to maintain a particular standard of living, forge a career, or keep a roof over their heads. Something else he doesn’t explore is the idea that there are people who do enjoy working, who find it feels a need in them to be doing something useful, perhaps for the betterment of society. But his most egregious omission is something that I, an education reformer, noticed straight away. What about teachers?
(Excerpt) Read more at newmediajournal.us ...
And the economy in Europe is what? It’s in the tank. Americans don’t mind working to make a better life. People in Europe worry more about their vacations. They take off six weeks during the summer.
new media journal spam account strikes again!
posting excerpted article after article to your own website to drive up traffic - not cool.
Not to mention Christmas week, the third week in February, and the third week in April.
My God, how dare you say that teaches have an easier life than the rest of us! Don’t you know they’re a protected class? Next thing you know, you’ll be saying farmers get too much government money!
BTW, I teach in a middle school in the state of NJ.
Thank you, for myself and for all your students.
LOL....tell that to my wife and be prepared for a litany of what her summers are full of...
Continuing education
Curriculum planning
Summer tutoring
She got out for the summer on June 20, she has to go back for the next semester on August 27. I think all together, she'll have a total of two weeks where she is not doing school-related work.
What I can’t figure out is what they’re doing with all the money. Here in Arizona our per-pupil spending is low, relative to other states, but it still comes to like $250,000 per year per classroom.
I once sat down and tried to spend that amount on teacher salary, electricity, water, books, supplies, staff, etc., and I couldn’t get close. Somewhere they’re spending the money on stuff they’re not telling us about, then using the lack of money as the excuse for their results.
AWESOME ROOM!!!! Thank God for good teachers. My wife is one also.
Good on ya, as they say in Australia. The quote by Aristotle is particularly outstanding. Well done!
pensions, healthcare, other administrative bs like 5 curriculum directors per district, and so on.
I think the most serious problem is that teachers never left the academic calendar and live in a completely different world than the rest of us. This helps them relate to students who also live on academic calendars but distances them from parents who live in the other world. It also leaves teachers unprepared to offer any career guidance other than how to become a teacher.
That crap adds up to like half their budget and they have the nerve to ask for MORE money?????
Of course, *lots* of us put in many, many unpaid hours, work two jobs, etc. And as she will readily admit, some of her co-workers are just serving out their time 'till retirement and doing as little as possible in the meantime.
But watching my friend - who is teaching because she wants to - she could do better financially doing something else - and knowing that many of those working with her are working as hard, getting duped on by some columnist well, it makes my blood boil.
I work hard by choice because I am blessed to live in such a great country that was preserved by fallen heroes. I honor their memory every way I can, but mostly by living the American dream and providing for my family under the blanket of freedom that they sacrificed for. I owe everything to them and to the sweat of my brow.
Although I originally wanted to retire at 59 1/2, I suspect I will have to work part time to get health insurance through my employer as the socialists continue to destroy this great nation of ours.
I have been teaching for 26 years now, and it is amazing how conservative most of the teachers are in our district. That being said, many of the newer teachers are on the liberal side. It makes for some interesting conversations in the teachers room.
Probably makes you long for some able opposition!
That is one fine looking classroom!
AWESOME bulletin boards!!!
What a laugh. Many Americans are now forced to compete with low wage illegal labor? How many thousands of employers/corporations hire *millions* of illegal aliens so they can avoid paying normal wages, benefits, health care, or offering normal things like vacations?
Thank you for doing your job. Many of the reset of us do our jobs also: without referring to it as fighting in the trenches while getting 3 months off every summer, not to mention Christmas, Easter and “professional development days” AND being members of a large and extortive union to boot. Lay off.
That’s all very nice, but many of us are only allowed 40hrs/wk.
Do you catch a lot of hell from co-workers, the administration, and the Yoon-Yun?
He had a lot to do with who became a teacher at our school.
Summer tutoring, for which she is no doubt handsomely rewarded, and continuing education which raises her salary with every credit earned.
Educators are predominantly liberals - they think every failed policy deserves more money.
After all, success is based on how hard you try, not on how much you accomplish.
Agreed. Education is a pit into which we throw money. I also think that we spend so much on K-12 education that we forget that people need college degrees, too. We always hear about budget problems, but for crying out loud, they have a lot of money to use!
They just jacked up college tuition this year in Michigan by another 7%.
“What I can’t figure out is what they’re doing with all the money. Here in Arizona our per-pupil spending is low, relative to other states, but it still comes to like $250,000 per year per classroom.”
Congratulations. YOu have not only done extremely well for yourself, but you managed to get through that entire post without mention the trenches, or how hard done by you are because you work a lot of hours.
So much of the money is wasted on the administrators who do nothing but cause trouble and problems. The school boards are often not much better. If we could just cut out all the fat, we’d be able to pay teachers salaries in the 6 figures and keep the best and the brightest and have kids who learn. As for the tough urban districts, well, my solution to that is to militarize it something like a military school or boot camp. If those kids want to be tough, then I say, “give them tough.” Mostly, a lot of them just need some discipline.
My friend is a teacher and she’s afraid of her 6th grade students. She’s in an urban area and stressed out to the point she’s on drugs, but she won’t leave because she can’t get the money anywhere else. I’ve told her my feelings (money isn’t worth your health) but oh well....
As a matter of fact during the last presidential election, the kids actually tried to guess who I voted for. Three fourths of them thought it was Kerry.
BTW, I did not tell them.
Since I teach four units of science and one of geography, politics does not come into it very much.
Now certain issues in science are fair game like adult stem cell vs embryonic stem cell research.
I think it is you who should “Lay off.” I’m sure it is down right difficult for conservatives to survive in many school districts in this country, in part because of attitudes such as yours. We should be encouraging the conservatives who are doing things such as what mware showed in the bulletin board pictures. Additionally not all teachers belong to a union, as is commonly believed.
BTW, I am not and have never been a school teacher, nor is any member of my family.
What “many teachers” don’t receive benefits ?
There is no public school teacher in this country that is deprived of benefits. They all belong to unions.
Heck, even many private school teachers in urban areas are represented by unions.
Most contracts call for about 225 or so workdays per year. For that, the NEA demands pay equal to or higher than what private sector employees make for 70 hour work weeks. And, in the private sector, there is far less job security (no tenure), no fat pensions and post retirement health care insurance benefit until SS eligible, etc.
No, these jobs are quite well paid, which is why other than special ed, there is generally no shortage of applicants.
As for lesson prep, grading exams, etc., the argument that teachers have to take work home is way overstated. So do many other professions, without the aforementioned perks and job security. I know three public school teachers (two high school mathematics and one biology)— each has confirmed that the first two years are hard, preparing a lesson plan, etc. After that, the plan is just tweaked.
No, methinks that $11K per year per student here in NH (where pay is considered “low”) is more than adequate. “Improving the quality of education for the students” is a bogus emotional argument. How does giving a teacher even more money or benefits make them better? The reality is that salaries and benefits suck up 90% of the tax money, and those go up automatically every year (”steps and ladders”) by formula.
The NEA is a greedy organization that uses students as financial hostages.
VOCHERS NOW!!!
Interesting. I take it you don’t teach in Montgomery County, Maryland!
I have signed the document saying they can not use it for political purposes. I sure wish they would do an investigation into that aspect. There is just no way to make sure they don't use it that way.
Far too broad a brush, my friend. For example, teachers in Virginia are not unionized.
Nope, Atlantic County, NJ
A lot of it goes to high-maintenance special education kids. There are in many districts (especially urban and suburban districts) dozens to hundreds of kids who require one-to-one supervision by specialists. Those costs add up, and due to a (largely unfunded) mandate by Congress, the local school districts HAVE to pay for their expensive special educations. If they don't, lawyers enter the picture.
There are rumors that they are going up this year. I have have asked for the document that you signed, but my union is not happy with the idea.
Hope they drop one on a couple certain people hiding in Pakistan.
Yup. Here is some data. An average salary of about $40k makes alot of sense for a job where you start around $30K, and before retirment make about $80k (alot higher in Long Island, where I came from). Now, add in summers off, presidents week, fall and winter recess, and perks that no one in the private sector enjoys, and you have a damned good career.
http://www.heartland.org/Article.cfm?artId=14818
The NEA/AFT always want to talk about starting salaries, but ignore all the benefits. Teachers are handsomely paid.
If they really feel otherwiswe, they can do what millions in the private sector do each and every year: QUIT and obtain work that better suits you.
We hear this argument all the time - “But watching my friend - who is teaching because she wants to - she could do better financially doing something else” -
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33485
There is no teacher who belongs to a union who teaches more that 5 periods without 1-2 periods of prep time plus lunch. If your friend still puts in 2-3 hours after teaching every single day, then she’s not using her time efficiently.
If she feels that she’s underpaid, she should get another job. I bet she never added in the cost of benefits, lots of time off, nice pension/retirement health care benefits after 20 only years, and the fact that she has a guaranteed job for life after the first couple of years. Many in the private sector envy all that.
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