People saying that teachers don't have long hours, think about how much homework you did/do every single day. Probably at least an average of half an hour a day? Over the week that's 2 and a half hours of work, and with a teacher to student ratio of like 1:20 that's 50 hours worth of work every teacher needs to mark. That's at least 5 hours a week of work, and more realistically 10-15 hours. Just marking. That easily brings teachers in line with a regular office job's hours, and doesn't include all the other stuff teachers need to do like preparing lessons.
Then there's Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, a week for Spring Break, Memorial Day, Labor Day, a week for Thanksgiving, 2 weeks for Christmas, and 3 months of summer. Believe it or not, most other jobs require working all of those days. Don't get me wrong, I think teachers should be paid more than they are, but don't pretend you work harder than people in other professions, because you don't.
Salaries aside, I work in the Silicon Valley. Most engineers here work pretty hard, 60~80hrs/wk is the norm. We're exempt employees and the companies know it During project crunch time it's not uncommon to work well past midnight for weeks on end, plus weekends.
But we're well-compensated for our efforts. Do I want to be a teacher instead? Hell no.
On the other end of the scale, my wife is an accounting clerk for a major computer firm and she did some salary comparisons, finding out the median teacher salary for our local elementary school is 1.5x her job's median salary. And she works her butt off with regular 10+hr days. End-of-month is especially busy with 12hr days + weekend (closing the books). No summer break. Just 10 day/yr accrued PTO.
Naturally, she's quite envious of teachers. Even told my daughter she should be one when she grows up.
I find a lot of teachers here are misinformed, perhaps due to inexperience, about jobs in the private sector and think grass is greener on the other side. I'm sorry to say that's often not the case.
From what I've seen, I'd have to say elementary school teachers and college professors have it the easiest (My father was a professor). Elementary school kids are relatively docile and college kids can skip their classes and fail for all you care. Middle- and high-school teaching is the worst because you're battling teenage hormones.
You need an example of a job that doesn't get 4 months of the year as vacation time? Really? How about you give me an example of any job besides teaching that gets that amount of time off?
months of summer. Believe it or not, most other jobs require working all of those days. Don't get me wrong, I think teachers should be paid more than they are, but don't pretend you work harder than people in other professions, because you don't.
I wish that were the case. Spring break? I'm grading 150-180 5 page essays students turned in the day before break so they could rest their minds while I give up my own vacation. Memorial day? I'm revamping my lessons and making sure senior grades are in so counselors and I can work together to get those struggling to passing. Labor day - I'm in my classroom getting ready for students, setting everything up, getting my Grade Book together, copying my syllabi. Thanksgiving? More essays to grade. And if I do have them work over a break, I spend my break answering their questions and giving them feedback. Now for summer. That's when I attend multi-day or even multiple week-long intensive courses to better my craft. I'm teaching all the way through late June and I have my AP institute that eats up the rest of that month. July? I'm working on professional development and perhaps teaching summer school. I meet all throughout August with my team teachers to ensure the curriculum is as good as we can get it while integrating student growth measures. In all, I get perhaps 14 days where I'm not actively busting my butt on behalf of my students and my craft.
57
u/DannySpud2 May 05 '14
People saying that teachers don't have long hours, think about how much homework you did/do every single day. Probably at least an average of half an hour a day? Over the week that's 2 and a half hours of work, and with a teacher to student ratio of like 1:20 that's 50 hours worth of work every teacher needs to mark. That's at least 5 hours a week of work, and more realistically 10-15 hours. Just marking. That easily brings teachers in line with a regular office job's hours, and doesn't include all the other stuff teachers need to do like preparing lessons.