Teacher Criticisms...(rant)

ChRiStA_1983

What Do Teachers Make?
by Author Unknown



The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education.

He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?"

He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: "Those who can...do. Those who can't...teach."

To corroborate, he said to another guest: "You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make?"



"I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could."

“I make kids believe in themselves when no one else will.”

"I make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best."

"I make parents tremble in fear when I call home"

"You want to know what I make?

"I make kids wonder."

"I make them question."

"I make them criticize."

"I make them apologize and mean it."

"I make them write."

"I make them read, read, read."

"I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, and definitely beautiful over and over and over again, until they will never misspell either one of those words again."

"I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English."

"I make them understand that if you have a dream, then follow it...and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make or what you do, you pay them no attention."

"You want to know what I make?!"

"I make a difference."

"What about you?"

This is FANTASTIC....Thank you so much for sharing!

jennajava

And as far as I know, my district doesn't pay for the Masters program. LOL We don't even have writing paper for our kids!

THIS! All you teacher bashers, do YOU buy all of the supplies for your job? Because I do!

We have a pretty fair-sized list of school supplies we purchase every year, in addition to the school fees and property taxes.

Not complaining, just sayin'.

Awesome for those teachers. I work in a Title 1 School District. This means the majority of the children live below the poverty line. They don't buy the things on that list, because they can't.

Me too! I have to find ways to make the little bit of school supplies we get from a local charity last all year.

I cut things out of my grocery budget at the beginning of the school year to squeeze it in.

Cr8tive_Ingenuity

I was a biology/phsyical science high school teacher here in the State of Flori-duh. Its not necessarily the teachers that are the problem its more of the Board of Education. No child left behind is a joke, it should be abolished. If a kid is 16 and is only taking learning as a joke and is more of a hands on guy, then he should be allowed to drop out. Secondly I also blame the parents. So many parents dont take part in there kids education. They expect the schools do everything.

Here in Florida, the Superintendent might last 4 to 8 years try to change the system, the look to get into politics. Then another Superintendent is hired and says I have a new path to increase learning. The cycle continues and continues.

Home schooling is okay but my big issue with it is that there are alot of errors in books and unless you are a professional in the field, you will not realize what you are reading is wrong and teach it and that can be a big issue with homeschooling. Then again there are plenty of errors in textbooks and teachers dont necessarily find them either.

I have a BS in Biology so if i see an error I can figure it out. I do not have a degree in education. I know plenty of hardworking teachers who put so much of their own money into it and dont get any rate of return on it except personal accomplishment when they actually see a student go above and beyond

That_Girl

But I will back out from this conversation. People who don't know where I teach just don't get it.

I love my job, I do my job the best I can and even when I am told to Eff Off by kids, I don't let it get to me...

Just like this conversation won't get to me because I know that every era needs a scapegoat...teachers are the scapegoat right now. That's fine. I just wish the complainers would come in and show me a better way...cause sometimes I'm at a loss.

UsedToBeHusky

My kids are older now (16 and 19), but we home schooled both of them. My oldest is in his first year of law school, my youngest is finishing up her associate's degree. These were kids who were very poorly served in public school for various reasons, and it wasn't because they were geniuses. They aren't little Einsteins--just average kids who needed to be taught to their talents, and otherwise left alone to explore.

I am not politically conservative in the least, but would just like schools to go back to emphasizing academic excellence. Let kids learn at their own pace; don't dumb down, and don't whip kids with learning differences to perform beyond their abilities and make them feel like total failures.

I think the educational system in the US is broken, and needs a major reinvention. Until that time, I think throwing money at it isn't going to help. And, yes, I think teachers work very hard, and deserve to be paid well, but I think unions hurt their cause by making people resent that they keep the bad apples at work and advocate for payment methods that do not reward the best teachers.

^^This

jennajava

And as far as I know, my district doesn't pay for the Masters program. LOL We don't even have writing paper for our kids!

THIS! All you teacher bashers, do YOU buy all of the supplies for your job? Because I do!

I think you are forgetting the small business owners (and micro business owners) - like myself. I work my *kitten* off. I buy my supplies. I do my own business development. I do my own work. I am the IT guy. I am the mail guy. but HEY...I am not complaining. because I CHOSE this profession. Just like the teachers did!

seriously, why are some teachers on here bashing those who aren't teachers. Just because you buy your supplies (and trust me, I know you do..and I KNOW you spend a LOT OF $$$ And time on doing outside work)...but don't think you are the only ones.

#GRINDING daily.

My husband is a small business owner. I'm well aware of what you pay for, because I pay for it too. I wasn't bashing anyone, other than the ignorant person who thought my school pays for everything.

meg7399

First off, I am a teacher.

I teach in a community/technological college. I see the product of the American education system and all I can say is that if I worked on a production line and put out that kind of a product, I would be fired.

I enjoy teaching older students because they recognize the value of spelling and grammar as well as making a study schedule. They work hard and expect a lot from themselves.

The younger group, for the most part, have no clue what a study schedule is, expect to not have homework, can't spell, have no concept of capitalizing the first word of a sentence or using punctuation, and can't do simple math without a calculator. Additionally, they have no research skills, believe any of the Wiki sites are suitable for research papers, copy and paste without citations, and then wonder why I gave them an 'F' on their paper.

I have to re-teach every student who comes out of schools these days. I have to have them bring in calendars and create a study schedule. I have to explain to them how to take notes, how to do assignments, and how to study for tests. I still have students that will ask me what is on the tests because they can't seem to grasp an understanding of what is important and what isn't important, even when I stand up and say, "Now this is important, so pay attention."

They want every test to be a multiple choice test. They panic when they have to write out a paragraph for short answer essay. Half the time I have to find an interpreter to read their printing. They don't know how to write in cursive. Those that do write must be going on to be doctors because I sometimes have to ask who the paper belongs to or what it says.

They call me at all hours of the day, and sometimes at night, because everything is an 'emergency'. They can't follow the syllabus. Most don't hand in assignments on time and some even insist that the assignments are optional according to the school. If they were optional, would I have assigned them points and included the points in the final point count?

Few students coming out of school have logic or reasoning abilities. They can't read well enough to understand the material that is presented to them. Simple words stump them, so you can imagine what larger words associated with Anatomy and Physiology do to them. They can't form complete sentences and half their sentences make no sense.

I wouldn't worry so much if this was just one or two students coming out of highschool. Unfortunately, this has been about 95% of the students coming out of highschool. That's another thing: I put the number of points that they get correct on their test and they can't figure out the percentage that they got on the test. I have to do it for them!!

What people don't realize is that the ACT, PSAT, and SAT (tests used for college placement) have been dumbed-down so that the students today can get an acceptable score! Otherwise, there would only be Asian, Middle East, African, and European students in our colleges and universities.

Do I think that teachers deserve a raise? Not when they are producing the students that I have to re-teach every block.

The raises that teachers receive should be tied to how well their students do. Yes, there are students whose parents don't encourage them. Yes, there are students who don't want to crack open a book. I've had some of those as well. You motivate them. You talk with the parents and motivate them as well. If they are not interested in their child's education, then you talk to Social Service and Child Protection.

I homeschooled both my children from fifth grade on. Why? My daughter kept being passed on to the next grade even though she could not read, so I took the reins and pulled her out of school. She is an avid reader now and an electrician. My son kept getting beat up in fifth grade by a gang of girls. They didn't just beat up him, they beat up other boys as well. He ended up with a concussion and fractured ribs, so I pulled him out of school. This happened in the playground in front of playground monitors, by the way! He is now an honor student at Penn State. They both scored higher than children who went through public and private schooling on their placement tests.

We live in a society where knowledge is necessary to make a living, yet our students are not being educated well enough to prepare them well enough to make a living. They can't balance their check books, read, write, think for themselves, think logically, perform math, etc. They don't have the motivation to do anything other than what is asked of them. They need their hands held for just about everything. In Europe, adolescents are cognizant of the world and their place in it. In America, adolescents are cognizant of only themselves and what's in it for them.

I blame this on a school system who wants to make every child feel good. The every child is a winner concept is ridiculous because it makes children less motivated. Why excel if you are not going to be recognized for what you do? So every child produced will be mediocre at best and that is pretty much what I am seeing in the community colleges today.

Wow, as a teacher I am shocked half of these things even came out of your mouth. I will say I am most shocked by your lack of correct grammar. For beating up on HS grads so much you would THINK you would at least know to not end a sentence in a preposistion! You do realize we do not get to CHOOSE what we teach. It is mandated by the states. I would love to teach students to write a proper research paper with correct grammar (maybe I'll teach you one day as well). However, this is not the luxury I have in my job. While we are throwing stones, please remember you will have students who struggle more, as you teach at a community college. Students who can study for themselves and score high on college tests go to universities and state schools. You think you would at least be grateful that the students you have are looking to better themselves instead of on the streets.

livehappe

It's not so black and white. There is so much wrong on so many levels. SO many parents don't do their part, and So many teachers don't do there's. I'm in and out of different classrooms every day, I see many excellent teachers, and I see many horrible teachers.
To me, it's not really a matter of who's to blame. The fact is that as a nation, we are failing our students. And something different needs to be done.

I have two graduated, one graduates this year and one next year. If I had to do it again, no way in hell would my kids be in this school system.

This is very true. That's why I, as a teacher, support merit-based pay.

I'm a teacher, and I have created a computerized program that gets better results in literacy. I devoted hours and hours to making the program, and paid for it out of my own pocket. On top of that, I spent hours with kids, helping them succeed on their tests. I work with the most disadvantaged kids, in tough schools, and I consider my work ethic to be top notch.
But, I do not support merit-based pay. No way. It saddens me that the guy in the classroom next door leaves at 3 o'clock and doesn't really care about the kids. It frustrates me that not everyone is as invested as I am. But, I believe in teachers. Most teachers are great people who care about the kids first and foremost.
And, teaching is only going to get better if we make it a team sport. It's already catty, undermining, judgmental and cruel in the staffroom (not all staffrooms- I've worked in 13 schools- but in a lot of staffrooms). We need to come together.
I love the comments made by the person who started this discussion. Those who do not teach and who make nasty comments, do not understand. But, those of us who do teach--- we get it. We know why the test scores are low. We know why kids are failing. It's not because of bad teachers. To pit us against each other with pay bonuses, and watch those be unfairly rewarded, withdrawn, and all the issues that will come with that, is a very dangerous move.
People outside of teaching do not understand the commitment.

Savyna

My mother was a teacher in NYC for about 30 years until she had to retire early due to a late disability. Teachers should have a better salary as well as more money in general to have better teaching facilities and the like. People are willing to pay sports people over a millions dollars to watch them throw balls around for about 5-7 months (not that that's wrong or bad because I guess its entertainment) but they at some point had teachers as well, and what does it say about a society that is willing to spend so much on something like that when they won't really give the time of day to teachers in the public school sector trying to teach kids and bring them to university level to then graduate and go on with their lives? Time and time again we hear on the news about how our schools are failing and/or are subpar to other countries who might not be as big as ours but they are depending on the education system to teach the future generations to help their country propel themselves into the greater markets to compete. Our systems used to be great until the government around the 80s shifted the money from education to other things. If we don't teach the next generations properly you can't really expect the US to really dominate as many fields anymore.

_binary_jester_

Awesome for those teachers. I work in a Title 1 School District. This means the majority of the children live below the poverty line. They don't buy the things on that list, because they can't.

Normally the school supplies run around $80 to $100 per year per child. I'd feel terrible if the teachers had to pay out of pocket for them.

cloud2011

My husband has had 3 careers, one as a naval officer, one in business, and a third career in teaching.

The least respect? Teaching. The least amount of money? Teaching. The most vilified by politicians? Teaching.

The worst benefits? Teaching.

In contrast, my brother is a pilot, makes twice as much money, works far fewer days, and lives a much better lifestyle. No one yells at pilots as a group when flights are late, or passengers act badly.

UsedToBeHusky

Awesome for those teachers. I work in a Title 1 School District. This means the majority of the children live below the poverty line. They don't buy the things on that list, because they can't.

Normally the school supplies run around $80 to $100 per year per child. I'd feel terrible if the teachers had to pay out of pocket for them.

I try my best to pay for that stuff, but keep in mind, I am a single mom who was making less than 20k up until last year.

meg7399

Woah...teachers get paid in the summer? I don't!!! I signup for summer school so I can have some income. I also have 2 part time jobs. Missouri makes it so you have to get your M. Ed. I did...spent a year unemployed because who wants to pay for an over-qualified teacher??? I now have 30,000 in student loans!!! I make before taxes, union dues, health insurance, appox $41,000 and thats Master level pay. Its livable, but I am barely making a dent in my loans. I have seen teachers easily get fired numerous times, so unions don't protect us that well. I am expected to be a teacher, a nurse, parent, counselor, social worker, chef, bathroom attendent, friend and baby sitter with my kids. Its a hard job that requires constant training! Its not a nine to five job. I get here at 7am and I am home by 5:30...and I do bring work home with me. So much wrong with everything!

Our salaries are spread out over 12 months. That's all.

I have been teaching 11 years and brought home 33,000 last year. I don't complain about my salary. I have never marched for a raise, etc. I became a teacher because I love it...not for the money. I have lived comfortably, albeit paycheck to paycheck, but who doesn't these days?

I, too, have about 28,000 in student loans (since 1998! The interest just grows! UGH!) But I was told to wait to get your Masters as you won't be hired at entry level with a Masters and they don't want to pay.

I really hate the politics of the educational system. I just love to teach. Last year's class was SO AWESOME! We had a ball and most kids went up 2 levels on the state exam. I was in heaven. This year...it's trying my patience and I'm a bit frustrated, but...they can be taught. I just have to up my game a bit.

Yes, the Masters degree really hurt me. Sadly I earned it while working in a private setting and then got laid off! I then tried getting a public school position with a Masters with 5 years exp and yes not good!! Nice to know that my loans won't be going anywhere any time soon! Yuck! I love to teach too! This year I have 6 high school kids with Autism and they make my day!

Savyna

Also, as a daughter of a teacher I can attest to how little funding there is for teachers to do extra things in their classroom. My mom made a lot of the teaching aids to use in the classroom. She liked music so she had different songs to help her students remember division steps, songs for grammar, a lot of things. So since she had to pay for it out of pocket it would help if teachers were being paid even a little bit more so that they could be able to fund these types of things without having to worry about paying for groceries or transportation and going bankrupt.

rlwart

I'm an art teacher currently working as a K-12 substitute, and waiting for the next art teacher job to come open in my school district. I work in every grade, most recently I have worked in the places of second grade teachers, ESL (English as a second language) teachers, all grades of middle school, all grades of high school. During the day for many of the teachers I've subbed, there is maybe 30 minutes to eat lunch, maybe a 10 minute break, maybe a little more, maybe a little less. They attend weekly training for their district requirements. They are required to take continuing education classes (meaning continuing money out of their pocket or continuing student loans) to keep their teaching license up to date. They end up paying for advanced degrees (all that requiring continuing education coursework adds up) in a world where a teacher with a bachelors degree can do the same job...at entry level salary.

Teachers are mainly responsible for creating the lessons (the how-to, or if you're a crafter you would recognize it as similar to a tutorial) for their students. I have spent hours creating lessons, which I imagine gets easier over the years, but still, it does take time and energy.

All the teachers I know take work home to finish it. Either by choice or because there is not enough time during the school day. From what I can tell, their contracts, which decide the hours they're paid, require the teachers get to school before the students and stay after for what generally totals an hour, which equals an 8 hour day, not including the work they take home.

I have at times worked harder physically, but not non-stop, at a job (Linens N Things) making anywhere from $9-14 an hour as I rose from temporary to management. When I needed more training at LNT, the company sent me somewhere and they paid for it all.

I have never worked harder mentally or emotionally, or as non-stop at a job than I have while teaching. I have three boys of my own and can run a pretty tight ship, classroom management is not too hard for me, however add in one or two students with learning or behavior disabilities, and sometimes the same "good class" gets really difficult to manage, because the usually agreeable children feed off the one who, for example, has trouble with authority. Then there are the ones who complain a lot because they want to be "perfect" which to be honest, rarely happens in art, to the point that I'm more interested in imperfect art. Other subjects do expect perfection, I'm more interested in your problem solving skills.

This day I am home sick. If I had accepted a substitute job I would have made $120 today and worked my butt off and probably come home exhausted and more sick than I was (which is what happened last week.)


I had to chime in on this topic, I like to defend teachers, they work hard. I've been to a lot of schools and I have not seen even one lazy bad teacher. Even allegedly lazy bad teachers would need to work hard, because it's just a lot of work. Even making 30 students be quiet in unison long enough for the teacher to give instructions is a lot of work. ("You can't hear me if you are talking!") I worked as a church secretary for 7 years. THAT was an easy job and I still got a raise most years, are there any jobs where the workers don't ever get a raise? Oh I love a good rant.

But now I'm tired, so I think I'll go eat a bowl of vegetable soup.

rml_16

One thing I think people don't understand is that where you live makes a huge difference in what teachers are paid.

Where I grew up, a teacher without a master's degree started at $30,000 a year and with started at $35,000 and got annual raises no matter what. And where I grew up, $30,000 is still a decent chunk of change (I know this is not the case everywhere, but the COL there is extremely low even though it's a relatively well-to-do part of the country).

My father is a teacher and has been most of my life. He is not anywhere near the poorhouse. My daughter had a friend in elementary school whose mother was a teacher and her father was a police officer. They owned a $400,000 house in an area where that was a lot of money for a house.

But where I live now, teachers start at $18,000 and I don't think they get the kind of raises they do in my former state.

So when people from all over the country are comparing teacher salaries and conditions, it's like comparing apples and oranges. Some do very, very, very well. Others are living at the poverty level.

FitFi74

But I will back out from this conversation. People who don't know where I teach just don't get it.

I love my job, I do my job the best I can and even when I am told to Eff Off by kids, I don't let it get to me...

Just like this conversation won't get to me because I know that every era needs a scapegoat...teachers are the scapegoat right now. That's fine. I just wish the complainers would come in and show me a better way...cause sometimes I'm at a loss.

I'm backing out with you! It's becoming depressing and frustrating and I for one have marking to do! ;-)

meg7399

I love that so many teachers a responding during the school day (as am I). My kids are in an elective right now and I am finishing lunch. I just hope for the rep of teachers everywhere that there are other good reasons why so many teachers can take time from their day to access MFP!!! :P

Munque

I have absolutely loved some of my kids teachers, and I have absolutely hated some of them too. But often enough, just like everything else, it's the bad apples that stick out and give everyone a bad name. I'll give some examples...

The best teacher I have ever met, in my little mind she is the best teacher in the whole world. She let the kids listen to music and get up and dance and play for at least 20 minutes each day, more when time was available. Everything that could be made into a comptetion or a a play or anything was, my kids loved her class and their grades and knowledge of the lessons taught reflected it. The school got rid of her because of her deviation of the "normal" learning processes (they also weren't fond of her sexual preference). But every lesson was taught and understood. She works for the middle school now though and all my kids will get to be in her class again.

Worst teacher - sent my kid home with 2 F's on her progress report because she didn't have time to grade all the papers (you can't take back an a** whooping, I was beyond pissed). My kid got terrible grades the whole year until the teacher had a death in the family and was gone the last 3 months of school, then my kid got straight A's again. Then my son gets her, the school won't allow me to switch teachers because of their policy. When I went for teacher conference she tells me that she doesn't have time to teach them. Really? How do you not have time, every single day, the other teachers seem to be pulling it off. She also tells me that this is the worst class she's ever had (she said the same thing about my daughters class) come on, it can't be the kids every year, she's the only common factor.

Not so bright teacher - my daughter is disabled, she has left side paralysis and tbi. She wears braces and falls a lot because her balanced is skewed. They had a class party at the skating rink, of course she wanted to go so I gave her extra quarters to play the games because she can't skate. I told them that she was not to skate alone, if she skated at all, it's dangerous and would be a HUGE liability to the school. The teacher decided that she could skate if she used her gait trainer too. Didn't go out there with her, just put wheels on her feet, and gave her more wheels to help stabilize herself and pushed her out onto a slick floor. So she biffed it, within seconds and now has a bruise big enough on her hip that it makes it uncomfortable to lay on that side.

So my suggestion would be to pay actual "here for the kids" teachers more, a lot more, like tons more, and weed out all the teachers that chose the profession for the summer vacations, because the bad ones always end up giving the good ones a bad name, no matter what proffesion you're in. And Kudos to all the teachers that are worth their weight in gold.

iuangina

My students are in specials and on my planning period/lunch break. So i guess I shouldn't take a break either.