So tired of the "teachers work for free every day" FB posts

[kenly777]

I think the reason why you hear teachers complaining is because people are always complaining about teachers. When was the last time you read a thread complaining about other professions? There is a new teacher bashing thread every day. That's why teachers need to speak up for themselves.

We work very hard. Feel free to sign up at your local college registrar if you feel that it is so easy. It's not.

 

[Ceila]

I think the reason why you hear teachers complaining is because people are always complaining about teachers. When was the last time you read a thread complaining about other professions? There is a new teacher bashing thread every day. That's why teachers need to speak up for themselves.

We work very hard. Feel free to sign up at your local college registrar if you feel that it is so easy. It's not.

Seriously? Lawyers. Doctors. HR. IT. Retail. Do you want more?

 

[declansdad]

I told you it would happen.

 

[Ceila]

I told you it would happen.

Was your original post removed? I don't see it. Anyway, I still don't see any teacher bashing going on.

 

[Maggie Lizer]

My DSis is a teacher and I have always had a lot of respect for her - she is AMAZING, teaching middle school math - and for teachers in general. I guess I just find that kind of FB post like a "fishing for compliments" kind of thing. Annoying and self-congratulatory. My DSis doesn't complain about long hours, or try to justify or explain her "summer off" by pointing to the fact that she isn't technically paid for the "vacation." She chose to be a teacher because she had a calling. She studied engineering in college, did it for a couple of years, and truly hated it. She was great with kids, especially younger teens, and tutored a bit during summers while she was in college. She knew about teacher salaries, a fact my dad used to try to dissuade her from changing professions, but that didn't really matter as much as having a job she felt she was overwhelming perfect for.

When I do see those FB posts, I don't reply or like. I just assume my friend must have been having a bit of a bad day, or heard an unpleasant comment from someone (maybe a parent) and needed a boost.

And, as an attorney, I can say that we as a profession are far more reviled than teachers. I have heard more than my fair share of nasty and rude comments about lawyers. I don't post pro-lawyer crap on FB, though. I just know I enjoy my job and am good at what I do.

 

[Christine]

I think teachers feel undervalued. They are paid by the taxpayer, not paid what most of them are worth, but are highly accountable to the public for their performance and provide one of our most need/valuable services to the public. I think when people feel unappreciated, they post things like that or say things. I sort of get it.

I am a salaried government worker. I don't get overtime either and I constantly read in the paper and on internet forums how useless government employees are. It gets hard hearing that all the time when you know and believe you are doing an important job, that you enjoy your job, and that you put in WAY more than 40 hours a week on it but here nothing but what slackers you are by the public. It makes you want people to understand how hard you work. Everyone wants recognition and to feel like what they do matters to people. I guess the only people that get that glory are the people who work for profit.

 

[declansdad]

Was your original post removed? I don't see it. Anyway, I still don't see any teacher bashing going on.

Wow! Apparently it was.

The bashing hasn't been as mean as it has been in the past but it is there. I am happy to say that for once, most posts have been supportive of teachers.

 

[Ceila]

Wow! Apparently it was.

The bashing hasn't been as mean as it has been in the past but it is there. I am happy to say that for once, most posts have been supportive of teachers.

Weird. I don't remember anything being against the rules with it. I mean, I didn't agree with what you said, but I definitely didn't see anything wrong with you saying it. Sometimes I think I'll never understand the moderation here.

 

[Patience]

Just to get this out of the way, I like teachers and my daughters have been blessed with some very good ones over the years. Since my girls are 13 years apart in age, I have and will continue to be involved in the K-12 educational system for many years and have dealt with and will continue to deal with a lot of teachers. My youngest started Kindergarten the year my oldest started college so, by the time it's all said and done, I will have been involved in K-12 schools for 26 years in a row (minus the 3 years we homeschooled).

That being said, I completely understand what the teachers are saying about not being paid for summers even if they receive a check during those months. I get it. They are being paid for 10 months of work. The problem I have with it is that teachers tend to express their salary in yearly terms. "I earn $46,000 per year". They then compare that figure to other professional salaries and argue that they are underpaid. In other words, they are comparing part-time work to full-time work when they express their salary on a yearly basis. Now, I am not saying that teachers work part-time during the school year. They do work full-time for ten months out of the year and I don't dispute at all that they occasionally or even often have to put in extra hours during those ten months. That is, however, not any different than most professionals who, in my experience, rarely work solely from nine to five, five days per week. The difference is that other professionals work their hours, including extra hours for which they receive no extra compensation, for 12 months out of the year instead of 10.

I also think teachers tend to forget when discussing their pay that they are one of the few remaining professions that receives a pension. A pension is a huge benefit that a lot of professionals, even professionals with advanced degrees, do not receive. My husband is a professional who is lucky enough to work in a job where he will receive a pension and his employer contributes to his 401(k) as do we. I, on the other hand, am also a professional with an advanced degree and I am required to fund my own retirement and will never have a pension with a guaranteed monthly income in my old age. In other words, a pension is a huge benefit that many teachers do not consider when evaluating their pay because they won't receive the financial benefit for a long time. It is nonetheless a huge financial benefit of the job and one that a lot of teachers do not consider when evaluating their pay.

 

[Dizlvr]

Okay...have to speak up here.
My DD is a teacher.....and yes, she knew she was salaried
What she didn't know is how many extra hours she would have to work. She has duty 4 days a week before school, the other day is meetings. She has to tutor 2 days a week after school, another afternoon is meetings.

She has to buy a lot of her own supplies.....she bought 90 spiral bound notebooks before school started. She has over 90 students. Teaches 4th grade math. She wouldn't have enough Kleenex or sanitizer for the year. She usually trades paper to another teacher for Kleenex.

She usually has to do her planning on one of her weekend days.

She does not get paid over the summer.....they get a lump at the end of the school year. She has 6 weeks off over summer, but longer breaks in the rest of the year.
Their benefits went down for this year.

I have already bought snacks for her to take to school because some of the kids have no lunch. She is in a Title One school, so they do get some food provided, but a lot of the kids do not bring their supplies in, so she is always buying pencils, notebooks and other things.

AZ is a low paying school area and not the best of schools in a lot of districts.
And there are not enough subs. They really can't take days off unless it is really an emergency. No subs, means the other 2 teachers in the group get that one class of kids divided between them.

Not all school districts are the same.

OP, is your dd a new teacher? Did she agree to the duty 4 day a week and tutoring when she signed her contract? Was she aware of what a Tite 1 school was? I read through what you claim she didn't know but it seems with any research one could have easily found all those things out, especially if one was going into that profession.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

You can't clean up from one activity and prepare for the next activity at home. Lesson plans and many other things that can be done at home are.

Of course teachers can stretch their 10 month salary over 12 months but we are still only getting paid for 10 months.

Do you know teachers who get free health care? I don't know any. We pay out of every single paycheck toward our healthcare.

I don't earn anywhere close to $90,000 a year. Only people at the very top step in my area earn that much. They deserve it.

Teachers in our district DO get free health insurance for themselves, but no help toward their family's expense. They too are paid well below that $90,000 mark.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I also think teachers tend to forget when discussing their pay that they are one of the few remaining professions that receives a pension. A pension is a huge benefit that a lot of professionals, even professionals with advanced degrees, do not receive. My husband is a professional who is lucky enough to work in a job where he will receive a pension and his employer contributes to his 401(k) as do we. I, on the other hand, am also a professional with an advanced degree and I am required to fund my own retirement and will never have a pension with a guaranteed monthly income in my old age. In other words, a pension is a huge benefit that many teachers do not consider when evaluating their pay because they won't receive the financial benefit for a long time. It is nonetheless a huge financial benefit of the job and one that a lot of teachers do not consider when evaluating their pay.

You do know that most if not all public pensions are underfunded which means that down the road, most of us teachers will never get much of a pension. I started teaching in a public school system when I was 22 and am now 29. I don't count on my pension to help me through my retirement years because the money is just not there! The state may guarantee a monthly income for my retirement but if the money isn't there, trust me they will go back on it or slash it. I will be lucky to get back the money the state takes out of my paycheck every pay period. I'm a person who thinks ahead so I started my own 403B when I was 23 to save for my retirement on my own.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I definitely think teachers are one of the more picked upon professions (though hardly the only one) out there. No doubt about it. So, we understand the defensive posture.

However, the kind of comments OP pointed out are things that can make teachers an easy target. There are issues that are unique to teaching & there are issues that are NOT unique to teaching. And when teachers try to lay claim to the latter as theirs exclusively (even while in defense of the former), it opens the entire profession up to ridicule. And that's why OP, who is in fact a teacher, is so put off by such nonsense

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I think the reason why you hear teachers complaining is because people are always complaining about teachers. When was the last time you read a thread complaining about other professions? There is a new teacher bashing thread every day. That's why teachers need to speak up for themselves.

We work very hard. Feel free to sign up at your local college registrar if you feel that it is so easy. It's not.

You do know that most if not all public pensions are underfunded which means that down the road, most of us teachers will never get much of a pension. I started teaching in a public school system when I was 22 and am now 29. I don't count on my pension to help me through my retirement years because the money is just not there! The state may guarantee a monthly income for my retirement but if the money isn't there, trust me they will go back on it or slash it. I will be lucky to get back the money the state takes out of my paycheck every pay period. I'm a person who thinks ahead so I started my own 403B when I was 23 to save for my retirement on my own.

We're fortunate in that our state teacher pension is well managed. So, teachers here don't face that issue. Those folks next door in IL though - whoo boy! What a mess.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

Of course teachers can stretch their 10 month salary over 12 months but we are still only getting paid for 10 months.

I have seen this stated a number of times. Can you explain it more? Does this mean when I see a report the teachers in our school district make on average $45,000 per year that they do not acually make that amount and the real number is 10/12 * $45,000 or $37,500 per year?

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

We're fortunate in that our state teacher pension is well managed. So, teachers here don't face that issue. Those folks next door in IL though - whoo boy! What a mess.

I work in RI and they unfortunately do not have a great reputation for managing money well lol.

 

[SirDuff]

I have seen this stated a number of times. Can you explain it more? Does this mean when I see a report the teachers in our school district make on average $45,000 per year that they do not acually make that amount and the real number is 10/12 * $45,000 or $37,500 per year?

No (at least not in any tables I've seen). They make $45,000/year, which can be paid out as either $4,500/month for 10 months or $3,750/month over 12 months. Their annual salary does not change.

 

[Christine]

I have seen this stated a number of times. Can you explain it more? Does this mean when I see a report the teachers in our school district make on average $45,000 per year that they do not acually make that amount and the real number is 10/12 * $45,000 or $37,500 per year?

The way I have interpreted it is that teacher salary is $45,000 per year which is for 10 months of work. If you wanted to see what a "true" salary was comparatively, you would take that number and determine what they *would* make if they worked a 12 month year. That would give you true 12 month salary. As it stands, in this example, they get $45K for working 10 months.

 

[EMAW_KSU]

No (at least not in any tables I've seen). They make $45,000/year, which can be paid out as either $4,500/month for 10 months or $37,500/month over 12 months. Their annual salary does not change.

That is what I have always thought but the statement about only getting paid for 10 months does not make sense to me.

 

[Christine]

No (at least not in any tables I've seen). They make $45,000/year, which can be paid out as either $4,500/month for 10 months or $37,500/month over 12 months. Their annual salary does not change.

Don't you mean $45,000 over 12 months AND 10 months? That is what is happening with my coworker's daughter.