Recession - Depression

My mom was an Ohio public school teacher so I saw it firsthand. No media "robot" programming here. She worked her butt off for very little compensation but she loved what she did and enjoyed helping others.

They may get a few extra holidays but they work just as much if not more then some so called executives I've seen. I'm not saying they should make six figures a year I just think they should earn more than a bartender or waitress, no?

Anyway, sorry to derail. Good luck again with the search.

 

Spoken like a true believer who likely has no idea what's involved with an actual teaching gig.

Got any direct experience to back up your mouth?

 

I offered a teacher a ride in RobertM's Ferrari.

Also let her name my puppy.

Scottie

 

lol @ thinking teachers jobs are hard and that they should make $100k-$200k a year. A lot of my friends are school teachers now where we grew up while I'm still in med school. My work, which is just studying, takes a lot more time and effort than theirs. And if I do end up in primary care, my job will pay in the $100-200k with a lot more liability. No teacher should ever make that much. Their job isn't hard.

 

AHAHAHAHA... what a joke. Teachers like to complain, do nothing, then collect their paychecks. Slack job akin with government work.

 

Keep your opinions to yourself or in OOT. I don't think anyone here is appreciative of them.

 

People never appreciate information that differs from what they know, but it is how we learn. Sorry if it offended you. Enzothecat seemed to appreciate my honesty, so I'm not sure you speak for everyone.

 

ditto wingfeather!!

the teacher unions are the big problem. ex. AFT & NEA

"Modeled after labor arrangements in factories (see: GM, Chrysler), the typical teachers union contract is loaded with provisions that do not promote education. These provisions drive away good teachers, protect bad teachers, raise costs, and tie principals’ hands."

- thanks teacher unions

 

Usually don't quote entire posts, but that is well worth clicking, kids.

 

I grew up in NJ and there are about 500 school districts. Each town has their own. The town I grew up in was in an affluent area and the high school principal makes about 200K a year for a school with 1000 kids and the superintendent of the towns schools makes about $250K. The football coach is a gym teacher and makes $175K a year, but he has been there for 40 years, and the basketball coach is also a teacher and was making $100,000 and he was only there for 5 years at the time. All kids have to walk to school. so they arent paying for busing and the tax rate is really high. My cousin was a regular teacher in another district in NJ and retired after 25 years and was making over 90K.

The unions are what is causing the problem. The people are paying higher taxes and the teachers arent paying close to what the average person pays for benefits. The governor in NJ is trying to consolidate districts to save money and make teachers pay more for their benefits, bujt the teacher union is fighting against it.

The unions are also causing problems with the police department too. My brother lives in a medium sized town and the chief of police makes about $200k and a lot of the cops work overtime and make 120K. My cousin is a detective, and said he is retiring after 30 years since he maxed out hiis pension. He can now get a job with Homeland Security, collect his pension which is almost what he was making, and then work another 10 years, take early retirement and collect social security too. But being a cop is lot harder than being a teacher in most places.

 

While some teachers in some places might be overpaid, you guys are absolutely crazy if you think most teachers have a 'slack job'.

Wow....

My wife is a school teacher, and averages 50 hours per week, and has to deal with kids whose parents are too caught up in their owns to raise their kids properly... It is easy for people to make opinions when they have no experience. She hasn't recieved any raise in 4 years, and often times as much time raising the parents and she does the students. I would imagine that controling employees whom you hold a paycheck over their head is far easier then managing 220 12 year olds whose parents never taught them that they had to listen to adults.

If life and maturity has taught me one thing it is that generalizations are for the self-blinded ignorant (how is that for being hypocritical). Nothing is black and white and spouting off how a professional of many hard working people who do care based on the few is amazing. My wife works harder then many people I know...

Luckily I tend not to value those who devalue their own opinions with gross generalizations, and that's my opinion.

 

Yikes! That looks like a damn disease!!

In one of my classes a couple people said that they had lost their jobs and their best option was to get back into school so they could live off of student loans. While I'm not an advocate for anyone racking up a ton of debt, I don't think their plan is entirely terrible. They will be more educated by the time more jobs (hopefully) become available.

I was also part of a discussion in class regarding media sensationalism and how they scare the public for ratings. Someone pointed out that while unemployment rates are high at 10%, there are still 90% of people that do have jobs. We have a propensity to focus on the "scary" statistics because that's the manner in which the information is presented. When you look at it from a positive angle, where 9/10 people are employed, it's a little less frightening.

My heart really goes out to the OP and those of you that have lost your jobs or had spouses who have. I count my blessings every day that I've been very fortunate through this brutal economy.

 

Income has nothing to do with how 'hard' a job is... and how hard a job is has nothing to do with income. Wouldn't you agree, as somebody who has chosen an intellectually challenging job as yourself, that their are many ways to rate the difficulty of a job?

It seems you are looking down on a profession as a whole rather and making rash judgment, apparently against those who are not as intelligent or have put in the work like you have (or at least put in the work by your judgment of the word). I know one school teacher who finished college while pregnant, working two jobs. Now everyday of her life she has to eat crap from students and parents who don't care, and try to take on both roles as she attempts to mold them into productive citizens. I married her and I take offense to your statement.

Then again a guy working in a coal mine, doing physical labor 14 hours a day, would probably disagree that studying is hard work, so opinions are relative...

 

PS to the OP I am sorry about your situation.

 

My opinion is based on my personal experience with the Florida public education system. I went to public schools from K through 12. Public university (UF) and now a public med school. The quality of all of them is not good. I've had to teach myself more than any of the rest by far.

Med school? Complete waste of time to go to or watch lectures that are archived. The professors are simply not that good and when you ask a question out of the ppt slides, they don't know. The only reason I watch lecture is to correct stuff in the slides and cross stuff out we don't need to know. My classmates and I are pretty disappointed this is the way it is when we pay $30k/yr in tuition.

I only had three good teachers in high school (AP calc, AP psych, and athletic training). Those three honestly cared about their jobs and it showed when they taught. The rest of the teachers never showed up early to school and always arrived to unlock the door when the bell rang to start class. Rarely stayed after. Didn't offer much in answers for questions that were outside the overhead projector. Pretty much a joke. In elementary, my parents spent more time and effort teaching me than any of the teachers did.

Like I said earlier, I have a few friends that are currently teachers and I definitely wouldn't call their 9 month a year job difficult one bit. They enjoy it as well as the benefits and don't consider it challenging. A few of my med school classmates used to be teachers and hate the pay-for-performance crap since it's up to the students to perform well (and their parents), which I agree. The entire system is a joke. The teachers that actually care end up leaving for something else most of the time and the ones that stay just care about their salaries and pensions.

I know, I used to work for the gov't (Federal) and couldn't take that crap anymore. Financially speaking, I would have been better off staying in DC getting paid $75k+/yr now as a 25 year old rather than taking on loads of debt working for an uncertain future. I just don't care about the pay or pension if the job isn't difficult.

As far as what makes a difficult job, I'm envious of construction works and fabricators. Once I get enough free time, I plan on building my own stuff (wooden boat, airplane, etc). that stuff takes a lot of skill and is satisfying when you complete something and see you made a difference.

Edit: And when people say undergrad degrees are now too common, I agree. Colleges and universities are about making money and it's pretty clear with what they provide in the form of "education" (a joke) and how much it costs for what you get. It's unbelievable that crap hasn't collapsed yet. It's no wonder we have a lack trade professions since everyone now goes to undergrad to party for 4 years and get a "degree." Now you have places like the University of Phoenix Online diluting grad school and it will eventually make those degrees worthless. It's pretty sad when you think about it.