About 40% of those people who major in education, get a teaching job and start teaching wash out before the 5th year. I have taught and I have worked in an office. The major difference is that when you are working in an office you do not have to be paying 100% attention 100% of the time. And, when you leave work, you leave work. Each class requires about 20 minutes of prep time if you are revising lessons you have done before, which is necessary because no two groups of students need exactly the same thing. For that matter, no two students need exactly the same thing. If it’s a new lesson, an hour and a half is more likely. After getting a total of 6 1/2 years of college and working for 32 years, I was making slightly less than my nephew was two years into a sales job. All of the ideas for improving education add about 20% to the classroom hours, and no additional money seems to be available to get extra people to help with the job, let alone to pay the current teacher an amount that is any where close to what they are worth. Eventually, they are going to get to the point where no one with the intelligence to do the job is going to be dumb enough to take it.
Hear, hear! I agree with this last post completely…my mother was a teacher for many years, from the 70’s through the 90’s, and there was a lot more work to do than many people seem to realize. I was often called in to help her set up her classroom in the beginning of the school year and to clean it up at the end of the year. I watched her spend her own money to buy things the school budget couldn’t always stretch to afford.
And don’t even get me started on this ridiculous notion of “no child left behind”! Not all students are at an equal level of ability, and with more & more rules and regulations being added by “study groups” of “concerned citizens”, the teachers have less time available to give students the individual attention they might need.
Teachers do need to be held accountable but the current trend seems to be to give them the blame for anything outside of “perfect” in the classroom. Just the other day the principal of the school where I have taught for 15 years, decided I needed to be mentored (by a teacher who has taught 1/2 days for 4 years), because there were too many failing grades in my classes. Never mind that the number of missing assignments of the failing students is higher than the number of students themselves. The fact I’ve reminded them of their assignments several times doesn’t matter either, it is my fault. Sigh, this too shall pass (although I’m not so sure of some of the kids.)
prince valiant Premium Member over 8 years ago
If only.
Diane Lee Premium Member over 8 years ago
About 40% of those people who major in education, get a teaching job and start teaching wash out before the 5th year. I have taught and I have worked in an office. The major difference is that when you are working in an office you do not have to be paying 100% attention 100% of the time. And, when you leave work, you leave work. Each class requires about 20 minutes of prep time if you are revising lessons you have done before, which is necessary because no two groups of students need exactly the same thing. For that matter, no two students need exactly the same thing. If it’s a new lesson, an hour and a half is more likely. After getting a total of 6 1/2 years of college and working for 32 years, I was making slightly less than my nephew was two years into a sales job. All of the ideas for improving education add about 20% to the classroom hours, and no additional money seems to be available to get extra people to help with the job, let alone to pay the current teacher an amount that is any where close to what they are worth. Eventually, they are going to get to the point where no one with the intelligence to do the job is going to be dumb enough to take it.
AtypicalReader over 8 years ago
Hear, hear! I agree with this last post completely…my mother was a teacher for many years, from the 70’s through the 90’s, and there was a lot more work to do than many people seem to realize. I was often called in to help her set up her classroom in the beginning of the school year and to clean it up at the end of the year. I watched her spend her own money to buy things the school budget couldn’t always stretch to afford.
And don’t even get me started on this ridiculous notion of “no child left behind”! Not all students are at an equal level of ability, and with more & more rules and regulations being added by “study groups” of “concerned citizens”, the teachers have less time available to give students the individual attention they might need.
gooddavid over 8 years ago
Teachers do need to be held accountable but the current trend seems to be to give them the blame for anything outside of “perfect” in the classroom. Just the other day the principal of the school where I have taught for 15 years, decided I needed to be mentored (by a teacher who has taught 1/2 days for 4 years), because there were too many failing grades in my classes. Never mind that the number of missing assignments of the failing students is higher than the number of students themselves. The fact I’ve reminded them of their assignments several times doesn’t matter either, it is my fault. Sigh, this too shall pass (although I’m not so sure of some of the kids.)