Phil Herup: Teachers got a pretty good gig.

Liberals are never satisfied however.

So all teachers are liberals?

FredaDeStilleto So? It's a profession, not a factory job. Having to work an extra 2-3 hours at night is not a big deal.

Oh, look. A moron who doesn't know anything about teaching.

When my wife taught, she was to be at work no later than 7:20 and could leave no earlier than 3:00 PM with a half hour lunch break. That's approximately a 7 hour mandatory work day, which is great, if you want to get fired because none of your work is ever done or because you're skipping meetings with spoiled parents and IEP meetings to discuss how "special snowflakes" should be legally required to have special treatment that takes away from all the kids who AREN'T simpering little attention-whore assholes.

She came home, graded papers, prepared the details for the next day's lessons, and prepared for meetings with the aforementioned idiots from the community who, for the most part, just wanted to come in and yell at people for treating their kids fairly (such as by kicking the little precious snowflake that was head of the Student Council out of the organization after it was discovered she had been cheating in multiple classes for half a semester), On the weekends she spend most of her time trying to put together ways to teach the kids dry, state-mandated material in a way that would keep them interested.

Average workweek? 7(5) + 2(5) + 6(2) = 57.

And of course there's that wonderful "three month vacation" teachers have. Of course, teachers don't have the same vacation students do, so it's actually two weeks in June, four in July, and two in August, so it's two months, and teachers have to maintain their certifications so they have to take classes, plus they generally have meetings and training organized by the school. And of course they generally only get two personal days during the school year they can schedule, not the week or two most of us get, but never mind those inconvenient little facts. And that's before we even discuss the fact that decent teachers review and revise lesson plans for the upcoming year over the summer.

All that, and she only had to go to college for six years (well, you can do four if you only want to make $35,000 a year), racking up some pretty significant student loan debt, so she could earn 85% of my salary (I have no degree) that I got paid for my 38 hour work week and rare overtime work (which I got paid more for).

Yea, she doesn't teach anymore, just like so many other competent and dedicate professionals who can easily walk across the street and get a job with better pay, better working conditions, shorter hours, and FAR less stress. And having seen what being a teacher actually entails, you couldn't TRIPLE the typical teacher salary to interest me. My wife enjoyed actually doing the teaching part, what she couldn't deal with was the endless parade of asswipes like you and politicians that constantly impede on the actual TEACHING part of teaching.

But, hey, congratulations on being one of the self-centered assholes who is responsible for the current problems in our public education system. Next time you see a story about unqualified, non-dedicated, maladjusted young teachers flooding the school system, pat yourself on the back. If it weren't for widespread attitudes like yours, it wouldn't be possible for lazy assholes to easily glide into the teaching positions that have been increasingly vacated by the few people who actually WANT to teach snot-nosed little punks but can't stand the ever-increasing bullshiat that gets piled on them by parents, administrators, lawmakers, and even their own communities.

But, yea, I'm sure you're right. I'm sure teachers have a

I've been a substitute teacher for a couple of years, and there are all sorts of teachers. There are those who are quite smart and became teachers because they wanted to. And then there are those who became teachers because an education degree is the easiest college degree there is. There are teachers who really like kids, and want to try to help them. And then there are teachers who are control freaks, and like the power they have over a classroom of kids.

I don't make any generalizations about them anymore. Oh yeah, I do make one--the job is not that hard, and the bennies are good. Unless you teach at an inner-city school or something, your job is rote and the kids are not that bad.

kellynoel TRUST ME, 99.9% of my colleagues treat me like the devil incarnate when they find out that I have the nerve to not be a democrat.

And most of my wife's colleagues thought Bill Clinton was "the devil incarnate".

Like anything else, it has more to do with the area you're in than anything else. She taught in a rural community that was heavily republican. As in Rush Limbaugh Red. Her colleagues were a reflection of the community.

MooseUpNorth Do you know why most teachers prepare kits of non-critical fire-and-forget work for substitutes

Well... they do it because a sub cannot be reasonably expected to jump into the flow of teaching and effectively teach the current material....

But he's also ignoring that, as a sub, he doesn't have to deal with IEPs, recurring behavioral issues, he doesn't have to plan any of the material, he doesn't have to maintain the classroom, he doesn't have to keep the same students in the same place interested and engaged for nine straight months....

Yea.... a sub saying a teaching job is easy? If he ever actually gets hired as a full teacher, he'll find out.

MooseUpNorth: cryinoutloud: Oh yeah, I do make one--the job is not that hard, and the bennies are good.

Do you know why most teachers prepare kits of non-critical fire-and-forget work for substitutes (and the ones that go with the planned curriculum usually wind up reteaching the material before assessing the kids on it?)

they do? I walk into most classrooms and I get the class schedule, just follow along where we left off.....that's about 80% of the time.

And do you really expect a sub to walk into a classroom and just take over? I tell the kids lots of times that I'm not going to teach them something new, because maybe their teacher does it a different way, and I don't want to confuse them.

Maybe you'd like to walk into my job for a day and just take over, see how you do. I work for the BLM, field work. Go for it.

cryinoutloud: I've been a substitute teacher for a couple of years,

Were you substitute teacher of the year 1996 AND 97???

Yes, teaching is a very sweet gig. I wonder when those who have come to this realization will be joining us.