Thread: If I hear this one more time......

A teacher somewhere tonight is grading and preparing lessons to teach your children while you are watching television. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are using their "free time", and often investing their own money, for your child's literacy, prosperity, and future. Re-post if you are a teacher, love a teacher or appreciate our teachers...

Do these people think that teachers are the only people in this world who have passion and selflessness toward their jobs? Do they think that no other profession nor job takes home "work"? Do they think that no other profession has an important role in our everyday life and future? Do they think the world rotates around them and that we should be throwing flowers and kissing their feet at every opportunity? Grateful to them for being born? Really.....

Teachers are important, no doubt. A good and devoted teacher is hard to find as well. But...so is a mechanic, police officer, first responder, garbage man (sorry, sanitation engineer), doctor, pharmacist, waitress, cook, fireman, soldier, school crossing guard, scout master, bus driver, etc.... Every profession has an impact on our lives. Every profession has value and should be respected...and conversely, workers in their profession should be conscientious an doing their best and hopefully enjoying the job they are doing.

If they feel the commitment of being a teacher is that overwhelming and consuming of their lives, perhaps they should be in another field? Because truly, when you have a job that is fulfilling and that you love doing.......you wouldn't be complaining about someone else possibly watching TV.

Yes, I appreciate teachers and I appreciate everyone else who is in a position that has contact with my life and my children's lives. Whether they cheerfully bag my groceries, serve me a meal, takes away my refuse or patrols my neighborhood.

That is my martyr rant for today.

Who is more "important"?

I can't help but recall a little story.....

The different parts of the body were having an argument to see which was most important and who should be in charge.

The brain said, "I do all the thinking so I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The eyes said, "I see everything and let the rest of you know where we are, so I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The hands said, "Without me we wouldn't be able to pick anything up or move anything. So I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The stomach said, "I turn the food we eat into energy for the rest of you. Without me, we'd starve. So I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

The legs said, "Without me we wouldn't be able to move anywhere. So I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

Then the ash-hole said, "I think I'm the most important and I should be in charge."

All the rest of the parts said, "YOU?!? You don't do anything! You're not important! You can't be in charge."

So the ash-hole closed up.

After a few days, the legs were all wobbly, the stomach was all queasy, the hands were all shaky, the eyes were all watery, and the brain was all cloudy.

They all agreed that they couldn't take any more of this and agreed to put the ash-hole in charge.

And the moral of the story is?

You don't have to be the most important to be in charge, just an ash-hole.

See, all "jobs" are important.....

I'm with mosdata1 on this one. While I do agree that every job that someone does is of value, I happen to think that teachers are completely undervalued!!! These are the people who spend their day nurturing and teaching our children and grandchildren!!!

As for paid time off...teachers here don't get 3-1/2 months paid leave in the summer. They get 2 months tops...and it is only paid during the summer if they opt to stretch out their payments over 12 months (also as mosdata said). And the money that comes out of their pockets so that their classes have the supplies they need is unfathomable.

My SIL is a high school football coach (yes...his choice) and he only gets 2 weeks off in the summer as they have practice the rest of the time. He gets a whopping additional $1,000 stipend for the entire school year for his putting in the extra hours for coaching. That means from June through the end of football season...working from 7:00 a.m. until 7 p.m. each school day, except on Friday when he doesn't get home until after midnight. Then he is back to school on Saturday morning for the kids to watch the films of their game and discuss strategy. In his off time he is preparing lesson plans, grading papers because he does actually teach history and government during the day. HE HAS A PH.D and could be paid much more money if he taught at a college, but...those jobs are hard to find. And, more importantly, he loves his high school kids. He has a real connection with him. He is also a Christian man who didn't have his father around when he was growing up. He credits his good values to those men who mentored him and came along side of him as he was young. He feels that teaching and being an example to young men is his way of giving back. He is a coach who never swears at the kids (almost unheard of around here)...and he tells them up front that their education is much more important than football.

I'm sorry, but I agree that everyone has value in their jobs, but the value is simply not the same from one job to another. Are there other jobs that make enormous contributions? Of course. But...in comparison...for what teachers give to society, I believe it is shamefully undervalued.

Oh...and I also get 4 weeks paid vacation each year, 12 paid holidays as well as sick leave. I work for corporate America and it's the standard for the industry that I'm in. I make significantly more than my SIL.

It's not about devaluing teachers or not giving credit where credit is due, but the martyring attitude that some portray.....

A teacher somewhere tonight is grading and preparing lessons to teach your children while you are watching television. In the minute it takes you to read this, teachers all over the world are using their "free time", and often investing their own money, for your child's literacy, prosperity, and future. Re-post if you are a teacher, love a teacher or appreciate our teachers...

Now, if the blip was more like.....

A teacher somewhere tonight is grading and preparing lessons. Teachers all over the world are using their "free time", and often investing their own money, for children's literacy, prosperity, and future. Show support for your teachers. Re-post if you are a teacher, love a teacher or appreciate our teachers...

...it would be a bit more palatable.

There are many professions that pull them away from their families and they are not always well compensated neither. How about that guy at the gas station in the middle of the cold night, freezing his body parts off so people don't run out of gas? I'm sure his family misses him as well...... Some things come with the territory....there are perks and drawbacks in every profession. If you feel that your profession makes you a martyr, then I think you need to reassess your choice of professions.

Take your SIL, does he complain to everyone how miserable he is treated as a teacher while the rest of the world is partying it up at his expense? Does he make comparisons and throw the 'guilt' and 'shame' around at how much more valuable he is than someone else? I'm sure he doesn't and I'm sure he is surrounded by truly appreciative people as well as some disrespectful. I have great respect for teachers, however, it's the martyring that is tiresome.

It really depends on the area -- my sister is a teacher, she teaches in a great district and is the most "sought after" teacher in her grade & district she never has to spend any of her own money -- she was actually just saying they usually get x amount of money to spend on classroom supplies and she spent it and then they came back to everyone and told them they each have to spend another thousand dollars -- she said she doesn't need anything and they told her to find something so they don't cut it out of the budget for next year.

After her first year of teaching her lesson plans are all pretty set and she gets "prep" periods during the day that takes care of grading papers and any tweaks to the lesson plan, she gets 30 paid holidays/vacation days PLUS personal days PLUS sick days PLUS the summer off(from pretty much the last week in June until the day after labor day) but you are correct she has the choice of taking her 6 figure salary in 10 payments or 12 -- you really don't hear her complain much at all.

I think teachers are WAY underpaid and not always appreciated, but there are quite a few with attitudes as well.

Trying to schedule them for any type of outpatient appointments is like moving the sun and the moon. I have had a few tell me they can't talk to me on the phone because they're teachers and have no time to talk. They just leave me with the impression that their time is SO much more valuable than mine and that does tick me off. I get into work very early, mostly to get paperwork done before the phone calls roll in. I'm more than happy to talk to them at a very early hour - 7 or 7:30 am, but sometimes even THAT isn't enough.

I don't envy teachers with many things they have to deal with, but it seems like there is a contingent that comes across as quite superior to everyone else - that attitude leaves me sour.

Originally Posted by mosdata1

This is pretty nice. I don't know of any teacher in any of the surrounding SD's that get paid a 6 figure salary. I have friends who teach in NYC, and they are not paid anywhere near that amount either. It's nice that your sis gets such a good salary. Most people in education I know who get paid that are in admin. This comes with its own set of headaches.
Where does she teach?

Long Island -- most teachers I know around here get that kind of salary unless they are brand new.

Originally Posted by pepperpot

Take your SIL, does he complain to everyone how miserable he is treated as a teacher while the rest of the world is partying it up at his expense? Does he make comparisons and throw the 'guilt' and 'shame' around at how much more valuable he is than someone else? I'm sure he doesn't and I'm sure he is surrounded by truly appreciative people as well as some disrespectful. I have great respect for teachers, however, it's the martyring that is tiresome.

Nope...SIL doesn't usually complain unless he is talking about some parents who think their little darlings are perfect. He loves his job and it is his choice. He will be the first to tell you that he has a great job! Every profession pulls people away from their families, but they are usually compensated for it. I personally don't believe that teachers are compensated enough! I work in corporate HR and I know what many people make. And it makes me sad that we don't value what a teacher does in comparison to people in the entertainment industry, for example. I know some Administrative Assistants who make more than a starting teacher. Compare the value of the job! Teachers aren't that high on the scale when you look at the value of their work! I believe that totally. It's obvious that many of you don't. That's okay. We will just have to agree to disagree.

pepperpot...I do like the wording of your 'blip' however. Let's face it...some teachers just suck and not all of them spend a lot of their own money or free time. The ones I do in S. California have to dip in their own pockets, however. And that's just not right.