Do you think teachers became teachers to get summer vacation off?

Question

lol, one of my friends told me that and I thought it was halarious.

I heard that teachers from my school district are not going to school tomorrow to protest because they don't get paid enough. I think it's just a lousy excuse to get the day off. I mean I know they deserve more, but will not teaching for one day help anything? I think it just disturbs the learning process. So tomorrow students will have to go to school, and the school will have to hire a bunch of substitutes...

They could've done this protest after school or sometime when they are not teaching, but no...

Some of my teachers are coming tomorrow because they say they're here for us, not the money.

Tomorrow will be a real test for teachers : If they don't come then they are here just for the money...or they care about their salary more then the students...

So now I'm thinking...

Do teachers teach for the money or because they really love kids and teaching?

Answer 1

Other posters have said a great deal and I cannot honestly add any more to what they've said, except...

I am a high school teacher. I teach because I love teaching and I enjoyed sharing my knowledge with others. More, I really enjoy it when I see that a student gets what I've been teaching. and can use that information. I feel that I am contributing to the future of our society. Most teachers I know share the same philosophy.

I cannot complain about money - I get a very decent salary. However, I do not get paid for the summer off. My school board holds back a certain percentage, pays me lump sum (from which the governments take their more than unfair share) and I am expected to budget the rest, or work. Last summer was the first I've had off in many, many years, and it was well-deserved.

I know that I did not answer your question. I just wanted to share my experience. In the end, though, we all work for the money. Isn't a better situation for you if you do something you are really passionate about, or are reallly good at, in order to earn it?

Answer 2

My summer consists of 10 weeks. I spend that time doing family things and resting from the school year that just finished. I also have 3 workshops/classes scheduled already. I have to clean and reorganize my department up at school. I have a committee meeting scheduled for the middle of June. I have a jury summons for the middle of June. I schedule all my doctor check-ups, dental check-ups, eye exams and the like for summer months so I don't have to take off from school to do those things. I would like to clarify that I am paid for 10 months of teaching and elect to have my pay check divided into 12 monthly checks so that I will not go without a paycheck for the 2 1/2 months in the summer. I also get to school every morning during the school year at 7:45 and don't leave in the afternoon until 5:30 or 6:00. I take work home almost every night, grading, planning, parent correspondence, etc. I have been teaching for almost 30 years and with additional degrees, duties, and achievements have an annual salary of about $50,000. I work on the weekends getting ready for the week to come and grading papers from the week just completed. I attend ball games, choir, orchestra and band concerts, musicals, plays and parent nights all during afterschool hours. I have tutoring every day after school. I say all of this because there are those out there that think teachers only work 9 months a year from 8 to 4 and are over paid. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Let these people take my job for a month, or even a week and then let them talk about teachers.

Answer 3

Teachers do not teach for the money. Teachers are the lowest paid professionals in the United States. The nation should be ashamed that sanitaiton workers make more than the educators do. I am not disrespecting our sanitation workers when I say that. However, teachers spend a minimum of four years to get the undergraduate degrees. Those who have a masters degree in education spend another 4 years to get that. Teachers are required to take continuing education courses every year. Much of this is done on their own time and the money comes out of their own pockets the majority of the time. Teachers also spend money every year on school supplies that the schools refuse to provide and that the parents can't or won't provide. Teachers not only spend eight hours a day at their job. Most teachers spend a minimum of 2 hours per day of the "home time" grading papers and preparing lessons. High school teachers are often required to preform extra curricular duties that there is no pay for. Elementary teachers are "strongly encouraged" to do the same thing. Teachers have to stay after school hours for parent conferences and unit planning. Teachers are among the few professionals that get a one half hour lunch break and often elementary teachers are required to eat in the cafeteria at the table with their children. After the teacher eats then she is required to do "cafeteria duty." Elementary teachers are often required to do "playground duty" before school, after school, and during recess. As far as summer vacation goes, many teachers end up teaching summer school because they despertly need the money since they don't get paid enough for the regular school year. If the teacher does not work summer school or participate in any continuing education classes during the summer perhaps that teacher will have 6 week during which time they will not have to work 10 hours a day.

I think you will probably find that those teachers who do take the protest day will be your newer teachers. Because the profession is a hard one to handle, many newer teachers are coming into the profession staying one to three years and deciding that it is not for them.

Those of us who have stuck with it certainly do not do it for the money nor for the time off. We do it because we think the education of our young people is the most important and rewarding profession there is.

Answer 4

If I cared about the money, then I would only do private tutoring. I could work half the time and make a lot of money.

I work at a private school for kids with dyslexia and I really love them. I feel like I am meant to be there to help these kids. You never know what the kids will bring to the table day in and day out, it is kind of like playing the lottery. I personally think teaching is one of the best professions on the planet.

Look at it this way, what we don't make in salary, the kids make up for in Starbucks cards.

Answer 5

I am a career changer and make 1/4 of what I used to make. I teach because I love it...but I also have three kids to feed, to put through college, a mortgage to pay, and a retirement account to fund...so I also expect to be paid a living wage as well.

Teachers are grossly under paid for what they are expected to do and with the amount of education that many have, so I can honestly say that I do not know a single person who teaches for the money.

Answer 6

Well, the above teachers have already said more than I can...all I have to say is bravo. Even though I homeschool (my son has needs that can't be feasibly met in most classrooms), he makes it a point to thank local teachers for caring about and helping his friends.

My parents are former and current public school teachers (one former, one current), and have over 50 years combined teaching experience. I have seen what they've gone through over the years, everything from dealing with administrative issues, to parents whose goal in life is to make things difficult, to kids who are extremely difficult to reach. I've seen them get (possibly) one to two weeks off per year, between yearly training, summer teaching, national board certification work, and other things to help them become better at what they do (out of their own pocket). I've seen them have to budget the bit that they do get paid for the summer to make it through to September...and I've heard them talk every year about the students in their class - telling me about their progress, their difficulties and strengths, their projects, and funny things that they say.

Trust me, any teacher who lasts beyond the first 3-5 years isn't doing it for the money. The schools couldn't pay enough to cover what those teachers do. Perhaps you could look beyond your current perception to see how much your teachers actually put up with, and how much they actually do care?

Answer 7

I have been teaching 18 years and I would go on strike BECAUSE I love my students. You see, they won't be students forever. Someday they are going out into the working world. Every employed adult today is, to some extent, a steward of his job, holding it for the next generation. If he or she does nothing to ensure that the salary and working conditions he/she enjoys are not protected for the next generation then it is the young people of today who will suffer for it most. Where would we be without the brave workers who went on strike in the generations before us to change barbaric working conditions and oppressive employment practices?

I have been on a picket line before. I hated it but I believed in it as passionately as I believe in running intramurals so everyone can play rather than just coaching competitive teams; as passionately as I believe in staying an hour after school to tutor someone who needs it; as passionately as I believe in spending a Saturday afternoon in the library trying to find something a little different for someone a little different. I do a lot for my students. Sometimes I do something to help them today, sometimes I do something to help them long after they've left school.

Answer 8

being that im in school for elementary education....i would say that no teacher says oooh let me pick teaching for my profession because we make so much money. No, in fact we know that we will not make a lot of money and will not get paid for the work we do in a monitary value, but the joy of knowing that we helped to mold young lives hopefully for the better, will be payment enough for me. Those teachers on strike are doing it to make a point, not to say all they care about is money, but to say that this country should care enough about our educators to want to pay them for the work that they do......I wish them luck..

Answer 9

Most teachers teach because they want to make a difference in the world, and because they love children.

The only reason they're striking is because wages are so low, they can hardly pay for the simple things, such as food, clothing, water, electricity, housing, etc. Not to mention, if they have kids, they have to pay for all of their stuff, plus college if they're older.

Answer 10

Obviously you need more schooling and life experience but I hope you get enough of both so that one day you can apologize to all teachers for what you have just posted.

And no, I am not a teacher. Just someone who values education but would never want to be a teacher because of how they are treated by our society.