Ryan
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Post by Ryan on Jul 10, 2014 11:08:30 GMT -5
I can only speak for myself. It was more than I could do well when I stopped, and I am hesitant when I consider if I want to return to it. If I do, I will probably not work elementary/ middle school special Ed for any longer than I'd have to, if it was the only thing I could get. Honestly, it is not something I could do and I am not referring to the long hours or bringing work home, etc. but I think working with kids all day would completely drain me on an emotion level, not to mention all the political BS... I think that's the toughest part about teaching. I do think that it's a much busier workday than I experience. You can almost say that I have 9 months of work that is broken out into 12 months. They have 9 months of work into 9 months and it makes it a bit more hectic. But I agree with your earlier post, people tend to overestimate how difficult their job is. I have a management position in finance and make in the low six figures and I don't really feel much stress in my life because this stuff isn't life changing or anything. There are controls in place to where nothing serious will happen under my watch. Sure, some cleanups here and there that can cause momentary stress, but it's not like I have to make life/death decisions.
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gooddecisions
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Post by gooddecisions on Jul 10, 2014 12:35:42 GMT -5
It's a field full of women. Of course they complain, and loudly when they feel under-appreciated. ![](http://images.proboards.com/new/tongue.png)
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jul 11, 2014 17:29:32 GMT -5
I know there are exceptions, and I think she works way more than others. She cares way too much about her kids and doing a good job, she works in a very difficult field and doesn't do anything half-assed. I know other teachers who spend their summers taking classes as required to maintain their certification. I suppose there are slackers and hard workers in any field, teachers just make easy targets. I think part of what makes teachers a target is that the NEA, state education associations, and what appears to be a lot of teachers, make such a fuss about how tough they have it. Work is tough. For all of us. But I'm not convinced (based on my observations, growing up in a family of educators) that teachers have it any tougher than any other "professional" job. And, for the most part, I believe that teachers have it much better than many of them realize. One of the keys to changing the public perception of teachers may be for teachers to behave in a more "professional" fashion. After all, how often do you see engineers, accountants, lawyers, or doctors on strike and picketing on the national news? Complaining about their pay, benefits, and working conditions. If you want to be treated like a "professional" you need to behave like a professional. If you don't behave like a professional, it is unlikey that you will get treated like a professional. When the NEA begins to emphsize the professionalism demonstrated by it's members (and it's members are going to have to walk the talk), rather than protectionism, I think the public perception of teachers will begin to improve. In the mean time, the NEA is just another union. Not an association of well educated professionals, valued by the communities they work in.
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jul 11, 2014 17:47:25 GMT -5
When the NEA begins to emphsize the professionalism demonstrated by it's members (and it's members are going to have to walk the talk), rather than protectionism, I think the public perception of teachers will begin to improve. In the mean time, the NEA is just another union. Not an association of well educated professionals, valued by the communities they work in. I live in a place that's gone through some interesting times. Public sentiment has shifted where frankly, no one who works in the public sector is valued. Even if you do valuable work. It also doesn't help that many folks think the best solution is simply just to get rid of the public sector works and hire contractors at minimum wage to to do all the work. It also doesn't help when you have high profile folks in your state telling the populous that a public sector worker really is not earning their own money. The money I earn for my job really belongs to the taxpayer, and not me. It's really out of the goodness of the taxpayer's heart that we get our pay for doing our jobs. I always scratch my head at this one, because I pay taxes. I think communities and people either value public sector workers or they don't. I'll give you that strikes don't help the public image. But, I don't think someone who values services provided by the public sector is suddenly going to say "OMG, those teachers just better shut up. They don't know how good they have it." ETA: I also don't think that all teachers have it easy. In my city it makes a huge difference depending on the school you teach at. If you get a neighborhood school that's all upper middle class to upper class kids, it's a little different than trying to teach kids that are low income. I knew a teacher who taught at one of the rougher High schools. She was called a bitch to her face by her students a couple times of week. Now, I don't work in an environment where my co-workers call me a bitch. Maybe I'm lucky? We also do not have to break up fights or call the cops, or deal with drugs/alcohol/people having sex where they aren't supposed to at my office. I know some special ed teachers that have gotten things thrown at them. One of my friends works as a special ed aid. She's got one special ed 20 yo kid that throws drinking glasses (made of glass) against walls and hits people when she's upset.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jul 11, 2014 18:19:43 GMT -5
When the NEA begins to emphsize the professionalism demonstrated by it's members (and it's members are going to have to walk the talk), rather than protectionism, I think the public perception of teachers will begin to improve. In the mean time, the NEA is just another union. Not an association of well educated professionals, valued by the communities they work in. I live in a place that's gone through some interesting times. Public sentiment has shifted where frankly, no one who works in the public sector is valued. Even if you do valuable work. It also doesn't help that many folks think the best solution is simply just to get rid of the public sector works and hire contractors at minimum wage to to do all the work. It also doesn't help when you have high profile folks in your state telling the populous that a public sector worker really is not earning their own money. The money I earn for my job really belongs to the taxpayer, and not me. It's really out of the goodness of the taxpayer's heart that we get our pay for doing our jobs. I always scratch my head at this one, because I pay taxes. I think communities and people either value public sector workers or they don't. I'll give you that strikes don't help the public image. But, I don't think someone who values services provided by the public sector is suddenly going to say "OMG, those teachers just better shut up. They don't know how good they have it." ETA: I also don't think that all teachers have it easy. In my city it makes a huge difference depending on the school you teach at. If you get a neighborhood school that's all upper middle class to upper class kids, it's a little different than trying to teach kids that are low income. I knew a teacher who taught at one of the rougher High schools. She was called a bitch to her face by her students a couple times of week. Now, I don't work in an environment where my co-workers call me a bitch. Maybe I'm lucky? We also do not have to break up fights or call the cops, or deal with drugs/alcohol/people having sex where they aren't supposed to at my office. I know some special ed teachers that have gotten things thrown at them. One of my friends works as a special ed aid. She's got one special ed 20 yo kid that throws drinking glasses (made of glass) against walls and hits people when she's upset. Could you elaborate on "high profile folks" a bit? What kind of roles do those folks play that makes them high profile and more credible than the average person? To your ETA: I'm not sure very many teachers have it "easy". l wouldn't be up to dealing with kids all day. Parents in denial about the help their child needs. And the level of interference in education that the politicians have involved themselves in. (Like with many things, being all things to all people means that how effective you are at each of those things is often compormised. Years ago, the role of the education system was to provide an education. Today, the role of the education system has expanded to include, requiring teachers to mange the self esteme of their students (by mainstreaming less capable kids), manage potentially violent kids while trying to teach a full complement of other students, monitor students for indications of child abuse, providing children three meals a day, sometimes year around, provide after school child care, provide and manage medical care, and I bet several other services that I'm not aware of. I supect that the performance of our educational system reflects the fact that both the system and the politicians no longer focus the educational system on educating kids. Instead, the education system has become a provider of complete social support services.)
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giramomma
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Post by giramomma on Jul 11, 2014 18:30:19 GMT -5
Could you elaborate on "high profile folks" a bit? What kind of roles do those folks play that makes them high profile and more credible than the average person? Law makers, politicians, the governor. I don't think they are more credible than the average person. But, they certainly spout out that speak for the average person. We go to a private school, and many of the parents are not average like us. They are above average folks, in terms of income and stature in the community. These above average parents are also teaching their kids the same thing, that all public sector workers are lazy. It just so happens that many of the above average parents at our school have the same political affiliation as the majority of the lawmaking body in my state. And, yes, one day my oldest child came home asking me why his classmates thought that DH and I were lazy. My child was in 2nd or 3rd grade when that happened. ETA: We have "conservative" politicians and lawmakers that believe in fiscal responsibility. Except for the university system. No, if a department in the university system has a rainy day fund..Oh goodness..that is completely irresponsible. My department lost money in the last recession. Thankfully there were funds set aside to cover it. But, because 17% of that money is taxpayer money, that was seen as bad. Those in charge would rather see the university system not pay their bills or operate in the red vs. being fiscally responsible. And, actually it's true in our state as a whole. Rather than contributing to the rainy day fund so that gov't can function in recessions, the fiscally conservative folks are handing out tax cuts. Frankly I'd rather my $43.67 tax cut to into the rainy day fund. Because I rather like the services that gov't provides.
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tskeeter
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Post by tskeeter on Jul 11, 2014 18:47:30 GMT -5
Could you elaborate on "high profile folks" a bit? What kind of roles do those folks play that makes them high profile and more credible than the average person? Law makers, politicians, the governor. I don't think they are more credible than the average person. But, they certainly spout out that speak for the average person. We go to a private school, and many of the parents are not average like us. They are above average folks, in terms of income and stature in the community. These above average parents are also teaching their kids the same thing, that all public sector workers are lazy. It just so happens that many of the above average parents at our school have the same political affiliation as the majority of the lawmaking body in my state. And, yes, one day my oldest child came home asking me why his classmates thought that DH and I were lazy. My child was in 2nd or 3rd grade when that happened. ETA: We have "conservative" politicians and lawmakers that believe in fiscal responsibility. Except for the university system. No, if a department in the university system has a rainy day fund..Oh goodness..that is completely irresponsible. My department lost money in the last recession. Thankfully there were funds set aside to cover it. But, because 17% of that money is taxpayer money, that was seen as bad. Those in charge would rather see the university system not pay their bills or operate in the red vs. being fiscally responsible. And, actually it's true in our state as a whole. Rather than contributing to the rainy day fund so that gov't can function in recessions, the fiscally conservative folks are handing out tax cuts. Frankly I'd rather my $43.67 tax cut to into the rainy day fund. Because I rather like the services that gov't provides. Yes, I was trying to figure out if you were talking about politicians. While they are high profile, I'd hope that many people would understand that many politicians are snake oil salesmen. Who will spout whatever story or political position that they think will sell with the voters. The truth be damned. Unfortunately, I probably give people credit for being more sophisticated than, on the whole, they really are.
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