Some of summer vacation, average to slightly above retirement, and average to slightly above health care.
Parents are the biggest problem. As others mentioned, Americans put little value in an education. I have heard parents (and not ghetto dead beat parents) complain about their kids having too much homework, but yet their kids are dumb as rocks.
They already do that, it's called private school and honors/IB sections. Regardless, the same groups of kids do well in public school every year, and it has more to do with TV versus library time, sports practice versus tutoring or music lessons, and parent's education level than teachers.
You don't get all the tools you need to be independently successful, and you can't learn everything. Here's roughly what I think is wrong with our education system: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zDZFcDGpL4U" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
^^^ that's pretty awesome. I love these type of presentation. That's one of my fear with my kids starting school recently. I see them gaining knowledge, but at the same time, losing something that I can't exactly pinpoint. I told them recently, always respect your teacher, listen to them, follow direction, but don't believe everything they teach.
I think most people understands that bombs have to have something on that blow up. This device didn't
As several of us have noted in the thread about the Ahmed Mohammed case, none of the teachers, administrators or police officers appeared to have thought that the clock was a REAL bomb. If they did, they would have evacuated the premises and called in a bomb squad to dispose of it. Instead, they just left the clock right there while interrogating Ahmed for hours. The authorities' questions to Ahmed were also about whether the device was a "movie bomb" or "hoax bomb" and never whether it is a REAL bomb. Look, it was fine if a teacher was initially alarmed by the device sought to determine that for the sake of student safety. But it seems that the teacher and other adults very quickly determined that the clock was not a REAL bomb-- if they ever thought it was at all. So, nobody was under the impression that there was any imminent danger to the school when they handcuffed a student, had 5 officers question him while denying him access to either his guardian or counsel. The initial alert is reasonable, the subsequent detention and hours of questioning in isolation is excessive.
I get that, but the hypothetical posed in this thread was if most teachers would have been able to tell it wasn't real. I was just saying that most people would have been able to.
Perhaps they do. You have a valid point. I still don't agree that most people know that. But fair enough. I didn't really want this thread to be totally about that thread anyway, just a semi related topic that began because of a thought related to that thread.
Not just science. Anything. And the principal on top should just resign in shame due to complete mental incompetence . What I don't understand from reading this thread is that the teacher has to buy the supplies and the kid's lunch! Was it always so? This is very unfair. What the administrators do? The teacher has more important things to do than these things.
I'm pretty exhausted, but felt the need to post anyway. This is my 19th year teaching. I probably spend $500-1000 a year on things for work, as does my wife. Summers consist of teaching summer school for extra money, attending training sessions, working in my room, revising lesson plans, and a short trip somewhere. The wife and I are typically at school from 6:30-3:30 every day, but we do get a 25 minute lunch break. We both typically put in 2-6 more hours at home grading and planning on most days, including weekends. "Planning" time at work is taken up with useless meetings, district mandated training for things that are never implemented, like the LMS (learning management system) last year that we met about once a week for 45 minutes and spent another hour or five per week adding stuff to only to find out this year that we aren't going to use that particular software and may not use any at all. This is typical. Email services change, web page editors change, and online gradebooks change, just so someone who doesn't teach can think they're making some sort of difference and justify their job. We also have special education meetings, 504 meetings, and RTI meetings constantly. Then there are the parent phone calls and parent meetings where the parents are totally blind to the fact that little Billy is an ******* who refuses to do anything because he knows his parents will raise hell until the teacher capitulates and passes him since every scathing, lie-filled email is CC:d to the principal, superintendent, and pope. Those that think we have good insurance need to do some fact checking. Everything is posted online if you look. Plan highlights are here and rates are here. The state contributes $225 a month towards insurance, so $920 a month for a high deductible family plan is just great. That being said, I'm good at my job and I get lots of letters and emails and visits from former students thanking me for the positive influence I've had on their lives. That helps. It's also different every minute of every day. I'm never bored (except in meetings) and I love 99% of my students. I have a blast teaching them chemistry and biology and I honestly can't imagine doing anything else, even with all of the BS that comes with the job. I'm pretty sure I left out some stuff I wanted to say but these quizzes won't grade themselves. Oh, and it's pretty damned obvious that thing wasn't a bomb.
Thanks for that post. Good to get the perspective of the other side. Other than parents, what do you think is the biggest issue in the classroom? I'll take it you're teaching at an average school that doesn't have a ton of issues with behavior and the like since parents are cc'ing the pope.
You haven't checked what other people pay for insurance have you? For a teachers income level, those plans, choice and company contributions are excellent. Do you have a pension? I wish I took a vacation every year.
My income level is $55k/year after 18 years. I have a pension of sorts. I will probably go vacationless for a few years since the "excellent" insurance is still costing my over $35k for a 20 day trip to Texas Children's that was split across the plan rollover date. And you really should make time for yourself. Work-life balance is a thing.
Which level of insurance do you believe has a better maximum out of pocket than yours? You are basically complaining about the high cost of insurance today. Most people here will agree with you. You fail to understand yours is far better than the vast majority making 50K. sorry to hear about your family stay in hospital.
