Because millions and millions of salaried employees put in "overtime" that they aren't compensated for, as you claim teachers do. It is common, but most people don't whine about it as it is part of the job they chose to take.
Again, teachers "whine" because you have idiots telling them how they are overpaid or over compensated. If I went to someone who was a salaried worker, and said "you make too much" and then they told me how they actually don't get paid for working at home (after "hours"), do you honestly think I would continue that line or arguing or bring up other people who are in a similar boat and say "see? they don't bitch!"?? No, I'd say "you know, it sucks. and I'm in the wrong for saying you get paid too much/over compensated". Saying teachers are a problem is what lazy dumb shits do.
Your "argument" doesn't make sense. Many, many, many college graduates have jobs and careers that have nothing to do with their degree. Ever heard of liberal arts degrees? Somehow they managed to find a vast array of jobs. If you honestly believe you won't be able to get a job doing anything except "physics", then yeah, you probably are lowly qualified and shouldn't make a lot of money.
And you have idiots telling others how hard they work because their work day extends beyond 7-3. And lazy dumb shits think that all jobs are compensated based on how many hours or how hard they work.
My bachelor's and master's degrees are both in mechanical engineering. I now work at a software company writing code, and designing control systems and electronics systems. My work is somewhat related to my degrees, but not directly.
The quality of our teachers definitely has an impact on the life time earnings of all of our children: http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...4c688e2feb65737ec98e65e2bbcbc3bd&searchtype=a I bring this up because so many focus on what a teacher gets paid vs how many hours a teacher works. I think it's a lousy way to evaluate their pay, just as it'd be ludicrous to evaluate maxiep's pay based on the number of hours he works. Pay should be determined by scarcity and value: How many people are elite quality teachers? What are the economic and social benefits to society of hiring these types of teachers? I'm not a big fan of teachers unions. But I'm also not a big fan of denigrating a profession that's so crucial to our nation's past and future success. People would never say the things they say about teachers to firefighters or police. It's because people can see a fireman save a child from a burning building, but they can't really see the lifetime value of a quality teacher. In our society, your personal success is always attributed to your own personal merit. It's easy to forget the kind lady 30 years ago who finally got through your thick skull the how to read "See Spot Run" in second grade so you wouldn't fall further behind.
Salaried employees in the private sector are putting in overtime to make someone money. If they do a good job they get rewarded appropriately. Teachers are putting in overtime to better their students. If they do a good job they get criticized for "whining about their job". You wouldn't last a day in most classrooms
The issue really is how the overall sum of education dollars are allocated. Consider a teacher in one of those overcrowded classrooms of, say, 40 students. We're spending $10K per student, so there's $400K per home room to divvy up. It makes no sense that we can't afford to pay the teacher $100K leaving $300K to cover the cost of maintaining the building, buying new books each year, administration, janitorial services, lunches, etc. Even with class size of 20 or 25, there's plenty of money. The kind of money to entice people who'd be quality teachers. Thing is, you have to be able to weed out (fire) the bad teachers.
Your post is BS. I know several hospice workers and they are very appreciated and are very aware that they are appreciated. I doubt there's even one in the world who is not appreciated. As for teachers being "well-compensated", I guess that depends on what you think they're worth. I feel any teacher is certainly worth far more than someone who makes their living arranging commercial real estate investments.
in the private sector, if someone does a good job, they could get fired. if a teacher does a bad job, its hard to fire them...impossible almost once they get tenured.
A more honest view would be for you to show gratitude for the brilliant teachers who made all that possible by teaching you.
It is not hard to fire a teacher, in fact it is the same process as the private sector. I have worked in both so I understand how it works, unlike a few million ignorant people that seem to think you cannot fire a teacher. First off there really is no such thing as tenure in a public school. The only thing your "tenure" impacts is how you are evaluated, and the number of times you are evaluated by an administrator. Now when it comes to layoffs, yes the number of years you have been teaching plays a role. The number of years that you have been teaching never plays a role in the termination process, NEVER. I would also like to point out that teachers don't just show up at schools and walk into classrooms as they please to work with students. Believe it or not there is a process, one which includes an education, testing, and even a student teaching experience. So basically before you are ever in a classroom on your own, you have been supervised heavily for about 16 months. Now that is only the start, because then you actually have to get a job which is not easy to do. As many of you appear to believe you cannot just be some drunken hobo who wanders in to the main office smelling of meth asking for a room key. There is an actual process for applying for the job, a license you must obtain via testing, and a job interview with multiple individuals that have the responsibility to make hiring decisions. After getting the job it is customary to have a three year probationary period in which you are assigned a mentor & administrator who oversee your progress as an educator. You are notified every March as to whether or not you will be back teaching the following school year. Within those first months of school you are observed three times, have mandatory weekly meetings with all the new teachers and administration, and work with your mentor teacher on lesson planning and classroom management. In addition to those supports you are also on a professional learning team working on strategies, etc. There is not a lot of time as a new teacher to not be working, in fact it is a very difficult profession. I have owned and operated a small business and I can tell you that it was simple compared to teaching. You have anywhere from 150-180 different students at the high school level, and they are all different individuals with a variety of strengths, weaknesses, home situations, etc. I have worked desk jobs at large companies where there is mind numbing receptiveness, but teaching offers a variety of opportunities for constant change. I love working with people and doing a lot of different things, this is why I love teaching. Some people hate change and people, they should stay away from teaching. If you have never done it, then you simply don't know what it is like. You are evaluated everyday by your students, they are living breathing humans who have wonderfully intelligent minds. They know who is a good teacher, and who sucks. They tell me all the time who they hate and why. There are some things teachers do that I will never understand, but the funny thing is this. Teachers are a lot like bosses or managers, some you love and some you hate. This is a good thing I think, because it truly prepares you for life. Also there are people working in both the private and public sector that are overpaid and lazy. Teaching has it's share, so what? The highest paid people in our society are sometimes the worst at their jobs. Look at the financial sector, people who lost trillions are getting bonuses in the billions. I just laugh at the attitudes of so many of you though, because you spend so much time pissing and bemoaning others.
We've already gone over all of this in the other thread. Me: Teachers don't just work 7-3. Response #1: Are you hourly or salary? Only lazy fucks thing you get compensated based on hours worked. Me: Salary. But no one assumes and no one accuses me of working 8 or less hours a day. Response #2: Well after a few years teachers don't even have to put in that extra time. They, if smart, get efficient and are in an out in 8 hours. Me: So grading papers, meeting with parents, disciplining kids all goes away with "efficiency"? Me: Teachers spend hundreds of dollars out of pocket each year on school supplies and class projects. Response #1: Well I have to buy my own briefcase Me: Me too, but I don't have to buy my own pens, paper, ink. And if I did, I wouldn't have to buy it for 30 other people. Plus if I need something specific, like an external hard drive, I can expense it. Response #2: Well having class projects is a choice and it's the teachers fault for choosing to do them (which doesn't really fall in line withe the whole lazy argument). Argument against: Teacher's are nothing more than glorified baby sitters. Me: They work harder than people give them credit for. Response: I didn't do anything in HS and had to relearn everything in college. Me: That is your fault. By high school classes are segmented by ability/willingness to work harder. By Senior year at Grant I was in AP calculus, Spanish and English that I earned PSU credits and could have been in AP Physics and Government. Yes, I could have taken basic math, science, English and no language but I chose not to. I won't say that my education was better (or even close to) than my wife's, who went to a top private school in Seattle, but I do think I got a damn fine education. I'm not arguing that nothing should be done about the education system in the US. There is ample opportunity for improvement. Where I, and many others, take offense is the blatant disrespect for teachers. They get called lazy, leeches or worse and all of those are based on false assumptions about the profession. They work hard, harder than many in the private sector yet get way more abuse than any other profession I know of.
In the private sector, if someone does a good job, they could get promoted. If a teacher does a good job, they get an incremental pay increase.
I'm a merchant banker. I'm blamed for crashing the financial system. Shouldn't teachers take some grief for poorly prepared graduates? I'm told I'm overpaid. Should I make a video telling everyone who accuses me of those things how stupid they are and that they should appreciate what I do?
