Hate to brag but...

[Irlandese]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUugQoxS8_o&feature=related

[daytonirish]

Have a great summer vacation.

[stonebreakerwasgod]

I'm still trying to figure out how teachers are underpaid.

KAPOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

(must be nice to get 2 plus months off, spring and Christmas breaks, holidays..)

[Irlandese]

I'm still trying to figure out how teachers are underpaid.

KAPOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

(must be nice to get 2 plus months off, spring and Christmas breaks, holidays..)

I have been teaching 18 years and still have not broken $60,000. Now, for ten months pay, that is not too bad. But my bills are not ten months, they are 12. Add to that the fact that every time there is a budget crunch, teacher raises are the first to go, it's tough. My raise has been less then half of the increase in insurance the last five yearss and next year there is no raise. I also wonder how many other professions have to buy office supplies? I have to supply my own printer, ink, paper, pens, folders etc. My school classroom budget is $200 for ten months for 20 kids. I spent $500 out of my own pocket last year so I could do my job the way it needed to done. I do it every year as do most teachers.

The problem really arises when you try to attract the best and the brightest to the field. In elementary, this is not as much a problem but in middle school and high school, where you want people who are tops in math, English, the sciences etc. That's what other countries have. We do not. My own son would have made an excellent high school math teacher/coach. He is brilliant in mathematics. He told me "There is no way I want to try and raise a family on what a teacher makes. I will go into engineering."

You get what you pay for. If you want the best in education, you have to raise the pay or the best will go into other professions. So, when our scores are below so many other countries we just need to remember that.
But the vacations are THE BOMB. :bigsmile:

[mlcspinner]

Hey me I get a 3 day weekend :drooling:

[stonebreakerwasgod]

I'm all for paying more for teachers, as long as those who aren't deserving get less....just like in the real world. The Union is only worried about protecting the teachers, and not education for the kids. My suggestion would be to clean house, change compensation, and give deserving teachers more moolah.
The autoworkers union was dragging down the car makers long before this little 'crisis'. GM hasn't made cars in 15 years, instead they provide benefits. They should have come to the big 3 with big concessions long ago, instead of fighting tooth and nail, which in the long term...everyone loses.
Oh well. I work for a small company and my benefits are non-existent. My wife and I are both making less money this year.
I just thank God we don't have a union so that the deadbeats can be gotten rid of, and not bring the rest of us down. BTW-I was in a union for 6 years during HS and college, and got no help, except them taking my money for political purposes.

[Irlandese]

I would be all for that too once someone can come up with a definitive way to evaluate teachers. Test scores do not do that. It's easy to see if a car lives up to standards and if not, who was at fault. Not so easy with a kid.
I taught in an inner city school before moving to my current school. Inner city scores were in the toilet. I move to my new school and our scores are tops in the state. Now, was I a "bad" teacher at the inner city school and now suddenly, a "great" teacher?
Nope. My inner city kids made great strides from where they came from but according to NCLB, that didn't come close to meeting standards. Those kids walked in the door behind and had little support at home once in school. My little first graders were doing street crimes by 6th grade. My new school, most parents are college educated and make sure that school is a priority. Their kids are also well fed, read to, taken to the doctor, given life experiences, mom had prenatal care, didn't do crack etc. The kids for the most part do very well, year after year.

So, the way I see it, until we include parents in the equation, there is no way to decide who deserves more pay. Teachers can only work with the raw product that is sent in through the door. School success IS determined just as much by society as well as the teachers.

Georgia does not have a teacher's union. We do not have tenure and teachers are fired based on yearly reviews. We had one fired last year. We have no collective bargaining and no union to protect bad teachers. Our scores, besides those in the Atlanta suburbs, are abysmal. We do have a governor who thinks that its wise to add to class size and cut teacher jobs while spending millions on a new fish camp. Unions are supposed to take care of those that pay dues. Its a checks and balance. In GA, we don't have that. Every time there is a shortfall, politicians will just chop the education budget (and firemen, police etc) rather than cut out fish camps that are supported by their donors.

I am very grateful to have a job, one that I love, and one that can support me. I am not whining especially in these times. I could do another job but I chose this one. I still think though if we are going to attract the best, we have to have competitive pay.

[pappy]

My mother retired from teaching about 2 years ago, and she barely cracked the 60 grand mark. It's sad when athletes make as much as they do!

[IrishinTN]

Cops don't make a lot of money, either. Nor firefighter, soldiers, etc. Combined with teachers, that just shows our priorities can sometimes be screwed up. I have often wanted to go back to school to get my teaching certificate, but they want me to basically get a whole new degree on top of the one I have. I know I would make less money, but I obviously wouldn't have done it for the money. Can't go back to school for 2 or 3 years to do it, either.