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Nobody wants to teach anymore

jessicalexicus.medium.com

321–330 of 1001 posts

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#321

Teaching/training is quite difficult. I've done quite a bit of training (but not true teaching -there's a difference), over the years. My family is full of teachers. I have many friends that are teachers. It's amazing how "solutions" never seem to actually get around to simply paying teachers more, and maybe not expecting them to be child-rearers, in lieu of parents.

> It's amazing how "solutions" never seem to actually get around to simply paying teachers more, and maybe not expecting them to be child-rearers, in lieu of parents. In a neighboring town parents tried to set up a "hotline" where teachers would have to be available at night to intervene on google chat related social incidents. They just don't seem to get that at 3:15, the kid is your fucking problem again. Leave the…

Hopefully, that went down like a bribed prizefighter.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#322
One thing I wonder is if teachers are in such high demand, why do they put up with crap from their administrators and politicians saying that this is what they have to teach and how they have to teach it. Why don’t they just teach whatever they want to teach and do it however they want to do it? The worst that can happen is they will be fired, but they can probably find a new teaching position easily since there is such a high demand.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#323
post #306
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what do you propose, that they send out applications at random to households in the community? There is bias in everything, but at least they aren't adding more than needs there needs to be.

I don't propose anything. I'm just pointing out that the point that kicked off this line applies to charter schools too.

What part of the original “being able to kick students out” are you claiming is happening here?

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> teachers get enormous amounts of time off Anyone who's actually been or known a teacher knows this is false. During the school year, in the time they're not actively teaching, teachers are - Coaching sports - Overseeing other student extracurricular activities - Making/updating lesson plans - Presiding over detention - Tutoring students who need more 1:1 time - Serving on school committees (especially in larger dis…

I mean, I guess it's all relative. I'm a software engineer at a startup. On average I work about 50-55 hours a week. I get 3 weeks of vacation a year. I certainly don't deny that teachers spend a lot of time working on their "time off". But that said, I've known more than a few teachers personally, and yes, they still do get enormous amounts of time off. Heck, a bunch of them will even admit it is the biggest perk of…

When I was teaching I worked a 7am to 6pm job, 5 days a week. That was actually in the school building, so that's 55 hours right there. The two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon, when I wasn't looking after 35 teenagers in a small, hot and unventilated classroom, were spent marking, planning lessons and writing reports. Have you ever had a job where you literally have to plan how much you drink, so that you don't have a full bladder in the middle of a double Science lesson?

Most weekends I'd dedicate around 5 or 6 hours to work, so that puts me up to about 61 hours a week. Of course we got those amazing holidays. Holidays when you were still expected to answer emails, mark work, write reports, plan assessments and lessons. One year, I remember working from September through to August, and my total time off was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. In August the exam results come through, so I was expected to be in school to coach children on their options, and then write a 15 page report on the reasons my department had performed or under-performed.

I appreciate that this has turned into a rant, but don't ever think that your job is harder than a teacher, if you are a software engineer. It's not. I can testify to that. Teaching involves understanding your subject, understanding pedagogy, being a parent, councilor and sometimes prison warden to children who are often going through the most difficult times of their lives. You have to do all of that, while basically performing on stage for 5 hours a day, and your lunch break is spent ramming food down your throat so you can get out to the playground on time to supervise the kids out there.

An ex-colleague of mine has asked me to go back into teaching in his school. My response was "okay" can you pay me 150K, because I wouldn't do it for anything less.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the standard that we're systematically mismanaging the funds we are spending. The bussing system is absurdly inefficient and wholly unnecessary. Neighborhood schools used to be a thing. Some school systems offer 'gold plated' healthcare plans where they include cosmetic surgery as a benefit to a school system that needs more money spent towards actual education. I'm not advocating doing away with the public educat…

> Some school systems offer 'gold plated' healthcare plans So? If you want good teachers--or at, some point, any teachers--you need to offer working conditions that are good enough to attract them, just like any other job. Spending on benefits "instead of" education is a false dichotomy; in fact, I'd say that's the central thesis of the article.

This was the school system I went to in a rust-belt city, the teachers were not 'good' on average.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#326
post #306
post #297

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what do you propose, that they send out applications at random to households in the community? There is bias in everything, but at least they aren't adding more than needs there needs to be.

I don't propose anything. I'm just pointing out that the point that kicked off this line applies to charter schools too.

I get a feeling the only way a school can satisfy your standard for "not cherry picking" are those armed with Omnipotence

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#327
post #240
post #98

A few random thoughts: 1. For as much as we spend on education, teachers seem to be grossly underpaid - to be getting robbed of their share of the budget. Where does that money go? 2. It seems that education degrees are seen as easier to achieve than others. 3. Teachers frequently complain about how they are unappreciated, yet children spend _12 years_ in their care. Why do people come up to them and say they hated s…

On 4: I disagree that more resources cannot help with this problem. Some disruptive children have undiagnosed learning disabilities. Having more money for screening and special education can help get them the support they need. Class sizes are also going to matter. Many disruptive children are just seeking attention. With smaller classes teachers can spend more time with each student, which will help with behavior ma…

We know what percentage of children typically need these extra services. If we funded school special education based on how many they should statistically have. And incentivised them to find that many, then they would. If they miss some early amd are full that will be counterbalances by the number of parents who insist on "normal" education despite evidence that isn't what is best. Letting educators give feedback about the effects of medication levelsbwould also help I think.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#328
post #149
post #98

A few random thoughts: 1. For as much as we spend on education, teachers seem to be grossly underpaid - to be getting robbed of their share of the budget. Where does that money go? 2. It seems that education degrees are seen as easier to achieve than others. 3. Teachers frequently complain about how they are unappreciated, yet children spend _12 years_ in their care. Why do people come up to them and say they hated s…

>...parents who frankly just don’t give a shit... From my experience teaching in multiple Western and non-Western countries, I believe that this factor outweighs all the others put together.

Yep. I'm biracial, black and Indian. My mother is Indian. She raised me alone, with no financial support from my father.

My father is a black American who never went to college. He doesn't understand the point of education. He wanted me to a be a movie director or singer or otherwise "famous". He didn't give a crap about school and let me do whatever I wanted when I stayed with him a couple weekends a month.

My mother, an Indian immigrant, sat me down every night and made me do my homework even though she worked three jobs. She paid for twelve years of private schooling. She told me every single day that my education was the only thing I would ever have that would let me survive in this world.

Thanks to her obsession with education, I completed college and never stopped educating myself. I now work as a front-end dev and make six figures. I'm currently preparing to apply for master's programs. I live a happy and comfortable life. I have some savings in the bank. I am constantly working to educate myself. I don't have vague fantasies about becoming "famous" or winning the lottery to support myself.

Education is truly the only guarantee for people of color to achieve a comfortable life in the US. I would never have understood this without my Indian mother's cultural drive towards education.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#329
Can confirm - my wife is a teacher and it seems every year is getting more difficult. I guess it's too soon to say how much of this is pandemic-related, either directly or indirectly, but it seems like testing, bureaucracy and parent madness (e.g. perception that the curriculum is too "woke" or not woke enough, etc.) have certainly been getting worse too.

But I'm also hearing (and experiencing) increased BS in other industries. Remote work spyware (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/14/business/work...) and flawed metrics-based performance measurement. So I don't know how much of it is teacher-specific and how much of it is general nonsense.

Re: Nobody wants to teach anymore

#330
post #98

A few random thoughts: 1. For as much as we spend on education, teachers seem to be grossly underpaid - to be getting robbed of their share of the budget. Where does that money go? 2. It seems that education degrees are seen as easier to achieve than others. 3. Teachers frequently complain about how they are unappreciated, yet children spend _12 years_ in their care. Why do people come up to them and say they hated s…

> Many school problems are caused by disruptive children.

Being able to fire your students is greatest advantage that private schools have over public ones.

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