:thumb: They're in school 9-10 months a year and they have a ton work outside of school that they must do as well.

 

There's the catch. Most people work 12 months a year and many of those have things they have to do outside of their office as well.

Are teachers the only people that work off of the clock?

No, but I think people tend to discount that aspect of teaching when discussing how much they work, and what their theoretical pay per hour is.

 

There's the other end of the spectrum, where people don't realize how much many lawyers work (which is why I don't want to go to law school) but, then, they aren't all that shy about billable hours. :lol:

There's the catch. Most people work 12 months a year and many of those have things they have to do outside of their office as well.

Several teachers I know pick up extra hours in the summer... I saw my old history teacher tossing peanuts at Slugger Field last summer.

So do teachers. In addition to being required to obtain their master's degree, they have to have 32 hours of professional development every year (used to be 45 before this year). These hours are spent in seminars and trainings designed to improve classroom management skills, instruction and curriculum development.

 

And if I'm not mistaken there are professional development days built into the school calendar where teacher can earn these credits.

 

I gather you are a teacher.

 

What do you do during spring break?

 

What do you do during Christmas (excuse me Winter) break?

 

During the summer holiday how many total days do you spend doing MANDATED job related activities vs. things you choose to do?

 

During the school year how many holidays do you get and how many days can you take off for personal reasons?

 

The bottom line as far as I can see is that teachers get a whole lot more down time then almost any other profession. Now chances are they need it after being in a classroom for a school year BUT they have to see that down time as a benefit of their profession that few if any other professions have.

Several teachers I know pick up extra hours in the summer... I saw my old history teacher tossing peanuts at Slugger Field last summer.

 

Several teachers I know travel extensively during the summer. At least they have an option to pick up extra income if they choose to. But to say that the average teacher doesn't have more down time then just about any other profession is just not accurate as far as I'm concerned.

My point exactly...journalists write the articles, not teachers.

True, but those journalists do not just make up quotes (except for the occasional New York Times reporter).

 

I bring up the academic team question because I know of someone that used to be on and had a great team...but he cared very little about the students in his classes that were not on the academic team.

Most good academic coaches care deeply about their students because the extra pay that they receive works out to well below minimum wage if they invest the time needed to be competitive at the state level.

(see where Kentucky ranks on page 2)

 

Learning about teacher Pay

Adjusting for cost-of-living differences is one way to make a more accurate comparison of teacher salaries from state to state. Obviously, a teacher’s salary is relative to how much it costs for a teacher to live in a state. States with a high cost of living, such as Connecticut, California, and New York, often have a higher average pay because teachers in these states must pay more for living expenses such as food, housing, transportation, and utilities. One illustration of this is that the 2004 median value of a home in Nassau County, New York was $420,903, while the median value of a home in Mecklenburg County was $155,358.2 Thus, any ranking of unadjusted teacher’s salaries, whether starting wages or average salaries, yields little useful information.

 

Nevertheless, cost of living cannot be the only factor that is used in a state-by-state comparison. Why? Even salary figures adjusted for the cost of living do not account for the fact that teachers receive benefits as part of their compensation. Although no state-by-state information is available to compare health care, vacation, and other non-wage factors, data on employer contributions to teacher pension programs for 2004 are available.

And if I'm not mistaken there are professional development days built into the school calendar where teacher can earn these credits.

 

I gather you are a teacher.

 

What do you do during spring break?

 

What do you do during Christmas (excuse me Winter) break?

 

During the summer holiday how many total days do you spend doing MANDATED job related activities vs. things you choose to do?

 

During the school year how many holidays do you get and how many days can you take off for personal reasons?

 

The bottom line as far as I can see is that teachers get a whole lot more down time then almost any other profession. Now chances are they need it after being in a classroom for a school year BUT they have to see that down time as a benefit of their profession that few if any other professions have.

 

 

The professional development days are in addition to the days that we teach, so they are not, per say, built into the calendar. Each school sets up time (usually during the summer) with trainings to earn these hours.

 

I get off most holidays. I don't get paid for them.

 

Pardon me for not specifically responding to your other questions, but most of them I answered in another thread not too long ago. I thought I would just post my reply here. I think the thread was entitled "The Economics of Education".

 

So, your average year round worker (5 days a week/52 weeks) doesn't take any vacation?

 

I've been teaching for 12 years now, have a masters degree in chemistry, get small stipends for sponsoring the science club and senior class and come NO WHERE close to making $65,000.

 

Do you count the 6-8 hours I spend every Sunday at school grading papers and preparing lessons as days of work? Or as vacation? 36 weeks in a typical school year, so add on another 36 days to my 200.

 

Do you count the 4 or 5 nights a week (and many times Saturdays) that I volunteer at my school working with extracurricular and athletic programs and get home at 10 or 11 o'clock work? Or vacation? I'll answer that one for you, its voluntary, so don't consider it.

 

Oh, I usually do work summer school...not for the extra $1000 it puts in my pocket for 12 days of work (let's see...that's less than $100/day!), but because there are kids that need that time in the summer. So add me on another 12 days.

 

Let's not even talk about the time in which I was an actual coach and not just a volunteer....no? The additional salary makes up for that? Yeah, right.

 

Need me to train to be a KTIP teacher? Ok...a SBDM teacher? Ok....go to curriculum development training? Ok....Advanced Placement training? Ok...CPR/First Aid training? Ok...Positive discipline training? Ok...wait, there's another week.

 

I have to chaperone (be in charge of actually) the prom, weekend field trips, dances, and club and sport fundraisers....let's be generous and say only one additional week.

 

 

So, let's move that salary WAY down and those days WAY up and recheck your numbers. (For those that can't, I 'm sure that it is your math teacher's fault - he/she had too many days off in the summer)

 

I don't want more money. I am fine with knowing that the only students that I have that graduate, go to college and start their own profession that will be making less money than me the first year are....well, those that will be teachers.

 

The one thing that I want is respect. I have it from my students...sure would be nice to have it from the rest of the those that choose not to be a teacher, instead of being told to enjoy having my summers "off".

 

It's interesting that you want the details about my job but are unwilling to supply the same about your own.

 

Oh, and I get one personal day per year...and I will be on spring break this week. But I will be spending part or all of three of those days at school.

True, but those journalists do not just make up quotes (except for the occasional New York Times reporter).

 

Most good academic coaches care deeply about their students because the extra pay that they receive works out to well below minimum wage if they invest the time needed to be competitive at the state level.

 

This doesn't make sense. They care deeply about the other students because of the pay that they receive for their extracurricular activity would put (for the time they spend) below minimum wage for that activity? How is that logical?

There's the catch. Most people work 12 months a year and many of those have things they have to do outside of their office as well.

 

Really? What professions don't have vacations?

This doesn't make sense. They care deeply about the other students because of the pay that they receive for their extracurricular activity would put (for the time they spend) below minimum wage for that activity? How is that logical?

It makes perfect sense to me. Great academic coaches invest just as much time preparing their teams for competition as an outstanding football coach, only they are usually paid much less for their effort. If these academic coaches did not really care about helping their kids succeed, then they would not be volunteering to do the extra work for less than they could earn after school at McDonalds. Of course, there are always a few people who coach because they are extremely competitive and just like to be recognized as winners, but most successful coaches genuinely care about the kids on their teams.

 

I think that I see your point, but teachers who devote so much of their time coaching students on an academic team are not likely to have a totally different attitude toward the students who are not on their team.

If you wanna talk about being overpaid, you've got pro athletes, politicians, and actors / singers / entertainers etc. that are grossly overpaid.

 

It's crazy that people invest so much money in things that are really meaningless and trivial in the longrun.

 

You would think that we would be all about attracting quality teachers considering that they literally have the future of the planet sitting listeneing attentivley to their every word for upwards of 8 hours a day, 5 days a week.

 

People wonder why ignorance is so prevelant. I believe the reason for it is the attitudes about teachers / education that have been expressed in this thread by some, and have unfortunatley been shared by too many people for too long.

The professional development days are in addition to the days that we teach, so they are not, per say, built into the calendar. Each school sets up time (usually during the summer) with trainings to earn these hours.

 

I get off most holidays. I don't get paid for them.

 

Pardon me for not specifically responding to your other questions, but most of them I answered in another thread not too long ago. I thought I would just post my reply here. I think the thread was entitled "The Economics of Education".

 

 

 

It's interesting that you want the details about my job but are unwilling to supply the same about your own.

 

Oh, and I get one personal day per year...and I will be on spring break this week. But I will be spending part or all of three of those days at school.

 

I just won't tell you what I do. What other details do you want?

 

Let's use your numbers. 52 weeks a year, 5 work days a week that's 260 work days a year. I get 6 holidays so that takes it down to 254 days BUT most years I have to work on 3 of those days so we're back up to 257 working days. From July to November I have to work almost every Saturday so let's add 20 days for that. I work Saturdays and the occasional at other times through the year, maybe 10. Now we're up to 287 working days. I get 26 pay checks a year and every time I get one I get 6.15 hours of paid time off, so for every 2 weeks I work I get less then one day off. That works out to aproximately 20 paid days off a year. That includes both vacation and sick time. Usually I take 2 weeks of vacation (14 days) and keep 6 in my "bank" in case I get sick. By those numbers (without sickness) I work 273 days a year.

 

Once again, I'm not anti-teacher at all. You do a job that I don't think I could do and I know you haven't said it but I strongly disagree with the people that say teachers are underpaid.

There's the catch. Most people work 12 months a year and many of those have things they have to do outside of their office as well.

 

Most people don't have to continue going to school for their job. Most people aren't responsible for educating the future leaders of the country. Teachers are more important than most people.

Most people don't have to continue going to school for their job. Most people aren't responsible for educating the future leaders of the country. Teachers are more important than most people.

 

:thumb:

The only people I think of off the top of my head that have to continually go through education in order to keep their jobs are doctors, pilots, teachers, and a few people in the technology industry. We pay doctors a lot of money for their services, and the same with pilots. Why do we think teachers, who have to continually get re-certified and get a master's, are overpaid? My dad is a teacher and he's far from overpaid. He has to put up with huge amounts of stress, idiot school boards, and he does it all b/c he loves what he does. And he only makes in the 40,000's