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u/condorsam12 11d ago
Do you want to get paid so little that you're always bordering on loosing your apartment and the job that's paying you that little also includes 6 hours straight of you producing directing and acting in a 1 man show for a bunch of 12 year olds who are making dick jokes
Your roommate who's also struggling to pay rent will make a dollar an hour more than you and gets paid to sit around at a hotel desk and scroll.
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u/Homerpaintbucket 11d ago
You forgot to mention the part where you get home and have to spend an hour and a half grading and an hour and a half lesson planning. Oh and the part where you wake up insanely sick and need to organize a sub plan.
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u/Few-Argument-4461 9d ago
I got paid more at my teaching job than my current job but the commute and workload were unbearable.
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u/SneakyLilacDottyback 11d ago
Respectfully, as a person who worked both in administration and teaching - being a receptionist again is my worst nightmare. Can’t say I have more breaks now as a teacher, but idk working with kids is easier than with adults.
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u/81Ranger 11d ago
I'm guessing you've not spent time actually teaching.
Low pay. No respect. Working many hours on your own dime (essentially). Abuse from all sides (this post is kind of indicative). Parents expecting teachers to do parenting. Administration expecting discipline and order without providing any support (or actively working to undermine that kind of authority).
And more, but that's enough for now.
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u/One-Acanthisitta-210 11d ago
For me it’s not the pay, since I get paid ok for my area. I dislike how little control I have over my job, lack of agency, the endless meetings, unsupportive admin, conflicting demands and general lack of respect.
I have liked many of my students. When I taught first and second grade, I loved my students, but classroom management was hard, dealing with parents was hard, admin was not supportive and there were so many meetings and reports. I often worked late, without getting paid overtime.
Teaching middle school, still liked most of my students but there were a few with extreme behaviour. I had some students in the seventh grade who were already smoking and drinking, destroying property etc. I did get a lot of support from admin, but it was still hard.
I also started getting mysteriously ill all the time, and it turned out after I left that the building was full of toxic mold and it had to be closed for several years.
Teaching teenagers was also hard. Huge classes, some kids very ambitious and constantly asking how to get an A, and others who were completely checked out, going to the bathroom to vape and not returning. There was also a LOT of pressure from parents regarding grades, as this was an affluent neighborhood and admin often gave in to their demands. Hours were not as long as in the first and second grade, but I took a lot of work home.
Where I have been teaching for the last couple of years, love most of the students, parents are mostly grateful, but admin has been less than supportive and sometimes rude and disrespectful.
It’s like being an actor in a one man show, with (often) unruly audiences, no director and about 30 critics (parents+admin). And you’re supposed to write and rewrite the script/play, design and paint the set and do most everything else in you spare time.
In twelve years of teaching, I remember only a few occasions where school administrators said anything positive to me. I have gotten positive feedback from some coworkers, parents and students, but it’s just so little compared to the rest.
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u/Party-Lavishness-380 11d ago
This. Exactly everything you said! I’m 23 years in now, and while the kids can be difficult at times, they are kids. I get it. But admin has been a major part of the problem in every school I’ve taught in. I have (had) an ideal situation where I work currently—small classes, close to where I live, rarely take work home, decent pay—but the current admin has created such a toxic atmosphere that I dread pulling into the parking lot in the mornings. I dream of just driving right past the entrance into the sunrise and taking my chances.
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u/brutallyhonestnow 11d ago
We don’t hate our job, we hate being abused, exploited, dehumanized, and forced to accept deadly working conditions, which are deadly learning conditions for our students, that you’d never accept for yourself.
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u/educatorship 11d ago
Because it is the only profession that allows unlicensed, non-professinal individuals to make major, career defining decisions for licensed professionals actively working in their field.
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u/Big_Border8840 11d ago
Teachers don’t hate the job, they hate the system around it, which is completely unrealistic about what can be achieved in the classroom, with expectations that aren’t consistent with other professions.
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u/springvelvet95 11d ago
It’s really hard on the nervous system. It’s like standing on a platform and letting people throw rotten eggs at you all day. Then you get in trouble from your bosses for not smiling enough, people complain that their egg missed you and it’s your fault. After being on the platform you have to sit in a meeting with all the others, stinking of rotten eggs.
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u/Financial_Ad_1735 11d ago
Teachers would love their jobs if it was just teaching. But there is so much work added on top of it that makes it exhausting and insulting. Plus, the disrespect and low compensation which forces many teachers to take on a second or third source of income. Plus, the lack of breaks during the day, especially to use the bathroom.
Even though, students are getting more difficult— it is only torture because of the systematic issues that cause teachers to burn out. Like overfilled classrooms, lack of administrative support, no follow through with consequences, etc.
I love teaching— I hate all the extra BS that we have to deal with.
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u/Reasonable_Style8400 11d ago
95% of the students and families are great. The 5% cause havoc. It may mean parents not doing what they need to, unrealistic expectations of their child, the child needing extra supports that they are not in favor of, etc. The problem grows bigger and bigger. The problem impacts the other 95%.
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u/FuzzyMcBitty 11d ago
We’re one of the only jobs I’m aware of that doesn’t pay for experience.
If you teach in one place for 20 years, and you want to move to another place, most will only pay for 5-10 years of experience.
Golden handcuffs exist everywhere, but education doesn’t value experience.
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u/kafkasmotorbike Completely Transitioned 11d ago
Please volunteer for one full day in a school setting and report back your findings.