I will share with you what I posted. I've edited my comment and added a few more thoughts. I would love to hear what your thoughts are on this topic.
Like any profession you have your good and your not so good and unfortunately sometimes your bad. As for teachers overall I think they do an amazing job. Not only are teachers responsible for teaching our children but they have to deal with so much diversity and adversity. Sometimes they are forced to wear many hats. They have to be parent, social worker, and student advocate. At times children come to school in their pajama's because their parents either can't afford clothes or couldn't be bothered to ensure their children were properly dressed. Sometimes, those poor children go to school with empty stomachs...how well do you think a child can learn when they are troubled by their grumbling stomachs. Or what about those truly unfortunate children who live in homes where parents are addicts or where abuse occurs. How well do you think a child can learn. Teachers have to deal with all of this and more. It's not just about teaching them the ABC's. They spend a large portion of their time dealing with social issues. Why, because a good teachers sees the child as a WHOLE....not just as someone filling a space. In order for the child to learn they have to be open and ready to learn.
I have seen teachers time and again dip into their own pockets to get supplies for their classroom...I have seen teachers go above and beyond for their students to give them the extra bit they need.
I have heard many parents say they use the school as a daycare...what does that say about the parents and how do they respect their own children.
Teachers play a HUGE role in our children's lives. I have heard of stories about that one special teacher who went the extra mile for a student. I am one of those stories. I was privileged to have 3 teachers who did that for me....three teachers that made the world of difference for me. Teachers that believed in me and what I could do.....they pushed me...they challenged me....they made me think outside of the box....I was so close to dropping out of high school, had it not been for the kindness of a teacher I don't think I would have graduated.
Yes teachers are only in the classroom 10 months of the year...but they do not get paid for the summers when the children aren't in class. Many teachers due to the poor salaries have to take extra jobs in the summer to make ends meet.
While we are on about salaries...what kind of society are we when we will pay a football, basketball, baseball, hockey player millions of dollars to throw a ball around and do some tackling. What DO we as a society value.....please don't tell me that a professional player is more valuable than someone who we entrust to educate our children. Do you not see that OUR children are OUR future!
Here is a link to Meredith's comment about teacher's on Facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/note.php?note_id=666995678863&id=71209634
8 comments:
Having worked in schools (admin) for 20+ years I have seen bad, not so bad, good and excellent teachers. It is truly a vocation for the good teachers and merely a well paid job with lots of holidays for the bad ones. Teachers here are paid monthly whether they are working or on holiday. I agree that some teachers go above and beyond their call of duty and are immensely important in our children's lives.
Well put, Mary Ann! Not only do teachers have to pay for their own classroom supplies, but during their 2 months summer vacation they are usually at either a second job OR taking courses to supplement their own education - all at their own expense, too.
I am so glad that your reading that piece on my Facebook got you back to blogging -even if it is only for this one piece today! (I miss your posts, my friend!)
When I first read you comment -the first one you wrote -I thought uh oh, Mary Anne's got herself confused in reading that piece. Easy enough to do because initially, when I saw that title to the article, I blanched a bit, thinking this writer has got to be kidding.
I told Maya's TSS (her learning support aide) this afternoon about the piece and for her to be sure to read it when she got home from my Facebook. We got into a discussion then about many of the problems teachers must face and the TSS said that today, with all the things teachers have to deal with in the classroom, they really need to be trained as social workers who try to teach!
Your writing in this post though, as most of yours posts tend to do, showed great insight into the problems of education today. And I am so glad to see that article brought you back for however long to blogging again! Wonder if I can come up with another topic that will fire you up some more and keep you posting here again?
Peace, my friend. You did good!
Excellent post. I will never understand why teachers don't have one of the highest salaries of anyone. I also think that it's crazy how the lower the grade the least the teachers tend to make. The hardest and most important grades to teach, in my opinion, are the lower grades. An elementary school teacher has to do so much else besides teach and if they get through to children at that young age, the children will tend to do well in higher grades yet in the U.S., at least, they tend to have the lowest salaries. I'm not a teacher but that's my opinion.
I also think one of the most important jobs is garbage collection, and I'm serious. I don't understand why people that do a job like that which is nasty with few rewards but is essential to society wouldn't make a better salary.
These comments are concerning the U.S. because that's where I live.
PS I realized after I hit post that it might sound like I was comparing teaching with garbage collection and that's not my intention at all. My point is too often society pays the lower salaries to the most important jobs to keep things going smoothly.
Thank you all for your comments.
First, Jeni....I think I'm back...maybe just not as frequent...something else spurred me on today about Canadian politics and the news media and it got me thinking of another post.
Carver, I totally agree. As I said in my post.."what do we as a society value" What is important to us? Do we want to spend those tax dollars on education, healthcare, social hygiene(I include the sanitation department in this). Or do we support capitalist agendas and lining the pockets of the politicians, the professional athletes,and the actors...truly do we think that an actor is worth more than a teacher a sanitation worker, a lab technician, or even law enforcement officers? I certainly hope not...but why then is there such discrepancy in incomes.....hmmm
Well said. I did read the Facebook comment and it was a bit misleading at first. Having worked in education for all my career I have seen it from the teacher's point of view as well as a school and district administrator. While some individuals were better at their profession than others, I only encountered a few that I would say were in the bad category. And as you mentioned, most made a huge difference in the lives of many children. - Margy
I do not disagree with what you write - but there are exceptions to many of your general points. I personally have known teachers who do not dip into their own pockets - because the expectation is that the parents will supply the supplies, and there has been verbal statements of "if you do not supply it, the classroom will not have it". Also, in many school districts it is not completely that the teachers teach during summer to merely supplement their income - the fight for the chance to teach classes at that time because the pay is higher. I think this is a profession that should be chosen becuase of what is in their heart - and when that heart is empty, it is time to get out and not stay around simply because you have tenure and can. That is what gives teachers a bad rap - when you no longer can teach, you shouldnt ruin the students by taking up a desk. I have met a lot of lovely wonderful inspiring caring teachers - unfortunately, I have also met many on the other side of the coin. Bless the ones who do what they do to the very best of their ability...
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