Why do people do that?
My doctor and I were having a conversation about work, family, etc. She gives me a smile and says "Don't get offended but it must be pretty nice to get off work at 3 every day."
To my knowledge, teaching seems to be the only profession that people feel they have the right to downplay and degrade. One minute they'll say education is so important and without education you will not succeed in life. And the next minute they turn around and talk about how teachers have it SO easy with all that vacation time and early days.
Yes, we do get holidays and summers off. But you may have so quickly forgotten that most teachers barely get paid enough to even own a decent home on their own. If we don't want to live paycheck to paycheck we are sometimes forced to get summer jobs to help compensate. Do you have to always look for another job come June?
Yes, we are contractually finished with our workday around 3:00 (depending on school and district, of course.) Unfortunately most teachers only have an hour a day of paid time to prep for class. Some districts don't even provide a prep hour for teachers! That means that most teachers have to come earlier and stay later than what they would be paid for. Some come in on the weekends. Some just take work home.
So, if that all still sounds SO easy and you are now contemplating quitting your difficult and intensive career you can always downgrade and try teaching.
Don't forget that you will have parents in denial who think you're the problem and not their child, students that think it's ok to throw chairs at you or choke classmates, and the expectation that you are to remain happy and upbeat for 6 hours straight.
Don't forget that you may have to spend your money on supplies once the supplies the school gave you runs out in two months and crackers for the kids who are too poor to afford a lunch or snack.
You will become adept at asking friends to gather supplies for you from their workplace.
You will no longer have shame once you start asking every single place you go if they offer teacher discounts or if they can donate supplies for a classroom project.
And lastly,
You will become accustomed to the lack of respect people give you when they hear you're a teacher. Because, as impressed as they may look when you first say you're a teacher, ten minutes later they'll be making the same comment as my doctor.
To my knowledge, teaching seems to be the only profession that people feel they have the right to downplay and degrade. One minute they'll say education is so important and without education you will not succeed in life. And the next minute they turn around and talk about how teachers have it SO easy with all that vacation time and early days.
Yes, we do get holidays and summers off. But you may have so quickly forgotten that most teachers barely get paid enough to even own a decent home on their own. If we don't want to live paycheck to paycheck we are sometimes forced to get summer jobs to help compensate. Do you have to always look for another job come June?
Yes, we are contractually finished with our workday around 3:00 (depending on school and district, of course.) Unfortunately most teachers only have an hour a day of paid time to prep for class. Some districts don't even provide a prep hour for teachers! That means that most teachers have to come earlier and stay later than what they would be paid for. Some come in on the weekends. Some just take work home.
So, if that all still sounds SO easy and you are now contemplating quitting your difficult and intensive career you can always downgrade and try teaching.
Don't forget that you will have parents in denial who think you're the problem and not their child, students that think it's ok to throw chairs at you or choke classmates, and the expectation that you are to remain happy and upbeat for 6 hours straight.
Don't forget that you may have to spend your money on supplies once the supplies the school gave you runs out in two months and crackers for the kids who are too poor to afford a lunch or snack.
You will become adept at asking friends to gather supplies for you from their workplace.
You will no longer have shame once you start asking every single place you go if they offer teacher discounts or if they can donate supplies for a classroom project.
And lastly,
You will become accustomed to the lack of respect people give you when they hear you're a teacher. Because, as impressed as they may look when you first say you're a teacher, ten minutes later they'll be making the same comment as my doctor.
posted by dragonchica @ 7:44 PM
3 Comments
3 Comments:
Sounds like you need a career change! You should try an office job-- we all gripe about our jobs too!
If I change careers where would I find another job that makes me feel this good? As disrespected as teachers are by society I love having a positive influence on the children. Sometimes all they have are their teachers, which can be a very sad realization.
i would like to think that people are just unaware. friends or acquaintances who DO have other friends or acquaintances who are teachers don't throw the follow-up comment at me. so when people do say that, i just tell them all the things you mentioned.
e.g. "actually, i technically get off at 2:15, but i'm often there til 5:00." or "yeah, but if i leave on time, i usually take work home or come in on the weekends."
more often than not, they are surprised to hear it and don't respond disrespectfully. perhaps that'll help clue your doctor in. i'm sure they also get crap from people who think that their high pay compensates for the difficult job they do, while they may be thinking, "what about my loans from school, post doc, residency, complaining patients, longer than 24-hour shifts, etc. etc. etc."
i think everyone can think of SOMETHING that makes their job difficult. at least we can rejoice that our job lets us play with paint and playdoh!
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