Bitching Hour #3: Back to School Bitching
When we started this, we mentioned that we are two pretty different people and that sometimes, one of us would bitch about something that the other one might take a different side on. With that in mind, we give you this week's post on Back to School!
Korie
It's that time of year again! Back to school. Luckily, M has a few more years before I need to worry about being an active participant in the battle for the blue notebook or 3 ring binder with college-ruled paper, or whatever teachers are putting on school supply lists these days. No, this week, I need to bitch about teachers themselves. Now I was going to start this off with a disclaimer like "FYI this doesn't apply to ALL teachers", but this is my bitching hour. Obviously, this does not apply to all teachers. I grew up in a middle class town, to a middle class family. I had good teachers and bad teachers throughout grade school, undergrad and graduate school that had a huge impact on my life. Heck, I even wanted to be a teacher during an identity crisis in my early twenties. And why is that, you ask? Because I love French and want to share that love with others and shape young American minds to speak more than one language? Absolutely. But also because, let's be real, teachers have a pretty sweet gig. Two months off in the summer time? Sign me up!
I have a couple of teacher friends who were complaining via the various social media channels, and to me personally, that "summer break was over". Wow yeah, poor you, your TWO MONTH VACATION has finally come to an end. Do you know how much vacation time I get as a member of corporate America? Two weeks. Weeks. Not months. "But wait!" They cry. "We don't just have a 9AM-5PM job!" Neither do I; I start at 8 AM and am lucky to leave at exactly 5 o'clock on most days. Also, I work through my lunch regularly and I know that I am not alone. "We bring our work home with us!" they say. That's literally the reason so many companies issue their employees laptops over desktop computers nowadays. What else have you got? "We don't get to pick our own vacation time or take our own days. We can only go on vacation when school is out!" Oh I'm sorry, was that two months over the summer, the week of Thanksgiving, the week of Christmas/New Years, and sometime around President's Day/Easter not flexible enough for you? Ok. Let's trade. I repeat, I have two weeks of vacation for the entire year. One of my teacher friends in particular told me she doesn't get sick time. I couldn't muster any sympathy because so many companies are now combining sick time with vacation time, so we non-teachers have to make the decision to come into the office and contaminate our coworkers or forsake some of our already meager 80 hours of paid time off.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure it's hard going back to work after two months of vacation. Especially since you don't know if fate has dealt you a group of hoodlums, or angels this school year. But one thing I do know for sure is that you've just had a way longer break than any of the rest of us get, so trade those yoga pants for some slacks, find the ol' laser pointer and get back in the game. Working sucks for all of us, but if I have to go into the office every day, it's time you went back to school!
Tricia
Wow...that was really bitchy Korie! LOL!
I have a couple teachers in my family - my sister, my mom, and both of my mother's parents. I tend to see both sides on this matter.
- I've seen the money teacher's invest in their own classroom and their own students that are lacking supplies. Yes, they can write off some of that on their income taxes but the maximum is $500. I can tell you that my mom and sister have both spent way over that amount on various things for their class in a year.
- Teachers are apprehensive about what group of children they get in their class for the year because depending on the children they not only have to be the teacher but also aid them emotionally. More and more children are coming from split households and lacking support in one household or another so the teacher then ends up needing to give more support for the child to manage in school. Also, a child that's previously had issues or hasn't been identified as having issues (behavioral or academic) the teacher then has to identify and send through the proper channels to get that child the interventions they need to succeed!
- Arriving early, staying late, prep periods to work and no lunch periods, changing grade levels as often as each year due to the number of registered kids for the year, difficult parents, difficult home situations for kids, school administration, limited budgets, attending seminars and training on their personal time...
I do realize and have seen first hand that not all teachers are dedicated to this level but I'd like to believe most are to some degree. I didn't become a teacher for a reason. I'd be fired within the first month for disciplining little Jimmy because his parents don't bother at home and he's a little a**hole. I'd like to think that teachers are teachers for a reason and have more patience and tolerance than I do.
My biggest issue with this whole topic isn't their time off or them complaining about going back but is the fact that people (my former boss) actually complain that her sister-in-law was overpaid for being a teacher. She had been a teacher in a small, low income district for 15 years. This sister-in-law wasn't making more than $45,000 to contribute to her family of 5. 15 years to get to that salary! She still was paying off her student loans from receiving her degree (that's a whole other bitch session about degrees and quality of living due to debt). I don't begrudge anyone their salary especially in a job that I could NEVER do! It is a pretty sweet gig because the teachers can have summers off with their children and not worry about childcare like we had to this summer. But the fact of the matter is some children (such as my step son) would benefit from all year school - he thrives on the routine and schedule. But not all kids would. Kids need time to be kids. Childhood these days is so different than when we were growing up. I'm glad kids have a summer break, they deserve it. So do the teachers for putting up with those kids all year and not being able to discipline them lol!
Teachers don't get paid during those two months off so a large percentage of teachers don't take the summer off entirely. Some teachers are wait staff at restaurants seasonally, teach summer school, participate in curriculum development, grant writing for their school district, work at a library, work in nursing homes etc. That was hard for my family financially for my mom to be off all summer so she often did work during the summer.
I may have gotten off on a few other tangents lol! Sorry about that. It's a complicated topic for me because I have seen the life of a teacher and have compassion for them but am also pissed to hear them complain when I work on my laptop from home and have only a couple weeks vacation myself.
Talk soon!
Korie
It's that time of year again! Back to school. Luckily, M has a few more years before I need to worry about being an active participant in the battle for the blue notebook or 3 ring binder with college-ruled paper, or whatever teachers are putting on school supply lists these days. No, this week, I need to bitch about teachers themselves. Now I was going to start this off with a disclaimer like "FYI this doesn't apply to ALL teachers", but this is my bitching hour. Obviously, this does not apply to all teachers. I grew up in a middle class town, to a middle class family. I had good teachers and bad teachers throughout grade school, undergrad and graduate school that had a huge impact on my life. Heck, I even wanted to be a teacher during an identity crisis in my early twenties. And why is that, you ask? Because I love French and want to share that love with others and shape young American minds to speak more than one language? Absolutely. But also because, let's be real, teachers have a pretty sweet gig. Two months off in the summer time? Sign me up!
I have a couple of teacher friends who were complaining via the various social media channels, and to me personally, that "summer break was over". Wow yeah, poor you, your TWO MONTH VACATION has finally come to an end. Do you know how much vacation time I get as a member of corporate America? Two weeks. Weeks. Not months. "But wait!" They cry. "We don't just have a 9AM-5PM job!" Neither do I; I start at 8 AM and am lucky to leave at exactly 5 o'clock on most days. Also, I work through my lunch regularly and I know that I am not alone. "We bring our work home with us!" they say. That's literally the reason so many companies issue their employees laptops over desktop computers nowadays. What else have you got? "We don't get to pick our own vacation time or take our own days. We can only go on vacation when school is out!" Oh I'm sorry, was that two months over the summer, the week of Thanksgiving, the week of Christmas/New Years, and sometime around President's Day/Easter not flexible enough for you? Ok. Let's trade. I repeat, I have two weeks of vacation for the entire year. One of my teacher friends in particular told me she doesn't get sick time. I couldn't muster any sympathy because so many companies are now combining sick time with vacation time, so we non-teachers have to make the decision to come into the office and contaminate our coworkers or forsake some of our already meager 80 hours of paid time off.
So yeah, I'm pretty sure it's hard going back to work after two months of vacation. Especially since you don't know if fate has dealt you a group of hoodlums, or angels this school year. But one thing I do know for sure is that you've just had a way longer break than any of the rest of us get, so trade those yoga pants for some slacks, find the ol' laser pointer and get back in the game. Working sucks for all of us, but if I have to go into the office every day, it's time you went back to school!
Tricia
Wow...that was really bitchy Korie! LOL!
I have a couple teachers in my family - my sister, my mom, and both of my mother's parents. I tend to see both sides on this matter.
- I've seen the money teacher's invest in their own classroom and their own students that are lacking supplies. Yes, they can write off some of that on their income taxes but the maximum is $500. I can tell you that my mom and sister have both spent way over that amount on various things for their class in a year.
- Teachers are apprehensive about what group of children they get in their class for the year because depending on the children they not only have to be the teacher but also aid them emotionally. More and more children are coming from split households and lacking support in one household or another so the teacher then ends up needing to give more support for the child to manage in school. Also, a child that's previously had issues or hasn't been identified as having issues (behavioral or academic) the teacher then has to identify and send through the proper channels to get that child the interventions they need to succeed!
- Arriving early, staying late, prep periods to work and no lunch periods, changing grade levels as often as each year due to the number of registered kids for the year, difficult parents, difficult home situations for kids, school administration, limited budgets, attending seminars and training on their personal time...
I do realize and have seen first hand that not all teachers are dedicated to this level but I'd like to believe most are to some degree. I didn't become a teacher for a reason. I'd be fired within the first month for disciplining little Jimmy because his parents don't bother at home and he's a little a**hole. I'd like to think that teachers are teachers for a reason and have more patience and tolerance than I do.
My biggest issue with this whole topic isn't their time off or them complaining about going back but is the fact that people (my former boss) actually complain that her sister-in-law was overpaid for being a teacher. She had been a teacher in a small, low income district for 15 years. This sister-in-law wasn't making more than $45,000 to contribute to her family of 5. 15 years to get to that salary! She still was paying off her student loans from receiving her degree (that's a whole other bitch session about degrees and quality of living due to debt). I don't begrudge anyone their salary especially in a job that I could NEVER do! It is a pretty sweet gig because the teachers can have summers off with their children and not worry about childcare like we had to this summer. But the fact of the matter is some children (such as my step son) would benefit from all year school - he thrives on the routine and schedule. But not all kids would. Kids need time to be kids. Childhood these days is so different than when we were growing up. I'm glad kids have a summer break, they deserve it. So do the teachers for putting up with those kids all year and not being able to discipline them lol!
Teachers don't get paid during those two months off so a large percentage of teachers don't take the summer off entirely. Some teachers are wait staff at restaurants seasonally, teach summer school, participate in curriculum development, grant writing for their school district, work at a library, work in nursing homes etc. That was hard for my family financially for my mom to be off all summer so she often did work during the summer.
I may have gotten off on a few other tangents lol! Sorry about that. It's a complicated topic for me because I have seen the life of a teacher and have compassion for them but am also pissed to hear them complain when I work on my laptop from home and have only a couple weeks vacation myself.
Talk soon!
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