Sunday, August 30, 2009

125K

This is not meant to depress you. It is food for thought:

Well-Paid Teachers? I’m on Board by Christine Graslow explores
The Equity Project Charter School (TEP) which will open this September.


Moral of the story? Teachers should be paid for their real hours, not their fabled hours. And, it's possible. I would love to see this school's budget, simply to find out if these types of salaries are sustainable.

I'm concerned for colleagues who will become addicted to this level of pay and then find the school shuttering after a few years. Call it the wrought-iron handcuffs.*

Also, the cost of living in NYC is extremely high, the hours demanded are "greater," the length of the school year is longer, and teachers perform administrative functions (which we do anyway). When Dan is not too lazy, he will figure out the level of pay in terms of cost of living.

However, bear in mind: more hours = rather than sitting in your classroom grading papers until 5 pm, you are required to be there and are compensated for that. The days are long, but so are lawyers' days....doctor's days....see where we're headed? So, in order to make a professional wage, we may need to be willing to trade off the perceived flexibility of the teaching day (which is bogus and will be explored later), or at least the ability to occasionally get out of work to meet one's own children after school, run errands, hit the bank before it closes.

In essence, we may need to stop conceiving of teaching as The Mommy Job.

Or, we may need to demand more flexibility. That is in the next post.

***

A new paradigm has been born. I hope this school is an astonishing success. It needs to be in order for us to have a model of much higher teacher pay resulting in benefits to students.

So, it's not all bad news!!


* Couldn't think of an alternative to the "golden handcuffs" syndrome super rich lawyers complain about, which entails becoming so used to the money that it seems impossible to leave the job, no matter how odious, time-consuming or soul-draining. On 125 K a year in New York, the handcuffs wouldn't be golden, but...something not quite that good.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

The Wild West

Teen Charged With Trying to Kill Teacher, Aide

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 26, 2009
Filed at 7:13 p.m. ET


SAN MATEO, Calif. (AP) -- A 17-year-old boy accused of detonating two pipe bombs at a Northern California high school while armed with a chain saw, sword and explosives appeared in court Wednesday on charges of trying to murder two faculty members.
Alex Youshock, a former student at Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, did not enter a plea to charges that included exploding or attempting to explode bombs in a school to terrorize others and possession of dangerous weapons -- the sword and chain saw. [NY Times, 8/26/09]




***
A sword???????


I wish I had been there. I wish I had been there to scream, "Who do you think you are, Highlander?"



I want to know what happens when this crap goes down. Is defending yourself against imminent death in your job description?



Have you ever seen your job description?

No, neither have I. But we all sign a quote-unquote "contract" every year. Where else in American do you sign a contract SIGHT UNSEEN?

We want to know how much we will be PAID if we have to blockade the door, throw ourselves in front of a bullet.



We're not joking. How many people have been reprimanded for not following the "code blue," or "lockdown," or "the sniper is nearby" procedures? And if we can be reprimanded, scolded, or made to feel as if we aren't doing our jobs, then we want:



1) hazard pay

2) real training, not the joke training we all get

3) an opt out

4) a lawyer to explain to us EXACTLY what we are quote-unquote required to do and NOT required to do

4) a guarantee that if we do put ourselves in harms way to save a student or students, our families will receive a FRIGGIN' LOT OF MONEY.



The question becomes 'are you willing to die for these people?' For little children, probably 100 percent of us would answer yes. But we have heard colleagues, quite reasonably say, "You know what--some of these overgrown thugs have treated us so horribly, in what space-time continuum am I going to die for them? "

And having your own children is a game changer. No, I'm not dying for some of the worst people I will ever meet and leave MY children without a parent. Guess what--I'm not dying for some of the BEST people I will ever meet and leave my child without a parent. We are not the police. Yes, teachers have children, too.

Dumb administrator moment: Our VP scolded us for not taking the most idiotic training seriously, with the admonition, "I have a child, and I'm scared to think some of you would be in loco parentis.

Well, you know what--we have children, too, and they way you have trained us 1) endangers all of us, including our own children, and 2) Who the H-LL do you think you are? You think we should die to save YOUR child? No. My child is coming home to see her Mommy tonight.

Get a grip on reality, America. We are not paid enough to do this. Maybe you need to hire Blackwater.

Just once--JUST ONCE, I wish that when a lockdown drill or what have you is announced, an entire faculty would sit down in the hall with signs that say, "We have no idea how to protect this building."

Peter says, "I work in a district where a guy off the street walked into the girl's locker room after hours and just sort of hung out. That could have been a tragedy."
***
It's very, very true--we don't deserve more money. We should stay after school, after having worked for EIGHT HOURS, and be the police, as well as tutor, coach, paint floats, Xerox, grade....



....for free.


Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Learn Your Place!

While trolling for any and all reportage of teachers agitating for better working conditions and salaries, which we find entirely lacking and sparse, we found an article from last year concerning a planned/possible strike in Florida:

One anonymous commentator spewed: “....Looking closely at the facts here, it is reasonable to conclude that this strike is not really about Saucon Valley schools but about a broader strategy by the teacher unions -- namely, continuing to drive up comparative teacher salaries through formulaic pay scales and expecting taxpayers to pay for the escalating cost of health care.....”


I [Rachel] would like to reply: You are correct, sir! Teachers want to drive up comparative salaries--check--no, check-plus!! We want tax payers to pay for the escalating cost of health care--BINGO!! If we didn't know our anonymous commenter clearly despises teachers and regard them as "lessers"--we'd HIRE you as a guest blogger!!


Would anonymous commenter rather teachers go on strike to request that their salaries keep them mired in student loan debt, permanently ensconced in the lower middle class*, forever obligated to take 2nd, and 3rd, and 4th jobs to pay mortgages on house in the districts in which they teach?

To that we say, "G(o) T(o) H-E-Double Hockey sticks! We're not your worker bees.


Or...maybe we are, and just like the collapse of the honey bees, we should take our act on the road. Go to law school. Set up our own tutoring companies. Withdraw our labor. See how you like them apples....


*Yes--actually, you are in The Lower Middle Class. Oh, you don't think so? Well, you're wrong. We will elucidate you tomorrow.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Private School Homies

Private school teachers negotiate their salaries.
Individually.
Some of them.
I have worked in such a place.
Very tony, very chi-chi school.
Huge endowment.
No, no--you don't get it--in the hundreds of millions.



Just a thought.

I'm not saying...but I'm just saying...

Look, I know the issue of being paid based on quote-unquote performance is thorny.

Give it some thought, check back in.

Sunday, August 23, 2009

The Myth of Tenure

Our blog posts are often too long, and we live in the age of the sound-byte, so in brief:


If they want you gone, you’re gone.

***

Veteran teachers know:
If they like you, you can do anything you want--come late, never hand back papers, dress crazy, not bathe, and you're golden. You're untouchable.

It is so much like being back in high school--you know, the arbitrariness, the impossibility of figuring out how to "get liked"--


....you may not know what you did--perhaps you looked at someone funny, perhaps your sub plans were on the right side of your desk instead of the left side of your desk, perhaps you made friends with the "wrong" people....but once "they" have set their hats against you....you may as well put in for a transfer and get your resume in shape.

We speak not from a place of bitterness, but from witnessing others disappear. Haven't you noticed this? One day someone's there, the next they're gone? And we often assume that because it is "so hard to fire a teacher," that person must have done something morally reprehensible, unforgivable, a crime against nature. They deserved to go. Why else would the administration go to such trouble, given that it is so hard to get rid of a "bad" teacher!!!

And, of course, administrators, being paragons of virtue and entirely lacking in human emotion, never act out vendettas...[SARCASM ALERT!!! SARCASM ALERT!!!]


We call this the myth of tenure:




you ain't got tenure; you ain't got squat. [Technically, this teacher wasn't fired...we are researching what happened to her. However, harrassment, poor evaluations, and constant beratement is one of the tools employed to drive people out...]

***

We have found that frequently, when someone vanishes, the rumor mill actively reports that the person did something abominable; months later, we find out not only was the person exonerated, but is happily, successfully teaching elsewhere, or, living on a beach enjoying the interest on the hefty settlement and hush money they received...

***

When a colleague is "disappeared," we suggest that you find out what really happened before you pass judgement.
***

More examples to follow, and ways to avoid being placed on the sh*t list. In the main, we aim to make this a forum for the real, secret knowledge all veteran teachers have, which is usually transmitted via oral tradition in faculty rooms, at bars, and psychically, through looks and expressions.






Friday, August 21, 2009

Don't read your e-mail

What did we do before e-mail? Somehow we--as species--landed on the moon; created a vaccine for polio; authored Hamlet, the 9th Symphony, and Blue Suede Shoes; scaled Everest; performed the first heart transplant....

All before the advent of e-mail.

We were told, check your [work] e-mail over the summer, at least to keep it cleared out.

In my mind, I whispered a steely, resolute, "No."

Yes, occasionally I checked it to clear out the spam...and I'll admit to peeking at a few messages just to see what I already knew--there were idiotic pleas to think about, do, ponder, plan, make ready, consider, answer, file, fax....

And then I stopped; we stopped; my colleagues and I stopped.

And, when I received an e-mail at my home e-mail address, that's when I recommitted myself to this principle:

"When you PAY me for working over the summer, I will gladly WORK over the SUMMER. Answering e-mail is work. Therefore, no.

If there is SO MUCH work to be done, whether that be planning revisions to the chemistry curriculum, planning a reshuffling of world language teaching assignments, deciding how to divide up special needs students among the 4th grade teachers, deciding who will run the lights for the fall play, meeting (!!) to iron out the AP Calculus curriculum, fundraising (!!!)....

...planning,
...thinking,
...doing,
...deciding,
...cleaning,
...painting,
...moving furniture,
...buying (!),

In ANY OTHER space, discipline, field, the aforementioned tasks, "duties," or "favors" are otherwise known as "work."

And I get paid to do work.
***

E-mail –don’t do it – you’re on unpaid leave of absence.

If you are tempted, figure out how long it will take you to clear out the spam, answer messages, and mentally digest all that just got dumped on your head...Would it take an hour? 30 minutes? How much is that worth? 50 bucks? 100 bucks? 20 bucks? Take that money and take your child shopping, or put it in your child's college fund. Or go out and have fun.

Because during the school year, are they going to let you come 30 minutes late, or leave 30 minutes early, to make up for the time you DONATED over the summer?

No, I didn't think so.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Taming the Wild'uns






Normally I hate books like this. There are literally seven trillion "tips" for keeping your students from acting like wild animals.


My thinking is as follows:


If it's this hard, then something OTHER THAN THE SCHOOLS AND THE TEACHERS HAS GONE HORRIBLY WRONG!



However,

...in a desperate fit of despair, whilst flipping through this book which I had stolen from another teacher...I found one valuable tip that worked for me.


And one is all you need.


So, in the interests of YOUR survival, YOUR health and well-being, YOUR peace of mind, I recommend this book and ask you, dear readers, to post your suggestions for our BRAND NEW COLLEAGUES about to embark on the adventure of a lifetime I mean that so super sarcastically you could not even know...
* We are not paid to endorse any book (would that we were).

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

We're having trouble posting, so I have to reply to the latest commentator this way:



It is so great to see a comment. Sometimes it feels like I am writing into the 'Twilight Zone.' I know a few of my colleagues read this, but I wasn't sure what was really going on out there in the blogosphere. If this is my BFF Michelle--good try, but I entirely suspect this is just you or one or YOUR friends trying to make me feel better....

***

To my latest Comrade in Arms: Your comments and observations are excellent, and you raise important points--obviously very few teachers in the U.S. are starving (although I know some struggling) - but when you add the stressors, which you enumerated so well--it seems like we should get hazard pay [more in an upcoming post!]

Also, we need to clarify that we don't have summers off--we have an unpaid leave of absence. Many people work during that time to supplement the somewhat lame salary [of course depending on where you live, the salary can be more or less lame].

Keep in mind, many people use the summer to acquire the mandatory professional development credits we must obtain to keep our jobs--since you've only been teaching about 4 years, you haven't woken up in a cold sweat at 1 in the morning about this yet.

You will.
***
If you work in a district that requires that you eventually acquire a Master's degree, your unpaid leave of absence is a great time to obtain it, since many universities now offer summer graduate programs.

But I agree--the summer...is the ONLY reason....I can't go on right now...more later.

***

You raise interesting questions about what are the alternatives, and why half of teachers leave the profession within 5 years. You have been teaching less than 5 years, so you are the quintessential teacher highlighted in 90 percent of the articles lamenting the state of our schools--you are in that danger zone where we--as a society--and our children may lose you as a teacher--and we can't afford to do that.


***
More soon on alternatives to quitting, alternatives to burning out, and alternatives to the entire circus.
***

We are not kidding--we want to start a Teach to the Contract Day, so please vote or suggest when, and refer your friends and colleagues to this site.

You are entirely right--refusing to do certain work is not only seemingly rude and entirely out of character for most teachers, it may be called insubordination and possible grounds for dismissal--more soon on this and other issues.

THANKS FOR COMMENTING!!!

Koolaide spill on aisle five!!

http://k6educators.about.com/cs/helpforteachers/a/avoidburnout.htm

Hmmm...interesting.

"Ask for Help
"Don't Sweat the Small Stuff

"Don't Play the Teacher at Home
"Take Time for Yourself
"Remember Why You Teach - Look past all of the annoyances and hassles, both big and small, and remember why you became a teacher in the first place. I left a job in Human Resources at a Fortune 500 company to become a teacher. Some days, I do question my sanity."


Look past all the annoyances...big and small? No. That's what we refuse to do anymore....


Why do NONE of the "combat teacher burnout" suggestions include:


  • demand more money
  • get uppity
  • act up
  • teach to the contract
  • get another job
  • enact work stoppages and slowdowns
  • live extremely frugally, invest wisely, and ASAP, bail
  • make like a professional and get paid for the work you do
  • don't work for for free-PLEASE EVERYONE STOP WORKING FOR FREE


To be fair, she vaguely alludes to all of these things:


"Parents, school volunteers, friends, and students can be a valuable time-saving resource in your classroom, but only if you take the time to ask them. With a little planning and time invested up front, you can set up routine times and duties for the people available around you."

Translation - don't do crap for which you are not paid, except--DON'T ASK YOUR FRIENDS!! Are you crazy? Why should your FRIENDS help you disguise the fact the schools are underfunded in supplies, time, personnel, equipment?

Time to practice your new mantra: "HELL, NO."


"Do you stage a Broadway-style dramatic production each year for yourself more than anyone else?"

I don't know where she teaches, but where my colleague Deirdre teaches, if she does NOT stage a "Broadway-style dramatic production"....she's FIRED."

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

"Do Teachers Need Education Degrees?"

"Do Teachers Need Education Degrees?":

http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/16/education-degrees-and-teachers-pay/?em

Maybe, maybe not. But I know one thing we do need....

MORE MONEY.

There are 368 comments as of 8:30 am...comments are not closed. What makes us so happy is that the commentators took the opportunity to re-frame the argument towards what teachers need and care about.

Out of all the "experts" given pride of place in the debate, only one is a current/practicing teacher. One out of nine. I'm sure the other people have wonderful things to say...I'd like to further examine how many years they have spent in a classroom. It speaks well of us as profession that 300+ teachers added their voice to the discussion in the comments section.

Notable:

One commentator reported that her husband, who has a Master of Fine Arts--an M.F.A. [he is presumably an art teacher] is not considered highly qualified because he doesn't have a Masters...an M.A. He has an M.F.A.

Because God forbid we should highly skilled artists teaching our children art.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Turnover

"The National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future has calculated that nearly a third of all new teachers leave the profession after just three years, and that after five years almost half are gone."

Here is an article on teacher burnout--it's very short and easy to read:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/teacher-burnout-blame-the-parents/

The comments are amazing as well...all 298 of them...
***

So, teaching to the contract is not just a strategy for drawing attention to the number of hours teachers ACTUALLY work; it is not just some pointless protest; it is a strategy to avoid burnout. If we really want to help children, if our life's work is teaching, then we cannot burnout like some character from Jack Kerouac's dreamscape:

"The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars ...."

If we really want to advance the profession, prevent new teachers from quitting, and make this a tenable lifelong pursuit, we have to start understanding ourselves as professionals and make professional choices, such as leaving when one is not being paid.

You do not work in a convent; you are not a member of a religious order. You deliver a service.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Teacher gender depresses salaries?

As of December 12, 2007,

"Gender diversity in teaching – Males comprised 24.4% of public schoolteachers in 2006. Many of them taught in Kansas (33.3%), Oregon (31.4%), Alaska (30.9%) or Indiana (30.5%). States with the lowest percentage of male faculty were Arkansas (17.5%), Mississippi (17.7%), Louisiana (17.8%), South Carolina (17.9%), Virginia (18.8%) and Georgia (19.3%). Wisconsin ranked 12th in the nation (27.6%). " [NEA, 12/12/07]*


Has someone researched the correlation between low percentages of male teachers and lower salaries [adjusted for cost-of-living] on a state-by-state basis?

The deeply, deeply entrenched sexism in our society may account in part for this phenomenon. Notions that women make better caretakers, that teaching is just glorified childcare and other like attitudes contribute to the complex of issues. And, it is possible that men flee this profession, or fail to even consider it because salaries are lower, thus continuing a cycle. Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The issues of social class, gender, and public perception affecting teachers' salaries are not easily unravelled. They include (and are certainly not limited to):


  • attitudes towards teaching/teachers [caretakers, babysitters, "anyone can do it"]
  • lower salaries compared to similarly educated peers
  • character/qualities of people drawn to teaching (nobility, compassion)
  • those who do not need the income drawn into teaching because they can afford to do it
  • teaching regarded as an entry into the middle class by minority/disenfranchised groups, contributing to willingness to accept lower salary
Looking elsewhere, in Russia, the medical profession--specifically the pool of MDs--has a higher percentage of females than in the US. And the relative salaries (compared to cost of living ) are also lower. In Russia. Where women are more likely to be doctors.

Let the research begin. An excellent place to start is this brilliant examination of the subject:

"The Feminization of Teaching in America," by Elizabeth Boyle:

http://web.mit.edu/wgs/prize/eb04.html

(Amusingly, "blogpost" does not recognize feminization as a word....)


* from the NEA, via The Wisconsin Education Council
"The complete report can be found at http://www.nea.org/edstats/images/07rankings.pdf"


***
Before we get our panties in a bunch--we are not asking anyone to self-identify as a feminist or in any way to embrace a world-view with which they have problems.

However, don't you want to know what might be driving your salary into the ditch?

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Deductions and Time

Can you deduct for extra, uncompensated, volunteer hours?

No.

Apparently, neither can lawyers.

But, they deduct for their expenses, such as travel, and out-of-pocket expenditures.

Translation: the cake you bought the pizza you bought, the supplies, the pencils, the stickers, the clothes for the child who had no gym clothes, the books, the posters, the chalk, the paper.

You're about to go out right now and buy something for your classroom, aren't you! Gotcha!

More to the point--a lawyer accounts for every moment they work. Every minute. One time I asked a friend who works at the world's largest law firm how exactly they do that. He showed me his written log. Now, they may have fancier, zingier ways of keeping track. And, he showed me that they log time in chunks, say, every ten minutes, or 15 mins. So I asked, and it's just the honor system? The clients just believe you, believe that's how much you worked?

"Yes. We're professionals." And then they are paid for that time. They must bill. Forgive me if I am describing it bumblingly, like an anthropologist visiting some exotic tribe. But being paid for one's labor is so foreign to me, so confusing, so unfamiliar, it seems like the culture of some alien, undiscovered world. And yes, lawyers work very hard. And cry all the way to the bank.

***

Start logging your overtime. If it's too hassle-y, "use the honor system." Guesstimate. You will probably underestimate. It's easy. You keep a calendar. Jot down when you leave. Every day. And start setting a timer for all that grading you do at night. Set it for one hour. When you've reset it twice, three times, four times, it might be time to consider what else you could be doing with YOUR TIME.


Looking for Tax Deductions? Don't Forget Pro Bono Expenditures, from "National Law Journal:

http://www.law.com/jsp/nlj/PubArticleNLJ.jsp?id=1202428764771&slreturn=1&hbxlogin=1

Friday, August 14, 2009

What Have We Become

A standardized testing industry insider constructs the perfect SAT essay...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/education/edlife/26NAZIS-Blk-t.html

which argues for a "morally repugnant" world-view.

***
I had a similar experience. When training as an English teacher (I have taught in a variety of disciplines), we were required to attend a workshop on testing, on how to write and create test questions that 'really ferreted out what kids know.' This presenter was very proud of her handiwork. We had to take the test ourselves, which, I think is good--rather than being lectured at, we teachers were active learners.

I got the test, which had lots of fill in the blank, and I finished it rapidly, barely reading some parts, not reading others at all, simply using the surrounding textual clues to fill in the blanks.

I didn't even know what I had read, but got every answer correct.

When I put down my pencil and said I was done, she was clearly pissed off, and said, "not possible."

Oh, it be possible.

She couldn't believe it, tried to pretend it didn't happen, continued spouting her pre-memorized spiel about how this was the type of test you couldn't fake your way through, it really showed whether or not kids could read....and when I demurred, she became very, very flustered.

Yup. An essay espousing Nazism can get a perfect score on the SAT. Standardized tests are really....

Just go to fairtest.org.

Eerie absences

Wee bit concerned. After the explosion of readers, which I entirely did NOT expect....Texas, Montana, North Dakota appear to be entirely absent. Is there a virtual wall around the great state of Texas? I love Texas! What would we be without their gumption, their get up and go, their independent streak?

$100,000 Teacher


Why have I NEVER heard of this book before?

I read my association journals. At minimum, I flip through the various education/teaching magazines that come through my mailboxes both at work and at home.

http://www.capital-books.com/Books/BookDetail.aspx?productID=31607
***

I know many, including myself, must be thinking--this is no time to demand higher salaries.

"There is never a wrong time to do the right thing."

Right has many gradations. If you feel guilty about agitating for higher salaries, moderate. Agitate for better benefits; for on-site day care; for a shorter work day; for no-cost solutions to sub-par working conditions. This is not a "third world"* country. We deserve better, because our children deserve the best.


*I do not mean to offend with the term "third world"--I mean that the U.S. is seen as a beacon of hope by millions around the world, and when some arrive here, they're appalled by how we treat our teachers. Even if we cannot give teachers better salaries, we can give them what is priceless--our respect. We can at least give this to each other.

Stop fighting against each other.
Stop bickering over who stole the stapler!
Give each other bathroom breaks!
If a student is driving your colleague batcrazy, take the kid "under your wing" and "invite" them to stay in your room "for a little while..."

Faculty Meeting Taboos

Asking questions,

such as:

  • is this required?
  • will I be fired if I do not do this?
  • can we [the faculty/staff/administrators] meet [not in secret as if we are doing something shameful] at some point [with the express purpose of] to discuss[ing] our plan for addressing the school board concerning salaries?
  • this building is too cold
  • we need more bathroom breaks
  • the kids' free speech rights are being infringed upon
  • when we discuss school/system improvement, why can't we raise the issue of compensation?
  • you [older teacher addressing younger] can NOT be fired for refusing to volunteer your time
  • will we be penalized [for not volunteering our time at: prom, sports games, tutoring, babysitting]?
  • we need an unencumbered lunch, nay, legally we are entitled to it, and morally we deserve it
  • can we explore the POSSIBILITY of on-site day care? We'll PAY for it!!
  • Why are we allowing standardized testing to take over the entire school year?

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Late night musings...

I fell asleep, had a fit of insomnia, and woke up around 12:50 to discover a zillion more people had "hit" this blog.

Since I cannot sleep (anxiety over the approaching school year?), let me ramble. I love children--we all do. Requesting--even demanding--a higher salary does not make you a bad person. Self-interest is not incompatible with being a good teacher....

...particularly when you know the facts about how your salary compares to other professionals. Wanting more money does not make you a "socialist" (how did we arrive at that twisted logic--that if you, an employee of the state, want to make your income more on par with that of a "professional," you must believe in redistribution of wealth, you must believe in ...oh no...shh--here comes the dirty word--Socialism).

I'm not a socialist. I'm not a capitalist. I'm not an anything. I just want to pay my bills and be reward--no, not rewarded--compensated--for my level of education, the importance of what I do, and my time. We are in loco parentis--we are charged with the safety and development of our country's most precious resource, and we not paid accordingly.


Let the martyrdom end.

Welcome Newbies

I was going to limit myself to one post per day, for a zillion reasons, but in just the last few hours, I seem to have acquired many more readers.

Thanks for visiting, I hope you come back, and I will continue to post information about how you can improve teaching conditions, agitate for change, bring common sense to education reform, and work on your own sh*t so if you want to get out, you can.
***

But for now, enjoy The Funny: (there is potty language, so do not proceed if your eyes might be scalded by the "b" word)

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31134

Tutor

And now, a (short) list of alternatives:

  • you can change jobs (within teaching)
  • you can start a business. So many of you have businesses anyway--why not go full-time? In brief, why are you subsidizing an underfunded school system with your volunteer hours? You are not just "being kind, being helpful"--you are part of the problem. You are allowing a broken system to hobble on. This is analogous to giving an alcoholic FREE BOOZE and then letting them sleep it off on your couch. There has to be a Day of Reckoning. The system will not understand it needs fixing until it HAS TO REALIZE. Call it an intervention--for our schools, and for our system of funding. I call it "National Teach to the Contract Day."

So, mow those lawns, teach those sax lessons, paint those houses, clean those toilets, cook, sell crafts, sew things, start a concierge service. Take the LSAT. Take the GMAT. Take the MCAT. Invent something. Amass your savings. Live frugally. And then withdraw your labor.

  • tutor privately: see "Confessions of a High Paid Tutor" for more ideas. Granted, the article is 2 years old and smacks of 'I want to blog to make money so I'll throw in every word I can to draw hits....' But it is hope-inducing.

Better: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/education/04tutor.html

There are lots of philosophical issues related to the type of tutoring described in this article, but most noteworthy to me:

"Tutors are paid as much as $1,997 per child..."

do you make 2K per kid you teach? DO YOU!?!?!?

You might, if you:

  • work in NJ, CT, NY, CA
  • have taught for, oh, about 300 years
  • or....teach elementary school, because you only have about 25 kids in a class

Don't get your panties in a bunch elementary teachers--"only" is a matter of perspective. More about the difficulties in teaching elementary school in later posts....

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Alternatives

You are not trapped.

You have plenty of other skills and qualities that make you desirable to employers.

Do you want to know one?

You are compliant. The very fact that you are so loyal as to think you should not leave this crazy job means you are very loyal, and very compliant.

You want to hear some more (qualities any employer wants)?


  • You have nerves of steel
  • You have a heart of gold
  • You can work under severe stress

There are many many more. I will be detailing them as days pass, and providing links to help you make the leap, if you want.

The thing I want you to remember is:

They will never change things unless they have to.
If there are not enough teachers, they will raise salaries or lower standards. We'll see what happens.
People moan about a teacher shortage, but clearly that is not the case, because we accept these depressed salaries. There must be plenty o' teachers, plenty of people to work in factory-like conditions for less than their peers make.

I know everything is not about money. If you don't care at all about money--you are on the wrong blog right now...and you probably have some. Maybe grandad left it to you, or you are Well-Married. More on that later....

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Resolved

  • A free public education should reflect the values of the American democracy
  • A free public education system is vital for the maintenance and continuation of American democracy
  • Teachers have settled for wages that are too low
  • Teachers do not make enough money
  • Too many teachers must work extra jobs to support their families; thereby turning their teaching job into a de facto part-time job
  • Teachers should not have to live a lower middle class lifestyle
  • Teaching should be regarded as an exchange of service for wages
  • The martyrdom syndrome depresses wages and drives away new teachers
  • Teacher turnover is appalling
  • Teachers have mistakenly traded job security for diminished wages
  • Teachers work too many uncompensated hours: one uncompensated hour is one too many
  • Teachers are donating millions, if not billions of dollars of uncompensated labor: lawyers can write these off as pro bono expenses on their income tax--why can't we?
  • Schools in states with strong teachers' unions have the best schools
  • Higher salaries will create competition for teaching jobs, driving out bad teachers and encouraging those who want to make teaching their life's work to remain in the profession
  • Work conditions in many schools are appalling
  • "Burning out" is not noble
  • Teachers are neither governesses, nor are they babysitters
  • Teachers have their own children to take care of after school hours
  • Daycare should be provided on-site for teachers
  • Education workplaces need more division of labor, not less
  • Taxpayer dollars are being wasted on teachers doing tasks that do not require a college degree to perform
  • Fewer teachers should be employed, so that those who remain make more money
  • Teachers should never have to buy supplies or equipment
  • If the school year, length of day, or time required is extended, salaries must rise commensurately
  • Teachers are entitled to be paid for their labor, just like any other profession
  • Summer vacation is not a vacation: it is an unpaid leave of absence. Salaries reflects that teachers work a 10 month year
  • Many teachers would be happy to work a longer year, if compensated
  • Attitudes towards teachers are appalling