Why do I hate Teaching?!?!

reag wrote:

You hate teaching because the grading system is a joke. It rewards memorizing over learning/application. Calvin nailed the education system in the following comic:

http://bestofcalvinandhobbes.com/2012/05/calvin-mocks-education-system-and-teacher/

You are right about "the system." However, teachers are as much victims of this as they are perpetrators. Plus, there are always cracks.

I prefer this C&H comic:

ataglance wrote:

Lets Gunner

Your post is not going to get one ounce of sympathy from the public. Not. One.

See everyone went to school, not everyone has been a tax accountant, or an attorney, truck driver, hospital administrator. We have a decent thumbnail sketch of what teachers do because we all spent 12 years watching them do it.

The description of your work day simply boils down to "I have to work hard." Well join the club, dude... we all do. And none of us have tenure either.

I have done my taxes, been on a jury, driven down the road, and been treated at a hospital does this mean that I know what working their entails? I don't think so, please stop with your lower level thinking skills. Also as I stated I am not looking for sympathy but the respect that I do work hard like everyone else.

Letsrun Gunner wrote:

I have done my taxes, been on a jury, driven down the road, and been treated at a hospital does this mean that I know what working their entails? I don't think so, please stop with your lower level thinking skills. Also as I stated I am not looking for sympathy but the respect that I do work hard like everyone else.

You may, and I commend you if you do because you don't have to. Fight against the union if you work hard. So many of your comrades do not work hard, and they don't have to because of their union protection.

Everyone's been to school dumb@ss. Not everyone's been in other occupations- THAT is why they have an opinion on it. If you can't grasp that fact good god.. no wonder you are a teacher.

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job." -- Donald D. Quinn

monty wrote:

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job..." -- Donald D. Quinn

... also, if his quality of care wasn't measured in a way that altered his salary, and his accountability was negligible.

grgr wrote:

monty wrote:

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job..." -- Donald D. Quinn

... also, if his quality of care wasn't measured in a way that altered his salary, and his accountability was negligible.

Seriously, you think that doctors, lawyers, and dentists have more professional accountability than teachers? And that their salary is more related to the quality of their work than teachers?

I am "laughing my a** off" right now.

16 flat guy wrote:

grgr wrote:

... also, if his quality of care wasn't measured in a way that altered his salary, and his accountability was negligible.

Seriously, you think that doctors, lawyers, and dentists have more professional accountability than teachers? And that their salary is more related to the quality of their work than teachers?

I am "laughing my a** off" right now.

You're right, I forgot. Their pay is based entirely on seniority on a fixed pay scale. The best doctors/lawyers never got poached by a better hospitals/firms through better salary offers. Also, they're never involved in lawsuits based on their work quality, deservedly or not, so there's never any accountability.

I'm glad you're laughing. It makes sense - they often say that the simplest minds are the most happy minds.

grgr wrote:

You're right, I forgot. Their pay is based entirely on seniority on a fixed pay scale. The best doctors/lawyers never got poached by a better hospitals/firms through better salary offers. Also, they're never involved in lawsuits based on their work quality, deservedly or not, so there's never any accountability.

I'm glad you're laughing. It makes sense - they often say that the simplest minds are the most happy minds.

Teachers also participate in a relatively open market. (Surely you don't believe that doctors and lawyers and dentists participate in a fully fair and open market. That would be the pinnacle of "simplicity.") We can move to better schools for better environments and better wages.

And certainly teachers are subject to accountability -- parents, students, administrators, peers -- we are subject to all of these moments of accountability.

Have a good day, my simple friend.

Everyone has been to the doctors office does that mean they grasp what that profession is about. So dumb@ss understand that being in a building does not mean you have any understanding of what a profession is.

I guess my question for grgr, and all the other folks who have posted with a general regard that teachers are overpaid, underworked and underqualified ... if not flat out stealing from the system .. would be ...

When you entered college why didn't you go into teaching?

It's an honest question. Why not go into a profession where you can get paid decent money to do poorly at your job without consequence? Where you don't do much during your work day? And get gobs and gobs of vacation!

I mean, it is America, you had free choice. If it's that good a gig, you must have been a flat out moron not jump on board. Sheesh, I guess the educational system did rob you of the ability to analyze. You win, you're right.

I only wish my doctors were as flexible, responsive, and caring as my teachers have been throughout my whole career. Send a teacher an email, you get a response. Extra work, no charge after the school day. Common practice for teachers.

Try to call a doctor? Have a question that needs answering without paying an arm and a leg?

Ha ha good freakin' luck.

Never compare teachers to doctors. It's just not an apt comparison at all.

Teachers are more comparable to being a police officer, fire fighter, nurse, social workers.

Be honest. "The best and the brightest" dont go into teaching. It's usually the C students that end up there.

StinkyNeoHippie wrote:

Never compare teachers to doctors. It's just not an apt comparison at all.

Teachers are more comparable to being a police officer, fire fighter, nurse, social workers.

Be honest. "The best and the brightest" dont go into teaching. It's usually the C students that end up there.

Right, and doctors these days are more comparable to bankers, corporate managers and financial analysts. You are right. Unfortunately.

If only doctors were more like teachers, nurses, police officers, etc.

SomeCoach wrote:

I guess my question for grgr, and all the other folks who have posted with a general regard that teachers are overpaid, underworked and underqualified ... if not flat out stealing from the system .. would be ...

When you entered college why didn't you go into teaching?

I don't think that they're overpaid or underworked. Many teachers just feel they are "grossly" underpaid and overworked. If they left it as, "teaching isn't the hardest, but it's not the easiest either. While my pay may not be huge, when taking into account my benefits, I have a very hard time complaining", I wouldn't be annoyed. On top of that, people post quotes implying that teaching is more demanding than being a doctor - it's a joke.

As for why I didn't go into teaching - I debating going into teaching when selecting a college, but I felt my talents would be wasted as a teacher. That's the truth, and it's a shame. If there was a system that rewarded the good teachers and punished the bad, I would have been far more inclined to go into teaching.

16 flat guy wrote:

I only wish my doctors were as flexible, responsive, and caring as my teachers have been throughout my whole career. Send a teacher an email, you get a response. Extra work, no charge after the school day. Common practice for teachers.

Try to call a doctor? Have a question that needs answering without paying an arm and a leg?

Ha ha good freakin' luck.

Not the experience I've had with my doctor. I'm sorry that you've had bad doctors. Good thing you have the choice of going to a different doctor. Try being friendly and building a relationship with your doctor. You'd be surprised at how far that goes.

In some respects teaching is harder than doctoring. The average work day of a teacher is busier than the average workday of a doctor. Also, if a doctor sends a patient home with directions to not smoke, and to cut out the saturated fats, no one holds the doctor accountable when the fat slob drops dead of a hear attack.

Med school is both harder to get into and harder to graduate from than education school. But, becoming a teacher at the top of one's game does require years of education, and years of practice, just as doctoring or any profession does.

Unfortunately the public equates teaching with the poor slob that sits in front of a computer while Mavis Beacon does all of the work. The public doesn't see the physics teacher that, year after year, turns out successful engineers and scientists.

grgr wrote:

I don't think that they're overpaid or underworked. Many teachers just feel they are "grossly" underpaid and overworked. If they left it as, "teaching isn't the hardest, but it's not the easiest either. While my pay may not be huge, when taking into account my benefits, I have a very hard time complaining", I wouldn't be annoyed. On top of that, people post quotes implying that teaching is more demanding than being a doctor - it's a joke.

As for why I didn't go into teaching - I debating going into teaching when selecting a college, but I felt my talents would be wasted as a teacher. That's the truth, and it's a shame. If there was a system that rewarded the good teachers and punished the bad, I would have been far more inclined to go into teaching.

This is a totally different tune than the one you were playing earlier. You chimed in saying that teachers had "negligable accountability" -- but of course we who teach know that accountability is built into the job.

Teaching can be really pleasant if you do it well. And it is probably the worst profession in the world when done badly.

I really don't think that doctors and lawyers, etc., have tons more accountability than teachers. But hey, I'm not on the inside. There are, I'm sure great docs and lawyers who are awesome and earn every penny. Just as in the case of teachers. But there are a lot who are just going through the motions and getting paid fat cash for it.

grgr wrote:

Not the experience I've had with my doctor. I'm sorry that you've had bad doctors. Good thing you have the choice of going to a different doctor. Try being friendly and building a relationship with your doctor. You'd be surprised at how far that goes.

Wow, so you are simply a mean person. Thanks for the conversation.