I COMPLETELY agree with you. Enjoy the summer!

I think teachers work long hours. I don’t think they work “hard”. Digging a ditch is hard. Construction in Phoenix is hard. I think our jobs come with a lot of stress because of parents and administrators and than makes us very tired. Boring inservices stretch our minds to the limit and our butts to the point of exhaustion. But, Hard?

I agree that there are plenty who work harder than teachers; maybe people mean to say …harder for the pay? I’m not one of those whiners, because while I am new to the career (and make more than I did before I got into it), society treats teachers, especially early childhood ones like babysitters (all you do is watch kids all day, what more do you need?) Teachers (those not yet jaded) may complain because of the mental, emotional (depending on the person), physical and maybe other demands that this field can have on you when dedicated. When I took work home before it was hardly compared to this, and when I played the freelance-hustle and entrepreneur games for a while I didn’t FEEl the strees because of the passion for what I was doing. People complain no matter what–maybe if teacher’s can maintain passion in a thankless world, the complaints will lessen.

A lot of people like to play the game of “topping” someone else’s story. This is like the guy who says, “So you got your leg cut off? Well let me tell you what happened to me…” We teachers love to brag about how tough we have it, even if we aren’t totally realistic. I have busy times, but when a teacher is continually busy, I really wonder if that teacher is working as efficiently as he or she could.

Right now I’m enjoying 3 of the biggest perks of teaching: June, July, and August.

I think “whining” may be too strong a word here. The connotation may be off, but I digress.

I think the reason teachers have complaints is that they are not paid a competitive wage as others with comparable education, and oftentimes respect is not given to them (by some administrators and the public at large).

How many good news education stories do we hear in the media in comparison to the bad news/scandal stories? This makes the job quite difficult at times. I know some complain to hear themselves, but I do believe teachers have some legitimate gripes and to voice them may not be “whining” but highlighting an issue or even advocacy.

As I write this, I’m a little afraid of potential repercussions, but I would have to say I don’t necessarily think teaching is the hardest job in the world, for many of the reasons you mentioned above.

1. We get plenty of vacation time. Before getting my credential, I was part of the work force where you earned your 2 weeks vacation by giving the company a solid year of work with only limited sick time off. Only after a few years did employees earn their third week of paid vacation time. At that point in my career, since I was in sales, any time away from my job meant lost income, even if the company still paid me my base salary.

2. My district’s duty hours for teachers are 7:30 - 3:15. For several years now, I have been able to get all my work done within those hours. I still do some of the “above and beyond” types of things because I enjoy it, but I am under no actual obligation. Mind you, I teach elementary music. I know things are very different for high school music teachers.

3. Teacher unions tend to be extremely strong. I have some issues with the way things are done, but that’s another story. The fact is that we have a very powerful union.

4. Your point about job security is extremely valid. While music teachers often fear layoffs, so do people in other professions. The difference, as you mentioned, is that teachers can usually see the pink slips coming from a mile away. Laborers and other members of the work force may not get the advance notice teachers tend to get. I can’t imagine showing up to work one day and hearing, “We’re giving you your two weeks’ notice and two weeks’ severance.” I’m sure the severance part is pretty uncommon at that.

One consideration, and perhaps you’ve written about this in the past, is the ratio of education required to the average salary. In other words, what is the average salary of someone with 5 years of college education who is in the work force vs. a teacher.

As always, Joel, very thought provoking.

I guess there are two threads running through this post and the comments: how hard is teaching in comparison to other jobs and commensurate pay.

My father was a music teacher and while he put in quite a few hours outside the school day (performances and some practices for the most part), his take home work paled in comparison to mine as an English teacher (reading and paper grading). I definitely felt that our hours were spent in very different ways with very different types of fatigue.

I’m not sure that our profession requires more work than other professions, but I do believe people think it’s an easy job. How often do you hear people say, “well, if this doesn’t work, I’ll go teach” or “I have a teaching certificate to fall back on”? They don’t get it and don’t see it. People believe it’s a cushy job inside and out (not just job security and summers).

However, I do believe pay and respect are two major contributors to job satisfaction and adds to perceptions. My buddy’s company paid for his masters degree. They also pay for all of his extra schooling as his job adapts to new methods and ideas. Teaching does not do this for us. Thus, we’re paid less and pay more. Granted, I knew this going in and don’t factor it into my personal complaints (which are basically respect and horrible PR by our districts).

Relationships are an excellent point as well, but I also know I can just close my classroom door and be just fine. Sad but true.

I think part of my stress as an English teacher is that I am responsible for everything except math according to those in power. Reading or writing scores are low, I need to change. The scores go up, I need to change. Kids struggle reading texts, I need to add this. Kids don’t have enough cultural literacy, kids need to be internet savvy, kids need better research skills. And so on. However, I view reading and writing (and the others) as across the curriculum and not solely an English job. In fact, most state tests align with science and social studies curricula more than language arts. Anyway, that’s a personal piece.

Keep up the good posts. :)

@Nikki Fontaine - I totally agree with you here! I take the summer off. I enjoy bad weather days. I enjoy three day weekends. I enjoy spring break and Christmas break and all that stuff.

I agree that there are a lot of people who need to find different employment venues. I also have seen more than my fair share of teachers who retired two or three or a dozen years too late.

Us teacher folks seem to have this sense of obligation to continue helping out as long as we can. Even to the point that we fail to notice when the “help” is not helpful! I guess that’s why there will never be a shortage of teachers who sign up for summer school…

@Randy - I agree. As I’ve said frequently through the comments here, as well as in the original article, I flat out disagree with the idea that teachers work harder than anyone else.

I admire you for your dedication to pursuing your dream of owning your own business! The world needs more hard-working entrepreneurial types like you!