No Teacher Left Behind?

Our education system is in the shitter.

As of yesterday afternoon, I am more convinced of this than ever.

While driving to the store after school, Culley was reading Angels and Demons.  She paused and asked me how to pronounce one of the words in the book.

It was cacophony.  I explained it is pronounced  kuh-kof-uh-nee.

Her response?  "I thought so."

She then explained that it came up in her AP English class and her teacher - her AP TEACHER - stumbled on it, finally pronouncing it CACK-UH-PHONE-EE.

And it's not enough that she was unfamiliar with the pronunciation, she went on to explain it meant shrill, like "the sound of a witch's cackle".

I actually felt my brain curdle as Culley told me this.

I explained that a "cacophony" could be likened to walking into a Best Buy and having all the TV sets on different channels with the volume blaring.

Or, in fairness to her teacher - a bunch of witches cackling at the same time.

I then asked her what she did when this took place?

She said she just dropped her head and didn't say anything, knowing her teacher was completely off the reservation.  And also knowing that an entire AP class was going forth in the world from that point with CACK-UH-PHONE-EE now a part of their vocabulary.

Sigh.

How can we even hope to have "no child left behind" when our teachers missed the school bus themselves?

Comments

[Ame in upstate NY]

My 16 year old daughter recently came home with a "proof read" (by an English teacher) book report she was going to make corrections on. After I looked it over, and found about 300 more mistakes than the supposed teacher found, I about blew a gasket. And this from a private school where I thought she was getting a better education than most.....

[Kitty Pimp]

So much for being one of the best school district's in TX! The list of "teachers missing the bus" is long, in any school district. But coming from a state (LA) where education is on the bottom and private schools are the only option, our schools are pretty good for being free. But the teacher who did not care that a paper was completely plagiarized, the one who would threaten to "rip off" students ears if the did not pay attention, or the one who forgets to grade papers and then loses them, they have all missed the bus and forgot the reason they became a teacher.

I received an email from my daughter's teacher..... Who referred to her at least four times as "Jessie" - now mind you, my daughter's name is "Jessi"....... wouldn't a teacher who's had this child in her classroom at LEAST know how to correctly spell her name? I thought perhaps so, but the situation took an even more downward spiral when I got to this portion: "...... since then her behaviour has begotten much worser." I kid you not! Now ask me if I took one word seriously from this nutcase of a supposed "teacher" regarding my straight A Honor Roll child who has NEVER had any problems or issues with ANY teacher since starting Kindergarten. I merely responded... "I don't know who this Jessie is, but I hope you are able to resolve the situation with her."

[Katy]

Duval County (Florida) Public Schools is required to cut their budget by 90 million dollars. How does one expect to attract ANY quality teachers when you are cutting pay, benefits, overtime, middle school sports, electives, etc. It's not the school systems fault - it's our elected officials making these decisions.

[Katy]

Gesus - maybe I need to go back to school. Once again, change my wording in the first sentence and forgot to check the verb!
It should have been "DCS ARE BEING required to cut....and so on.

[audreyf]

This distresses me to no end. When my daughter was in the sixth grade AND in a private school, no less, she came home daily complaining that her LITERATURE/ENGLISH teacher had no clue as to how to pronounce and/or explain numerous terms. Thankfully, that teacher is retiring this year. Over the years, I have gotten notes, letters, and e-mails from various teachers who really need to go back and take a few classes themselves. It took all I had not to send said communications back corrected in red ink! Thank heavens the GOOD teachers outweigh the bad! It also helps to have children who think they have the market cornered on "correct English"--speaking and spelling, and subject/verb agreement...etc.!

[audreyf]

Katy, you were technically correct in your first posting. Taking into account that Duval County Public Schools is "a" system.

[audreyf]

CACK-UH-PHONE-EE?! Makes me cackle! You would think that she would LOOK IT UP if she wasn't completely sure of the pronunciation! Sheesh, that's what dictionaries are for!

[Susan]

Nothing bugs me more than papers coming home from teachers or the principal with glaring spelling/grammar errors. Doesn't anybody proofread anymore?

[ginny]

when my younger sister was in elementary school i was helping her read and i thought it would be funny to do this to her...she asked me how to pronounce the word KNOCKED...i told her it was pronounced...KAAANOCKED...just like KNEE was KAAANEE...she went on believing me untill one day she was reading aloud to my mother and used what i had told her...
and now that i look back on it all...no wonder my little sis doesnt like me...im sure she would have liked to KAANOCKED me in my KAAANEE at some point... oh and by the way i used to teach school...hahha...the world is a funny place dont ya think???...g.

[Gladys in NC]

It's quite frightening. I'm the official proofreader/writer for all PTO info that goes out now b/c one of the officers who is a high school drop out was sending home some horribly disturbing communications. Fortunately, I have not seen anything from teachers that is bad but my son is only in 2nd grade. I will have to say something if I see anything blatant. There is no reason for an AP English teacher to not know how to pronounce or not know the definition of cacophony. Unbelievable!

[Kelly in PA]

OK, gotta weigh in on this one. I am a public school teacher myself. The school district I work for is excellent. We have made, or surpassed, adequate yearly progress each year since No Child Left Behind was brought into being (Lord, help us all!!). We have faculty who care and administrators who are reasonable and intelligent. But...give people an opening to teacher-bash and they will take it any day of the week. I agree that teachers should know how to pronounce content area words, should use spellcheck, should proofread documents that are sent home, and should put forth best effort each and every day. MOST teachers that I know do all of these things. Unfortunately, the bad overshadow the good in this world. I hate having to defend my profession (and their is no defense for an English teacher bungling a word in a novel being taught). MOST of us are smart, involved, caring professionals who are doing our best. We are underpaid, overworked, and feel very unappreciated most of the time (as are many other people in many other professions). I just get upset when we are all being painted with the same brush. Here's an idea, how about taking the "ass-hatted" politicians, who have never taught a day in their lives, out of the equation. How about making legislation that works, and (here's a novel idea) paying for the legislation you set forth. I work with kids who have learning disabilities and I spend 90% of my time doing paperwork (OK all you math people, how much time does that leave over for instruction?). Sorry to rant, but this fries my ass!! And.....I agree with you Linda, that the teacher in question needs to be doing a better job. But....just wanted to speak up for those of us who are doing the best job we can do. OK, all done now. Lunch is over, time to shape the future. LOL!!!

[Lori in Texas]

This is just me, but I would call the teacher and give her the correct pronunciation and definition of the word. She needs to know. I wouldn't do it in a confrontational way, but I definitely WOULD tell her that she is mispronouncing the word and make sure she knows what it means.

But I'm highlly intolerant of blatant ignorance and try to correct it whenever possible... like I said, that's just me.

[Lori in Texas]

And I also have a crapped-out keyboard that's been double-typing letters lately. That should have been "highly."

[Katy to audreyf]

Thanks! I got all messed with the dang "s" at the end!!

[Ame in upstate NY to Kelly in PA]

Um, don't you mean "there" is no defense for an English teacher bungling a word.....

:)

[Katy to Ame]

Are we proofreading the comments now??!! Gesh!

[P]

When I was in high school, we were reading Oedipus Rex and Antigone, and (I wish I was kidding), my teacher pronounced Antigone as Anti-gone not an-ti-gu-knee. Seriously?!?! Even as a 16 year old, I knew she was off her rocker.

[Tina in WI]

There are some teachers out there who should not be teaching, just as there are people in every profession who should not be doing whatever it is they are doing.

Most teachers do care deeply, or at least did before they got run-down with paperwork, problem children, administration, clueless and litigious parents, etc. However, just because someone cares deeply does not mean they are good at what they do.

I teach at a university. I am in engineering, but I sit on an appeals board for students who are dismissed for poor grades. I can't tell you the number of times a student who is struggling with whatever major (engineering, business, biology, etc), says they will do better if we let them come back because they've decided to switch majors to education. Every time I hear this my heart drops.

I think the education of teachers, at least at many places, needs to be revamped. Only qualified people should be getting teaching licenses, and then maybe we could get more respect for the wonderful teachers that are out there!

[Frankie]

I totally agree that there are many committed, fantastic professionals, who, thank goodness, find their calling in teaching. I would have absolutely no patience for it and I applaud all of the men and women who deal with those kiddos all school year.

Kelly is also right that teachers, at least in my state, are required to do a mountain of paperwork, serve on committees to do paperwork, and do paperwork to justify the paperwork. In many cases, any creativity they may otherwise have brought to the teaching table is quashed by required texts and standardized test preparation. It truly sucks (and no, I am not a teacher and don't even play one on TV, I'm a lawyer).

That being said, we've had situations where it is clear to me that some teachers do not put enough effort into checking their work and it certainly isn't helping me convince my kids that the education process is important and valuable. Some recent examples: (1) my son came home with his third grade spelling packet and there was a spelling word misspelled in the word find she gave (I won't even go into the fact that I think he learns NOTHING from doing a word find, even where all of the spelling words are correct); and (2) I've seen at least two times where a word he misspelled on a spelling test was not corrected (he usually gets them all correct and I am beginning to think she doesn't bother to grade his carefully anymore).

His teacher is a nice person and a reasonably good teacher (I think she has a crappy class), but it's an awfully young age for my son to be catching on that he may be smarter than the adult in the front of the room.

Most of the time, I try to bite my tongue, teach my kids the right information, and remember that my kids' teachers are LIGHT years better than the ones I had, and I think I turned out okay. Mostly. :) Besides, I would go absolutely bat shit crazy if I homeschooled (which seems a viable option for many people) and the private schools here are not better than the public.

[Diane to Lori in Texas]

You..."highlly intolerant of blatant ignorance" ??? Ya think?!!!?? LOL!!!!!

I love your comments...even when I don't agree with you!! And I'll defend to the death your right to make 'em. This one just made me giggle!!!

[Bobbsey to Frankie]

FYI. Word finds are now currently used at times by teachers to assist kids with spelling words because of the need to use pattern recognition in finding the words in the puzzle. When these word find puzzles first came into popularity, education systems saw that kids who played these puzzles on their own scored higher in spelling then some of their peers. It is an attempt to show kids other ways to figure out spelling beyond recitation and memorization.
I know this because I have one of those kids where spelling became a breeze once he saw the patterns in our written language.

[Kelly in PA to Ame]

That is so hilarious Ame!!! I checked and double-checked that for spelling and never caught that error. I, of course, know the proper forms of there, their, they're. I was typing faster than I was thinking. I think I started out saying something different than what I finished saying. Too funny. I was thinking, as I typed, don't make any spelling errors, cause people will just on them. Crazy! Holy crap!! I feel like a dork.

[Linda Hemphill]

I spend my days translating "scientific English" into readable English, and my daughter will attest to the misery associated with having a mother who's an editor. Sadly, this isn't a recent phenomenon. When I was in junior high school, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, my mother questioned the Assistant Principal about the designation "EX" that appeared on my report card. He told her, "Why, that stands for 'accelerated', of course!" (Then there was my daughter's 4th grade teacher, who told the class that the Egyptians lived in the pyramids...but that's another story. I put her in private school not long thereafter!)

[Kelly in PA to Ame]

Holy crap again!!! I meant people will jump on them not just on them. Not my day. Perhaps retirement is in order. LOL

[Tracy]

My daughter is editor in chief of the high school literary magazine this year and has been bringing home the items that have been submitted by the teachers to make a final decision as to what will be included in the magazine this year. It amazes both of us how many are submitted with blatent errors in them, and the teachers are suppose to proof read them before Brittany gets them. She didn't know she was going to be correcting the teachers in this position... it makes her uncomfortable, but she wants the magazine to be right since it is her responsibility to make sure it gets out correctly. I feel sorry for her... and this is in high school.

[Lindsay (lrhflute) from VA]

Yep, that was me...it's a true story that my teacher told us that the Egyptians lived in the pyramids! I still remember that. I also remember my Mom being WAY tougher than MOST of my teachers! But it got me through school...eventually! :)

[Dorothy]

Kelly - I caught that and giggled. Knew you would be mortified. ( just/jump) Not to worry, we all do it! We should all be able to type as fast as we think.

[Amy in CT]

I also work in a public school setting and I have to agree with Kelly in PA, the amount of paperwork we process is staggering. I work in an inner-city setting for a school system that has the lowest pay scale in the state. Even when we do manage to hire some good teachers, we usually lose them to neighboring towns when they realize that they could be working under much better conditions with more pay. What then ends up happening is that the system is forced to find "teachers" (read: warm bodies) to fill vacancies. It's really not a good way to run a school system, but it's the reality of MY system.
It used to be that districts had a hard time filling content area positions (e.g., special education), but now, with more and more children with special needs being plopped into mainstream programs, we are seeing a shortage of regular education teachers. So again, many districts find themselves in a position where they need to fill these slots with "long-term substitutes" that aren't necessarily qualified in content areas, but, they are there, in the classroom, everyday.

I work with a lady that falls into that category, and I tell you, every time I walk into her room, I never know what "gem" is going to come out of her mouth. My tic-inducing favorite is when she says "supposebly" instead of supposedly (in every other sentence). Another gem is when I go to get a student for his/her therapy session and the teacher exclaims "He needs speech, he don't talk so good".

*sigh*...it's not a job, it's an adventure!

[Michelle in Il]

As a former Chicago Public School teacher I can tell you not all teachers are uneducated and we all make mistakes. My first year teaching I was teaching second graders about farmers and I asked them to list things that farmers can grow- so one of my students said corn. On the board I wrote KORN....Yeah my 2nd graders had to correct me! When teachers are on the spot mistakes happen.....

However, in Illinois in private and charter schools the teachers DO NOT need to be certified to teach!!!

[Jennifer]

I am 6 1/2 months pregnant with my first child. I have already decided that I will be home schooling her (and any others I might have.) It is not that I don't live in an area with a great school district it is just that since "No Child Left Behind" was introduced I have seen the quality of education go downhill. The dedicated teachers can only do so much and it really only takes one bad apple to wreak havoc on the rest. I have learning disabilities and was very lucky to have teachers who had the time and willingness to work with me and challenge me and I was able to excel and be part of the "Talented & Gifted" Program. From what I have seen these days there just isn't the time to get that involved. To me "No Child Left Behind" means "No Child Gets Ahead." I have tremendous respect for teachers and feel that a great deal of the problems come from the legislatures and administrators. These problems need to be addressed before our children are made to suffer further.

[Michelle in IL to Jennifer]

I totally agree. No Child Left Behind is horrible in my opinion. Instead of teaching kids the basics like how to READ and WRITE, ADD and SUBTRACT- they are taught how to take a test and get a high test score so they school can get more money.

I left teaching a few years ago because it became too political. I was teaching first grade in an inner city school where 1/2 of my class could not READ on a Kindergarden level, but I was expected to test them on 3rd grade reading passages. 90% of my class was failing b/c the administration wanted the teachers to teach the test not the foundations. Its horrible! Throw in the fact that in Illinois, kids are not required to attend Kindergarden and you have one hell of class of first graders. I had kids with a ton of behavior issues (I had kids throw a desk across the room and one tried to stab me with a pencil) but I felt as if I was teaching kids how to fill in a bubble.....Its sooooooooo SAD!!!!!!!

I can go on and on. Sometimes I think that maybe I should go back into teaching, but I look at wrist where a student dug his nails into me to the point of bleeding and cause a small scar and am remembered why I left.

The good teachers get burned out fast! Then like someone said, they get those who are filling spots who have no background in education....

OH DGMS!

[Kelly in PA to Jennifer]

Yippee!!! to you Jennifer! NCLB is the worst piece of education legislation I have seen come down the pike during my career. Children with special needs are not considered. Individuality has gone out the window. Teachers have no ability to make decisions about how or what to teach. It has stifled the educational system. Home schooling is an option that many families pursue and, when done well, is successful and viable. My brother and his wife homeschool their children and do an excellent job. However, I see the product of poorly homeschooled children all the time. They enter school in ninth grade when the content becomes too difficult for parents to teach, and they are not prepared to handle the social and academic aspects of a public or private school. Just get good advice and good help when you get stumped. I am a high school teacher and I know I could NEVER teach my children all they need to know through grade 12. I would get stumped with math after Algebra. Forget it. I'm lost after that. By the way, I do not teach math! Good Luck with the new little one and the homeschooling. More work than I would want to take on from day to day at home. God Bless!

[Anonymous]

My sister in law homeschools her 6 kids. Of those 6, three have "graduated". Unfortunately, My SIL did not have the foresight to remember to file proper paperwork with the state, so my nieces and nephew are, in the State's point of view, non-educated. These kids are some of the most intelligent kids out there, however, they lack something fundamental (other than their diploma's). They do not know how to interact with others. They live in a remote farm house, raise horses and other livestock, are Highly Christian (meaning more than devout, closer to fanatical). They call themselves "Homesteaders." The oldest, a boy struck out on his own when he turned 21 and made more mistakes than I can list here. The rest are girls who have never had an encounter with a boy (other than their brother), have never been on a date, and have never seen television or computers. They are beautiful, smart, caring, girls who never sass their momma or talk back. They do their chores, hang out with each other and rarely leave the farm. I fear that when they do leave their cozy nests, they will self-distruct in the "real world".

My point of telling you this, I want to remind the Homeschoolers out there how vitally important it is that your children get out in the world and meet and play with other kids their age, if for nothing more than to interact with people who are different than they are. When I married into this family, I was the first woman who was not already family that they had ever met. They did not know how to act around me, and they were so painfully shy that it literally broke my heart. In the last 8 years, they have warmed up to me, and 2 of them even learned how to drive (to church), but they will never be mainstream due to my SILs refusal to believe that they needed anything other than the family.

I realize that this is an extreme situation, and I believe that homeschooling is great, I just want to remind you all not to forget about the interaction that kids need to adjust to mainstream life after graduation.

[Leigh in FL]

My daughter also attends a Duval County Public School where the teacher should have retired 10 years ago. At one time she may have been a great teacher, but her heart just isn't in it anymore.

At 4 1/2 my daughter mopes in the backseat everymorning and tells me that she doesn't want to go to school, hates school, and doesn't like the teacher. Did I mention that is is only 4?

My heart breaks every morning when I have to send her into this. The teacher also refuses to help me in the potty training efforts that I have been trying to accomplish for the last 2 years. While my daughter goes potty and wears big girl panties at home, the teacher will send her home if I don't send her to school in a DIAPER. Not a pull-up. It must me a diaper. When I have argued this point with the teacher and the principal, the teacher defends herself by stating that she has 8 students in her class and can't possibly be bothered to take the time to clean up if my daughter has an accident. There is a teacher's assistant in the room. So the adult to child ratio is 1:4. CAN'T BE BOTHERED?!? My daughter has been in this teacher's class for 2 school years now, and will have to do one more year of Pre-K with her. I have no options about a different school or class unless I move.

My daughter started school when she was one year old. We had a teacher that came to our house once a week and set down a lesson plan for me to follow with my daughter for the week. I have basically been homeschooling my daughter ever since. "I" am the one that makes sure she knows her letters, colors, shapes, and other "Pre-K" standards. If left up to the teacher, my daughter would never be able to make it to Kindergarten. I am frustrated and fed up with Duval County School System and could go on for hours about the problems I have encountered.

But this is Linda's blog and I seem to have hijacked the comments. Sorry. I have written some horror stories on my own blog, and I guess I just wasn't done venting. My sympathies to anyone else suffering at the hands of incompetent teacher. Thanks for the opportunity to rant, Linda.

I certainly agree that teachers are unappreciated, and have to deal with a lot of political b.s., not to mention horrible children which they no longer have the authority to punish or discipline. I'm sure it is tough and very stressful. They deserve far more respect than they receive.

However, I do not agree with the argument that teachers are underpaid. Their yearly salary is comparabile to many other difficult/stressful/demanding jobs, but the huge difference is this: teachers don't have to work year-round like most other professions. With the amount of vacation time they get - a couple of MONTHS in the summer, several weeks during Christmas, every conceivable government holiday, then the sick/vacation leave that is granted to them on top of that? I'd say their pay is about accurate in proportion to the number of days and hours they actually spend at work.

[NH Diane]

This is not teacher-bashing, just bashing this one teacher my son had in 3rd grade. The spelling word was "independent." The spelling sheet had it listed as "independAnt." I told him it was wrong and made him study it correctly. He came home, very angry with me, because although he spelled it "independEnt" the teacher marked it wrong. I had a talk with the teacher, and the class was given the word, spelled correctly, in the next week's spelling list! Yes, I am one of those awful parents who send back newsletters with spelling and usage corrected. It really fries my ass when people who should know better don't. After all, I'm just an uneducated typist and I know better!

[Melissa in Az]

Both my parents were school teachers, so I have a great respect for the majority of teachers. My mother taught until the "system" became too much for her to handle. She felt she was doing more committee work; paperwork; and continuing education than actually teaching. My father eventually got out of the classroom to maintain the computer network of the District.

Despite all that, there are still some AMAZING teachers that exist in public education. They are in it for truly the right reasons...they love to teach and merely put up with the other garbage to fulfill their love of educating others.

Unfortunately, there are also some that have no business in the classroom. My son's first grade teacher fell into this category. Her desire to teach was more of a power/control trip for her than a desire to see a child succeed.

My son's third grade teacher falls somewhere in the middle of the two extremes. There are some things she does that I have to laugh at or else I might scream. My favorite story from this year was in regard to a test he took on geography. One question asked "What continents border the Atlantic Ocean?". I'll give you a minute to think about the answer before I tell you what happened...............

He answered: N. America, S. America, Europe, Africa, and Antartica. Nothing wrong with his answer, right? Well, not according to her. She marked his ENTIRE answer wrong because he added Antartica to his answer.

When I questioned her about it, she said his answer was MORE than she wanted him to put or discussed in class. I mentioned that he was thinking outside what they discussed and was being punished for giving a more complete answer. Now, keep in mind that the test was on a FLAT PIECE OF PAPER. Her defense of why Antartica was incorrect was because on the map shown, Antartica was only UNDER Australia. I just about lost it. I literally had to bite my lip from asking the question, "Are you really that stupid?", but said instead "Well, the last time I checked the world is ROUND and Antartica is on the ENTIRE BOTTOM of the world not just under Australia."

I actually had to go to the principal of the school to defend his answer. I also raised a stink about punishing kids for critical thinking instead of rewarding them for doing so. Needless to say, he eventually had his score changed and his teacher doesn't argue too much with me anymore when I question the way something was graded.

[Shawn - Lakewood CA]

I have to comment on the teachers pay and how someone above said that it was comparable to other high stress jobs. And how they get vacations and days off for all the holidays.

Not all school districts have the summer off. Many in my area are year round schools to accommodate the masses of students. Often when school is closed that is for teacher training and the kids get the day off but not the teacher. I ran into one of my high school teachers selling stereos at JC Penney at christmas to make ends meet. He later quit teaching to sell insurance (and the school lost one of the better teachers in the Math dept). Most schools do not have enough text books for all the students requiring the students to share or for the teacher to make copies of necessary material. Often this is at the teacher's own expense. Teachers take home mounds of papers to grade in the evening which is not paid time.

[ginny]

teachers get vacations???...dont you realize that we teachers dont get paid for those months???...i had to work over the summer just to try to pay my school loan off...i was lucky and was able to come home and live with my parents during that time...but i still had to pay rent for an apartment i wasnt in...vacation...oh yeah buddy what a great vacation i had...thank you very much...g.

[Jessica to Shawn - Lakewood CA]

(Sorry, I realized I forgot to input my info on my previous comment)

The American Federation of Teachers (AFT) conducted a survey a few years ago regarding this question. They found that or the 2003-2004 school year, the average teacher's salary in the U.S. was $46,597. By comparison, the AFT's report indicates that the average earnings of a worker in the private sector in the U.S. was $37,765, meaning that the average teacher in the U.S. makes 23% more money than the average U.S. worker.

The typical professional employee will work an average of 8 hours a day, 260 days per year, while the average teacher only spends 6 hours of a day in the classroom for 180 days out of the year. A teacher would have to put in a little over 5.5 hours per school day, ON TOP OF their classroom time, to have their number of hours worked equal the total for a typical full-time worker. And they would still receive 23% more per year.

Here is the report by the AFT, in case you are interested:

http://www.aft.org/salary/2004/download/2004AFTSalarySurvey.pdf

[Mommy2kimberly&Riley]

To whoever thinks that teachers get paid too much: You need to go find a teacher and ask him or her about the pay schedule. Teachers either don't get paid for those few months that the kids are out, or they have to divide their salaries over 12 months rather than the regular 9. Next, ask that teacher how much "free" time is devoted to grading, extra-curriculars that they are REQUIRED to attend, and dealing with various parent/teacher communications. Both of my parents were teachers, and you obviously have no clue what teachers really do.

[Mary Lou in FL]

I also have to comment about the pay for teachers being comparable...

I taught for many years, and it is definitely not a job that you arrive at 9:00, then leave at the end of the day just because you leave the building. I usually started around 7:00 A.M, so I could prepare for the day (run copies, set up classroom, clean, meet with parents, principal, teachers, etc). Taught all day with about 20 minutes for lunch, during which time I had to supervse my class, so definitely not a "break". During my planning period, I called parents, had conferences, met with other teachers on the team, or whatever else I could sqeeze into the 40 minutes. I would leave around 4:30, after tutoring, planning for the next day, and whatever else needed to be done. Get home, cook, clean, then spend several more hours grading papers, making up tests and quizzes, and writing lesson plans. On the weekends I had to spend more time working on the above metioned activities. As for my summer off, teachers are required to continue their education and go to workshops and seminars to keep up with new technology, learn better ways of teaching, etc, and guess when that is? You got it, during the summer. So of the 8 weeks off, much of that is spent in the classroom as students. I would say that an average work day was 10-11 hours long, with additional work on the weekend. This does not even include being a sponsor for any type of club or after school activity, which in some schools is mandatory for teachers to so.

I stopped teaching after my first son was born, I didn't have it in me to deal with 100 kids during the day, then have anything left for mine. Plus there just were not enough hours in the day.

Teachers are payed comparably? Please don't say that until you have walked in a teachers shoes.

[Christine Munce]

Teachers make mistakes just like anyone. I am a high school math teacher. Every year we are expected to do more with less time. No matter how hard I try, I explain something wrong once in a while. Especially at 7am in the morning or at the end of the day when I am teaching the same lesson for the 6th time that day. I have 150 students and 50 minutes of non classroom time to grade papers, plan lessons, do a duty, and correspond with parents. Even though I use spell check every time I write a email, I am sure a few errors have slipped by. With 150 students, I frequently get their names confused. I get my own childrens name wrong at home sometimes. It is certainly not on purpose. Of the students that I teach, 80% English is their second language. I have a hard time pronouncing their names, much less memorizing the spelling. Some of my students have 3 names and a nickname. Most of the teachers that I know are working like dogs and doing the best the can with more and more pressure every year. Everyone needs to remember that we are human, we make mistakes sometimes, and it is not intentional or personal against any student.

[Jennifer RE: homeschooling]

I had to laugh (in a good way) when I read the comments in regards to me homeschooling. Thank you for being so supportive!!!! It is taking a lot of time and effort on my part for those around me to understand my views on it. School is a big part of socialization but it is not the end all be all... Where I live most sports are done outside of the school system (at least until high school) and there are plenty of community activities (theater groups, art classes, etc.) for children to participate in. For me this is not about religion...in fact my child is more likely to have a much broader religious education with me than in school- I say I am a "Christian at the most basic level" (I don't go for organized religion,) my husband and his family are Jewish, my sister is Wiccan, my brother is agnostic and my brother's husband is Catholic. I am hoping to get my master's in education before I have to start the homeschooling process so I will have an even better foundation with which to build on. Even if I am not able to do so I am not too proud to ask for help. Oh, and I will be giving my kids the choice to go to high school when the time comes but they will be well prepared. :-)

[MIchelle in IL]

Ok about teacher's pay......yes they do have some perks when it comes to vacation - summer's off. BUT I would get to work at 7:30 am and stay at school until 5. Then go home, grade papers, do lesson plans, and tried to have a life. Its not a 9-5 job where you can leave work at home.

Plus certian schools do not reimburse teachers for any supplies they need. WHen I worked for CPS, I went into DEBT b/c I had no paper, pencils or ANYTHING for my class and the school when I asked would give me 10 pencils for 30 kids.....You do the math. The dollar store was my best friend but I was only reimbursed 100 bucks a year. Yes it was my choice but I wanted a GOOD environment for my students.

When I see basketball players making MILLIONS and teachers gettting peanuts it makes me sick. Teachers are extremly UNDER vauled and not as aprreciated as they should be!!!!!

They are under paid and there is a REASON why they have summers off in some places- if they didn't they would go INSANE!!

[Amy in CT]

I'd like to add one more thing to what Mary Lou said. In my state, in order to maintain my teaching certificate, I, too, have to take continuing education courses in order to accumulate enough CEU's for my certificate renewal. I pay for most of my coursework, workshops, seminars at $200-$400 a pop.
This is in addition to buying my own school supplies in order to be able to work with my students, since there is no money in the budget to get necessary materials.

I'm not crying poverty, it is what it is and I do what I do because I love working with children. But believe me...I am by no means in the school system because of the salary scale.

Last thing, in my district we teachers work most days that students are off. Most of my colleagues work a good week after the last day of school and go in to set up their classrooms for the new year a week before school officially starts (all without pay).

[Mary Lou in FL]

Thanks Michelle, I forgot about the cost of supplying your own classroom!

And I would also like to point out that at other "highly streesful" jobs, you generally have to answer to your boss only, a teacher is accountable to her boss (principal), and the parents, and the community, and the students.

[Mary Lou in FL]

okay, so I meant "highly stressful" up there.

[Jamie in WI]

If it whernt fer mah teechers, i wuld have no edumacation!

(giggle giggle - I HAD to go there!!)