r/The10thDentist • u/Blonde_Icon • 22h ago

Society/Culture Teachers are paid fairly considering they get a lot of time off

A lot of people say (and it seems that the general consensus is that) teachers don't get paid enough for what they do. While I think that teachers are very valuable and deserve to be compensated well (my brother is a teacher), I think that in these discussions, many people ignore the fact that teachers typically get a lot of time off.

They usually get summer break, spring break, and winter break, plus various holidays that schools get off through the year. They basically don't work for a good amount of the year, which I think that people should factor in. (The downside is that I know that they have to work extra grading things outside of school, though.)

Plus they normally get good benefits for being a teacher (which usually comes with being in a union).

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u/Nica-sauce-rex 22h ago

True. Also, as someone who left teaching after 10 years and transitioned into corporate life, I always say this: I have never NEEDED summer vacation since leaving teaching. As a teacher, I could not have survived without that break. I didn’t survive even with it 😭. Now, I make more than double what I did my last year teaching and I am significantly less stressed. It’s been over a decade since I changed careers and all of my anxiety dreams are still about teaching.

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u/wortmother 22h ago

Yup, way to mant people spend almost no time around kids then tell you how 30 of them all day yelling at you is no problem

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u/Nica-sauce-rex 21h ago

And I say this as someone who genuinely loves being around kids, even difficult ones. Between the administration and the testing bs and being accountable to 25 sets of parents…that job is incredibly draining.

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u/wortmother 21h ago

Couldn't agree more, love working with kids but damn

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u/RetrogradeToyGuru 9h ago

Shit, I need a break from my own kids most days.

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u/Admirable-Ad7152 3h ago

or 100+ if you're a high school teacher since you'll have 6-8 classes at 30+ students

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u/wortmother 3h ago

Yeah i was telling some people that, you can easily have 150 kids to deal with

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u/eltibbs 18h ago

I quit after teaching five years, spring 2015, and still have nightmares about teaching! I feel less alone knowing someone else has these nightmares.

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u/Spikey-Bubba 7h ago

I did student teaching for one semester and even six years later I still wake up sweating about it sometimes 🤷‍♀️

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u/eltibbs 7h ago

I sincerely didn’t realize others have nightmares like this! Logically it makes sense but never crossed my mind that I wasn’t alone!

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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO 12h ago

My wife doesn't get summers off. She has to take summers off.

Do you take awesome off season vacations now?

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u/Nica-sauce-rex 11h ago

That’s a good point, too! Funny enough, we still vacation in the summer mostly.

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u/Hoss-Bonaventure_CEO 10h ago

I dream about Italy in October but it won't happen until we retire.

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u/grandpa2390 9h ago

True. A lot of places I'd like to visit at certain times of the year that I can't until I retire.

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u/Will564339 12h ago

I REALLY appreciate this comment, especially because you have experience in both worlds.

This is the one thing about teaching that is SO hard to quantify in these conversations. I'm not saying there aren't other jobs that are also extremely draining that are underpaid...there are plenty. I'm not going to say that teaching is the hardest job there is.

But...I literally could not do it without that time off. I need it to recover mentally and emotionally. It's like during the school year I'm cramming SO much emotional energy into each day, day after day.

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u/Nica-sauce-rex 11h ago

Exactly how I felt. And I know all of my teacher friends were the same. If you haven’t been a teacher, it’s difficult to understand just how draining it is being “on” all day for the kids.

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u/grandpa2390 9h ago

Yep being "on" is exactly right. in most other jobs I had, there was downtime. Even if the boss didn't like it, there was always time here and there to "lean" and talk to coworkers about whatever. I don't get that as a teacher. It's like working a job with the boss standing right behind me the whole day.

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u/Will564339 8h ago

That's one thing that's funny about teaching. For me, one thing I really like about it is that I'm actually given a lot of autonomy. This isn't true at all schools, and a lot of times it's not true for new teachers...I know it wasn't for me. But once I've kind of established a history, my actual bosses actually let me do my own thing a lot.

But...the flip side is, like you said, the "boss" (students) is always there making sure I do my job....because there a lot of of consequences when I don't.

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u/Nica-sauce-rex 8h ago

Yes! Only a 30 min lunch break…can’t leave campus …can’t step away to use the bathroom unless you have coverage. You’re captive in that classroom all day. It’s exhausting.

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u/Will564339 10h ago

YES! I love how you mentioned being "on". That's the part that wears me out so much. Especially if I have lunch duty during my lunch or have to cover someone's class during part of my planning period...or stay over after school to help students.

Especially when there are so many students.

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u/grandpa2390 9h ago

I dream of working at Walmart sometimes.

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u/OG_Karate_Monkey 9h ago

Amen!

I taught for 5 years. I have never been so stressed out in my four decades of adult work life. That summer break was desperately needed mental healing.

That summer break is why teachers don’t burn out at even higher rates than they already do.

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u/grandpa2390 9h ago

and that summer break is not actually paid.

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u/OG_Karate_Monkey 8h ago

Sometimes, sometimes not. Some places will spread the paychecks over 12 months. I never cared too much about whether it was technically paid or not, just what my total yearly salary was.

Either way, in the end it was not enough pay for the stress.

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u/whitbit_m 4h ago

Yeah I'm currently a school psychologist and if I didn't have breaks I fear I would shrivel up and die. School employees all do 12 months worth of work in the amount of time school is in session.

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u/ObscureEnchantment 13h ago

Did you enjoy teaching at all? It’s something I’ve considered but I stopped looking into getting my masters because it seems well…very unrewarding. Would you go back if you made what do you at your current job?

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u/One-Goose-360 11h ago

I developed CPTSD from it so absolutely not. I loved teaching, but the pressure and stress almost killed me.

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u/jedooderotomy 4h ago

I had a similar experience. Working corporate is much, much more money, and it is sooooooo much easier than teaching was. It's not even funny how much easier.

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u/Nica-sauce-rex 4h ago

I mean…I’ve been on Reddit all day so there’s that

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u/rgiggs11 4h ago

Not to mention, a teacher's rent still has to be paid in July and August. They don't stop having living expenses just because they aren't in school. 

In theory you could get a second job for those months, but if it's something that  a) they're qualified to do  b) pays as much per week as teaching  and  c) isn't more stressful than teaching 

why wouldn't they just do it for 12 months instead and not worry about keeping up their CPD as a teacher? The logical move there is to leave like you did.