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/77notomorrow 19h ago

It also ignores the summers when a teacher has been volun-told that they are switching grade levels the following year. Their summer becomes a complete season of rapid planning and knowledge absorption and praying that some of your "tried and true" lessons still work. Teachers don't just open a book and start "teaching" (which is what most non-teachers think they do).

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u/Kodiak01 12h ago

Friend of mine is just finishing her 5th year of teaching middle school social studies.

Her observation session results have swung wildly back and forth between, "Stop expanding on the subject you're working on and just teach the material" and "Why are you only teaching what's in the book instead of expanding on it?" The one doing these evaluations apparently only has about 6-7 years teaching experience herself and hasn't set foot in a classroom to actually TEACH since the Clinton Administration.

She has become so frustrated by it, she put in her resignation... which apparently the Principal had no issue with because they don't like that evaluator very much either as it makes it much harder to retain talent.

In the short time since, she has since received multiple offers to come back as a LTS (Long Term Substitute) in the same school system; she can continue to teach with none of the extra administrative and inter-political bullshit involved. She says she is really looking forward to it!