Or to put it equal to a person in the private sector that gets four weeks off (three vacation and one week holidays). Teacher gets two weeks Christmas, one week spring break, a week more of holiday we don't and the twelve weeks for summer for a total of 17 weeks off.
52-4=48 Private sector
52-17=35 teacher
48/35=1.37
$100k*1.37=$137K equivalent salary. Not too many jobs in the private sector that pay that and with zero overtime.
Oi.
Rant on.
There's overtime. Lots and lots of unpaid overtime.
I get paid by the year, not by the hour. Most people in the private sector, when they leave their jobs for the day, they're done. Me? Not so much. There are jobs that when you're not feeling well, or when you're not up to doing it, you can kind of mail it in for a day. I can't.
Let's say I teach 130 kids. At the very minimum, each of them writes one 5-paragraph essay per quarter. I get to read those. Not during class, but at home. Those same 130 kids also do one major essay test (minimum) per quarter. Add in a quiz every other day or so.
There's lesson planning. Teachers--at least the ones I know--don't recycle the same lesson plans over and over. I change mine often. I keep what works and I throw out what doesn't. For me, it's about an hour of planning for every two hours of class, but that's because I've been doing it for 20 years. Know something, kids and their learning styles are way different today than when I started. When I first taught the research paper, for example, most of the sources were physical paper books. Now, almost all are electronic. It's a whole different way of research. Two years ago, most textbooks were paper. Now they're e-books. I have to change with every class.
I'm expected to keep up with changing theories of pedagogy. I'm expected to keep parents in the loop. Papers need to be graded thoughtfully and returned in a timely manner. Kids with special needs have mountains of paperwork.
Oh. It's not 12 weeks of summer anymore. I stop around the second week of June. The next school year starts for me around August 15 or so. During the summer? I teach a summer enrichment class. I make nowhere near $100K per year as a private school teacher. Also during the summer I write around 40 unique letters of recommendation for students applying to colleges. Is it a long break? Yep. But I think I earn it.
This year, my school went to a 1:1 iPad program. I had to change everything--my entire methodology of teaching--to account for the fact that the kids are carrying the entire Internet around with them all the time.
Teacher turnover in the first five years is higher than just about any other profession.
I'm not saying it's not a great job. It is. I love it. I consider the 54-minute classes with my kids a reward for all the BS I have to go through just to get there. There's no heavy lifting. I'm not a coal miner. I'm not in Afghanistan with hostiles shooting at me. But there are easier ways to spend your career.
/rant off.
