Should we be paying teachers more?

[Woke AF]

I pulled this off a Forbes website.
"For a true full-career employee, CalSTRS benefits are plenty generous. According to CalSTRS data, employees who worked a full career – from age 23 to age 65 – received an average annual benefit of $110,364, equal to 105% of the employee’s final salary."

So while the pay is lacking in your early years, it is deferred nicely. Work 40 and retire for 20 years. It works out in the end. IMHO

The problem here is you work 20 years in a public school system and you are dead inside.You set up how you do things and have all your materials at hand and you go through the motions of another year, year after year. If you don't you burnout early and if you do you become a zombie. Not many senior teachers don't become cynical and bitter.

That's fu(kin life for all of us. Try being a roofer for 40 years if you want to see dead inside; Or a grocery store cashier, or a prison guard, or a truck driver, or a journalist. Talk to a 60 year old plumber sometime if you want a case study in misery. We can't all be movie stars.

Brutally eloquent.

Teachers are miserable housewives.

This is why I need to find the bar where the youngish teachers hang out

Stress + desperation = freak city

Any male principal who is not a total slob must be pimp status

Catholic school teachers.
They are young usually very hot, religiously ideologues and very frustrated.
Ripe for the picking

 

[Ifallalot]

I must have gone to the wrong Catholic schools..

 

[GDaddy]

Dude, your avatar is creeping me out.

 

[Billy Ocean]

My opinion is the burn out is a result of class sizes

So many problems are due to this approach of lumping 20+ kids in a class

Have you ever tried to take care of more than a couple of kids at a time? It’s f’ing hard! Now multiply this by 10. How does anyone pretend this makes sense?

Make classes like 5 kids and you will get way better educated kids, happy teachers (and maybe even better teachers)

Yes, it will cost a lot more, but look how f’d up our society is and all of the crazy externalities that result from pumping everyone through this sausage factory

Yes and No. My average class size is 40. It used to be much higher. Today I had a class where half the kids were on a field trip. The difference between 40 and 2o is night and day. Stress level goes way down. One on one help is actually possible.

I would say I'm in that generally grumpy category of veteran teachers, but this semester I have a bunch of kids that are just...nice. Civil. Not knucklehead, bad attitude trouble makers and all of a sudden the job is...nice. Not withstanding the 40 kids (200 a day, 400 a year).

I never complain about the pay or benefits because I worked in various types of construction for almost 2 years and know that's not an easy path.

Yes I do shape surfboards, but I did that long before I started teaching. My shaping got me a job at a boat builder. The skills at the boat builder got me a job in Africa teaching construction and drafting. I LOVED teaching in Africa (since they have corporal punishment there were ZERO discipline problems). My love for that experience led me to teach here in Los Angeles. I was shocked by the disrespect students have for teachers here. But I've learned a few tricks over the years (experience counts). Finally, I think teaching where I do, in a borderline ghetto neighborhood with primarily Latino and black students, keeps me in touch with a reality that living in a affluent coastal suburb does not provide.

I apologize if my vocabulary is weak. That happens after decades spending your days with 14 year olds.

Right on dude!

I taught in the ghetto (not LA) for a year and it was insane

I don’t know how people do it long term

Hats off to you!

I had a Jamaican teacher friend who used to say the same thing about students (“in Jamaica no one disrespects teachers”)

F’n crazy

Good job sticking with those kids!

 

[One-Off]

My opinion is the burn out is a result of class sizes

So many problems are due to this approach of lumping 20+ kids in a class

Have you ever tried to take care of more than a couple of kids at a time? It’s f’ing hard! Now multiply this by 10. How does anyone pretend this makes sense?

Make classes like 5 kids and you will get way better educated kids, happy teachers (and maybe even better teachers)

Yes, it will cost a lot more, but look how f’d up our society is and all of the crazy externalities that result from pumping everyone through this sausage factory

Yes and No. My average class size is 40. It used to be much higher. Today I had a class where half the kids were on a field trip. The difference between 40 and 2o is night and day. Stress level goes way down. One on one help is actually possible.

I would say I'm in that generally grumpy category of veteran teachers, but this semester I have a bunch of kids that are just...nice. Civil. Not knucklehead, bad attitude trouble makers and all of a sudden the job is...nice. Not withstanding the 40 kids (200 a day, 400 a year).

I never complain about the pay or benefits because I worked in various types of construction for almost 2 years and know that's not an easy path.

Yes I do shape surfboards, but I did that long before I started teaching. My shaping got me a job at a boat builder. The skills at the boat builder got me a job in Africa teaching construction and drafting. I LOVED teaching in Africa (since they have corporal punishment there were ZERO discipline problems). My love for that experience led me to teach here in Los Angeles. I was shocked by the disrespect students have for teachers here. But I've learned a few tricks over the years (experience counts). Finally, I think teaching where I do, in a borderline ghetto neighborhood with primarily Latino and black students, keeps me in touch with a reality that living in a affluent coastal suburb does not provide.

I apologize if my vocabulary is weak. That happens after decades spending your days with 14 year olds.

Right on dude!

I taught in the ghetto (not LA) for a year and it was insane

I don’t know how people do it long term

Hats off to you!

I had a Jamaican teacher friend who used to say the same thing about students (“in Jamaica no one disrespects teachers”)

F’n crazy

Good job sticking with those kids!

One really important lesson I've learned is you cannot generalize by race. Some of the nicest most respectful kids I've met were African American, Latino, White, Fillipino, etc. Some of the worst, bad attitude, disrespectful kids were African American, Latino, White, Filipino.

That said, Samoan kids have been 100% respectful. I think it's a cultural respect for elders that is still strong in their community. Wish we all had that.

Actually there was one big Samoan kid that was a little disrespectful, but that may be because for a long time I thought he was a girl (long hair, looked just like a girl I had earlier in the day). My bad. Like really bad. :tomato:

 

[grapedrink]

Dude, your avatar is creeping me out.

#metoo
I’m like “Wtf, Fecal complaining about taxes?” :confused2:

 

[john4surf]

My opinion is the burn out is a result of class sizes

So many problems are due to this approach of lumping 20+ kids in a class

Have you ever tried to take care of more than a couple of kids at a time? It’s f’ing hard! Now multiply this by 10. How does anyone pretend this makes sense?

Make classes like 5 kids and you will get way better educated kids, happy teachers (and maybe even better teachers)

Yes, it will cost a lot more, but look how f’d up our society is and all of the crazy externalities that result from pumping everyone through this sausage factory

Yes and No. My average class size is 40. It used to be much higher. Today I had a class where half the kids were on a field trip. The difference between 40 and 2o is night and day. Stress level goes way down. One on one help is actually possible.

I would say I'm in that generally grumpy category of veteran teachers, but this semester I have a bunch of kids that are just...nice. Civil. Not knucklehead, bad attitude trouble makers and all of a sudden the job is...nice. Not withstanding the 40 kids (200 a day, 400 a year).

I never complain about the pay or benefits because I worked in various types of construction for almost 2 years and know that's not an easy path.

Yes I do shape surfboards, but I did that long before I started teaching. My shaping got me a job at a boat builder. The skills at the boat builder got me a job in Africa teaching construction and drafting. I LOVED teaching in Africa (since they have corporal punishment there were ZERO discipline problems). My love for that experience led me to teach here in Los Angeles. I was shocked by the disrespect students have for teachers here. But I've learned a few tricks over the years (experience counts). Finally, I think teaching where I do, in a borderline ghetto neighborhood with primarily Latino and black students, keeps me in touch with a reality that living in a affluent coastal suburb does not provide.

I apologize if my vocabulary is weak. That happens after decades spending your days with 14 year olds.

Right on dude!

I taught in the ghetto (not LA) for a year and it was insane

I don’t know how people do it long term

Hats off to you!

I had a Jamaican teacher friend who used to say the same thing about students (“in Jamaica no one disrespects teachers”)

F’n crazy

Good job sticking with those kids!

One really important lesson I've learned is you cannot generalize by race. Some of the nicest most respectful kids I've met were African American, Latino, White, Fillipino, etc. Some of the worst, bad attitude, disrespectful kids were African American, Latino, White, Filipino.

That said, Samoan kids have been 100% respectful. I think it's a cultural respect for elders that is still strong in their community. Wish we all had that.

Actually there was one big Samoan kid that was a little disrespectful, but that may be because for a long time I thought he was a girl (long hair, looked just like a girl I had earlier in the day). My bad. Like really bad. :tomato:

Years ago, when my son was interning at a 'last chance' high school his principal asked him if he'd like to make a few extra $bucks helping a transfer student from another district. Apparently the student was expelled from the district and had one last chance to complete his high school education. My son was stoked as hell. I asked him why the boy was expelled. He replied the boy had beat up his teacher in the classroom. Obviously I was a bit worried... any way, I asked him a couple of days later how the new lad was doing in class. He said he was doing pretty good. I asked what the trick was to seemingly turn the boy around, he said something like the boy simply needed to be heard, spoken to not spoken at. The lad went on to graduate from the continuation high school, hope the difference helped him in the real world.

 

[Woke AF]

I am gong with Mr. Rogers:
[video:youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=11&v=fKy7ljRr0AA[/video]

https://www.salon.com/2018/02/22/fred-rogers-champion-of-gentle-masculinity/?utm_content=inf_11_3115_2&utm_source=SocialEdge&utm_campaign=influencer&tse_id=INF_c06766e0185c11e89c3fe7b54f0f0b81

 

[Billy Ocean]

My opinion is the burn out is a result of class sizes

So many problems are due to this approach of lumping 20+ kids in a class

Have you ever tried to take care of more than a couple of kids at a time? It’s f’ing hard! Now multiply this by 10. How does anyone pretend this makes sense?

Make classes like 5 kids and you will get way better educated kids, happy teachers (and maybe even better teachers)

Yes, it will cost a lot more, but look how f’d up our society is and all of the crazy externalities that result from pumping everyone through this sausage factory

Yes and No. My average class size is 40. It used to be much higher. Today I had a class where half the kids were on a field trip. The difference between 40 and 2o is night and day. Stress level goes way down. One on one help is actually possible.

I would say I'm in that generally grumpy category of veteran teachers, but this semester I have a bunch of kids that are just...nice. Civil. Not knucklehead, bad attitude trouble makers and all of a sudden the job is...nice. Not withstanding the 40 kids (200 a day, 400 a year).

I never complain about the pay or benefits because I worked in various types of construction for almost 2 years and know that's not an easy path.

Yes I do shape surfboards, but I did that long before I started teaching. My shaping got me a job at a boat builder. The skills at the boat builder got me a job in Africa teaching construction and drafting. I LOVED teaching in Africa (since they have corporal punishment there were ZERO discipline problems). My love for that experience led me to teach here in Los Angeles. I was shocked by the disrespect students have for teachers here. But I've learned a few tricks over the years (experience counts). Finally, I think teaching where I do, in a borderline ghetto neighborhood with primarily Latino and black students, keeps me in touch with a reality that living in a affluent coastal suburb does not provide.

I apologize if my vocabulary is weak. That happens after decades spending your days with 14 year olds.

Right on dude!

I taught in the ghetto (not LA) for a year and it was insane

I don’t know how people do it long term

Hats off to you!

I had a Jamaican teacher friend who used to say the same thing about students (“in Jamaica no one disrespects teachers”)

F’n crazy

Good job sticking with those kids!

One really important lesson I've learned is you cannot generalize by race. Some of the nicest most respectful kids I've met were African American, Latino, White, Fillipino, etc. Some of the worst, bad attitude, disrespectful kids were African American, Latino, White, Filipino.

That said, Samoan kids have been 100% respectful. I think it's a cultural respect for elders that is still strong in their community. Wish we all had that.

Actually there was one big Samoan kid that was a little disrespectful, but that may be because for a long time I thought he was a girl (long hair, looked just like a girl I had earlier in the day). My bad. Like really bad. :tomato:

Years ago, when my son was interning at a 'last chance' high school his principal asked him if he'd like to make a few extra $bucks helping a transfer student from another district. Apparently the student was expelled from the district and had one last chance to complete his high school education. My son was stoked as hell. I asked him why the boy was expelled. He replied the boy had beat up his teacher in the classroom. Obviously I was a bit worried... any way, I asked him a couple of days later how the new lad was doing in class. He said he was doing pretty good. I asked what the trick was to seemingly turn the boy around, he said something like the boy simply needed to be heard, spoken to not spoken at. The lad went on to graduate from the continuation high school, hope the difference helped him in the real world.

That’s a great story

 

[drunjk]

the only thing i truly believe can solve the country's ills is GAS ALL IRISH-AMERICANS AND NUKE IRELAND

 

[Leaverite]

For all of us here in California. Public school. For the most part across the board, except for a handful of high property tax districts (Silicon Valley for one) most all Cali public schools operate off of the funds supplied by the current state budget.

And in most cases already, statewide, salaries account for 80%+ of most every state school district's allotted budget.

 

[kidfury]

Just got back from a public school fundraiser at the Belly Up. MILF central!

 

[Leaverite]

Just got back from a public school fundraiser at the Belly Up. MILF central!

Perks like this are better than hard, taxable salary dollars.

 

[potato-nator]

Teachers + pistols = Pandora's box.

 

[Billy Ocean]

the only thing i truly believe can solve the country's ills is GAS ALL IRISH-AMERICANS AND NUKE IRELAND

[video:youtube]https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=kF9QvNEd0zM[/video]