MarsBarz said:
Guess what, teaching is an easy job and 99.9% of teachers are pathetic at it. Then again, it is a terrible career and deserves no applause. Tons of holidays, easy work, short days, job security ... and they still have the nerves to ask for higher wages?
You sir, are a fool.
Tons of holidays: When do you think teachers have to come up with their programs for the year? Lesson plans? Homework? Assignments? When do you think staff development days take place? These things don't pull themselves out of the air, or get themselves done. I know of teachers who will spend days on end
in their own holidays working on programs and lesson plans just so they're not swamped during the term.
Easy work: Umm... no. Arrogant students, for starters, make life difficult. The Board of Studies don't just hand teachers the information and say "Here, read this." The teacher needs to learn the material themselves. Material, mind you, for every class they're teaching. Every text for every grade, in the case of English teachers, need to be known inside and out before you can even walk into that classroom. What about Child Protection? Did you know that teachers are required by law to report to DOCS if they believe a student is at risk of abuse? How does that work emotionally? Who has to deal with shit students who think they're smarter than the teacher is? Who has to deal with shit students whose parents have no idea what discipline is, and expect the school to take care of it? Who has to deal with the fact that some parents are absolutely hopeless, let their kids run wild, and expect the school to take care of it? Who has to deal with the fact that any one of those kids could have a knife in their back pocket? Who has to deal with the fact that if a student gets violent, self defence is pretty much out of the question?
Short days: 9am to 3pm job, isn't it? A lot of teachers arrive at school before 7:30. A lot don't leave until after 4 or 5 in the afternoon. They don't get paid for that extra time. As above, when do they get to do their lesson plans and programming? Holidays, free time. Take your pick. Do you think teachers get paid to mark? How much of their work do they get paid for when they do it outside of school hours? None.
Job security: Yes. It's a government job. We also have a shortage of teachers. Of course there's going to be job security.
MarsBarz said:
Can't you just accept that teaching is one of the easiest jobs around? Name a job which requires less responsibility.
See above where I stated:
jhakka said:
What about Child Protection? Did you know that teachers are required by law to report to DOCS if they believe a student is at risk of abuse? How does that work emotionally?
And that's just part of it. Teachers have to deal with around 30 kids at any one time. The school is responsible for hundreds of students
all day for five days a week. if a kid breaks his leg during PE, who is responsible? The teacher. Something with less responsibility? Basically any job that doesn't deal with human lives, in any sense.
adambra said:
The majority of teachers do next to no work. They whinge about marking, big deal, they take as long as they want to do it! They are accountable to noone, most of them are ignorant of the subjects they teach. I say cut pay to teachers, give it to nurses!
Next to no work: How would you know about "the majority of teachers"? Have you surveyed every teacher, and found out exactly how much work they do. For some of the work a teacher does, pelase see where I state:
jhakka said:
When do you think teachers have to come up with their programs for the year? Lesson plans? Homework? Assignments? When do you think staff development days take place? These things don't pull themselves out of the air, or get themselves done. I know of teachers who will spend days on end in their own holidays working on programs and lesson plans just so they're not swamped during the term.
Or even:
jhakka said:
9am to 3pm job, isn't it? A lot of teachers arrive at school before 7:30. A lot don't leave until after 4 or 5 in the afternoon. They don't get paid for that extra time. As above, when do they get to do their lesson plans and programming? Holidays, free time. Take your pick. Do you think teachers get paid to mark? How much of their work do they get paid for when they do it outside of school hours? None.
Also take into account excursions that take place on weekends or go after hours. What about discos and functions such as the senior formals. They are still accountable for the students. They have to organise it. And, again, how much do they get paid for the out of hours work? Zero.
Marking: Is done in their own time. With no pay. The working day for many professions ends the moment they walk out of the office. Teaching does not. As I have said multiple times, things like marking happen out of school hours, and teachers do not get paid for it.
Accountability: Let's start small: Head teachers, deputy principles, principles. Move on to parents and community. How about the district offices? Oh, and the Department of Education. And eventually the government. Did you know that a teacher could lose their job just because a student says that the teacher has sexually assaulted another student - regardless of if this is true or not. Granted it doesn't happen, but the allegation is so serious it could ruin someone's career.
MarsBarz said:
I go to a top 60 school, so the school is supposedly adequate.
The majority of my teachers however are not.
1. They cannot control the class. They are unable to discipline the louder obnoxious students. This means that other students are distracted and class time is wasted. I have seen teachers yell at particular students all lesson or threaten them with detentions yet disciplinary action is never taken. This is much like the parenting crisis in Australia at the moment. Numerous authority figures are too scared to properly discipline trouble individuals.
2. They rarely set any homework. When they do, they never check it. Thus the majority of students simply do not do it. Again this is a problem of discipline. If the homework is checked and disciplinary action is taken then most students will get the message that after school work requires attention. I hate to admit it but at our age, a lot of us do not have enough self-discipline. We need a kick to the butt every now and then, an incentive to work.
03. They do not set any class tests. There are just end of term exams. Ergo, most students do not keep up to date and tend to cram towards the end of the term. Also the lack of class tests discourages competitiveness amongst students and much needed practice of exam situations which is counter-productive. Increased competition would lead to much more effort.
4. Teachers do not provide adequate assessments of individual's progress. Again, more attention to individual's progress (ie: a few minutes of checking homework) would lead to numerous problems being resolved.
5. Teachers do not have any idea about proper teaching methods. They do not realise that the goal is for their students' to achieve the highest possible marks in exams. Schools aren't success oriented enough. Teachers aren't interested in their students' success. After all, it doesn't matter if their whole class fails. It doesn't affect their working conditions. Which is why so many teachers will 'bludge'. In computing subjects they let the students play games on the computer. In english they read from a textbook or ramble on about nothing. In Maths they give you exercises to do from the textbook. And so on.
Conclusion: Teachers and schools are completely redundant. All that is needed to learn is a good textbook, discipline and motivation.
Classroom management: Do you think that it is possible to walk in off the street and control a class? Classroom management is a skill that takes years to develop, and it encompasses areas such as seating, the amount of material around the room, and of couse student-teacher interaction. This is made even more difficult in a period where children are not taught to respect those in a position of authority over them. This is difficult when you have idiot students who think they know better than you. This is difficult when, as I said earlier, a student could pull a knife and stab you at any second.
Homework: Whether or not homework is set is irrelevant. Some subjects do not warrant homework. Others do. And the point of it is not to make your life hell. In senior high school - when your HSC is your responsibility - homework is revision, and should not need marking. This isn't junior school any more, and you're not going to be taken in baby steps.
Testing: As above. Your HSC is your responsibility. If you want to be assessed, you should go to the teacher and ask for extra assignments. The teachers have an entire syllabus to get through in a year. And more often than not, the school will set deadlines for when certain topics should be completed. If you want to study, do it yourself. You shouldn't need a teacher to tell you that. And you shouldn't need tests - ones that won't count for anything, no less - to motivate you. The HSC should be enough.
Assessment and progress: As above. Take it into your own hands. Why blame a teacher for your own laziness, when its just as easy to go to them after class and ask for more work, ask for help, or even for a general comment on your progress?
Teaching methods: Please define "proper teaching methods". Are you a teacher? Have you done a five year degree on teaching methods? No? Then shut up. There is no universal method that will work in every situation. It is about adapting to a situation, and to your students. Just as much responsibility also goes to the students. If they're not cooperating, "proper teaching methods" won't do any good anyway.
Redundancy: If this is the case, why are you complaining about lack of motivation to study, lack of testing and lack of marking? If you have everything you need, use it. Do you want to be told when to breathe, too?
This is not to say that all teachers are good. Some do it for the wrong reasons, and some do display some of the less desireable behaviours. However, it is wrong to say that it is an easy job when you have no idea of its responsibilities, implications and the sheer amount of work involved.
