Obviously, as a teacher, I am biased, so take that into consideration as you read. However, I do think that I have had these views since before I was a teacher, so that might lend credibility to them…

I both agree and disagree with the owner of this blog. I definitely agree that it is a complex situation. Americans do have a tendency to throw money at the problem, whatever the problem is, and that has definitely been seen in education. As a teacher, I can attest to the fact that a lot of that money is either not used because it is earmarked for specific projects or expenses and can’t be used for more useful things, or it is used on supplies which are great… and end up sitting in a supply closet for years and years because there isn’t anyone to pass them out or because teachers don’t know how to use them/don’t have time to use them.

However.

Intelligent people don’t go into teaching. Obviously, there are exceptions (I would like to think of myself as one of these exceptions!) but as a rule, teachers are not the smartest, not the best, not the cream of the crop. In fact, because I did so well in school, people were surprised to hear that I was going into teaching. Why? People who are competent and intelligent don’t want to take a job that pays so poorly and where they will be treated badly. Why would they? Paying teachers more would draw good people in—people who have not seriously considered teaching because they can earn more elsewhere—and possibly get a little bit of respect in the process. Teachers are not in the profession for the money, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be paid better, especially considering what a difficult and important job it is.

One of the comments talked about how much teachers spend out of their own bank accounts. This is another reason, in my opinion, that teachers should be paid more. One year I spent $5000 of my own money. Five thousand. Not including mandatory union dues. Not including the massages that were necessary for me to keep going to work every day because the environment was so difficult. That was the most I have spent, but that is only because I learned to beg for things.

When you are a new teacher, you receive basic supplies. Usually enough pencils for about two weeks, crayons and paint for every other student, paper, a few dry erase markers, three rolls of Scotch tape… you get the idea. Depending upon your school/secretary/administrator, you might get more pencils when you need them or you might be told that you should have the kids not go through pencils so quickly. Now, I only worked in the ghetto, but my friends who worked in other schools had similar experiences. Other things that are needed but not considered necessary by the administration were up to the teachers: permanent markers, labels, file folders, scissors, stickers, any bulletin board or wall decorations/materials, flash cards, games, art paper… you get the idea. Most teachers I know spent between $250-$600 before school started just to set up their classroom.

The first year I taught, I asked the secretary where I could get scissors—either student or adult. She told me—with a straight face—that I bought them. I thought she was joking, but no. Scissors weren’t considered a classroom supply that was necessary. More well to do districts often have a teacher spending fund—I think it’s usually about $250 a year, nowhere near what is needed—usually provided by the PTA.

Another issue in teacher pay is the amount of hours worked. On our timesheets, we were supposed to put 30 hours per week, as the kids are in school (not counting recess) for 6 hours per day. Well, even the worst teacher in the world has to spend time doing lesson plans, buying supplies, and grading papers, not to mention sweeping and mopping the classroom since that is not usually taken care of. I used to put down my actual hours—not that it would matter—and was reprimanded for it. If you figure out teachers’ wages on an actual per-hour basis, it is pretty pathetic.

Putting the fairness issue aside, though, I come back to the fact that I think higher salaries would attract better people. We shouldn’t expect teachers to be missionaries, letting their families go without so that they can continue in a job that they think is worthwhile.

I would like to live in a world where people are not judged by their “net worth” or how much they make, but we don’t, and until teachers are paid better, I think it will continue to be a profession that is seen as a fallback career for people who can’t get better paying jobs.

My first guest blogging opportunity - very exciting!

You may not think that teaching is a profession which lends itself to frequent nervous breakdowns. I didn’t think so before I started teaching.

I got my first teaching job in Oakland, in the middle of the school year. I knew what the district was like and I chose to be there. I knew that the kids came from difficult situations, an area with a lot of violence and drugs, many of their parents were in jail/prison, etc. I knew the (really bad) reputation of the district. I didn’t, however, know how bad the educational system was.

I got hired to teach first grade - an age that makes everyone who is not in the teaching profession say things like, “How cute! You must have loved that!” Hmmm. Obviously, these people have never had books thrown at their head by an extremely angry six year old. But I digress. I was hired to teach in a “roving” classroom. A roving classroom is an idea - thought up by one of Satan’s highest minions, I’m pretty sure - to save space. Instead of each class having their own classroom, the classes are put on “tracks” - with each track having a staggered vacation. Then an additional 25% can be squeezed in the building, with roving teachers using other people’s classrooms.

There’s a couple of problems with this. One is that the kids never have a home base, and in fact often forget which classroom they are in. Another is that teachers are notoriously territorial and HATE other teachers being in their area. So the roving teacher not only has to move every 3 weeks but also has to deal with the extreme resentment of other teachers.

But I digress. I was hired to replace somebody who left in December. I found out - after I took the job - that he left because he had a nervous breakdown. He had panic attacks every time he got near the school. Awesome.

Now I know another teacher in a similar situation. She is a friend of a friend - actually we have a lot of mutual friends - and is teaching at a high school very near the school I was working at for 8 years. She told me this in the summer and I told her not to take the job. I hate to think like that - I want to be as idealistic as the next person and make a difference, but I know this school and I know what the kids there do to their classrooms (set them on fire) and their teachers (bully them like you wouldn’t believe).

A mutual friend asked me to sub for this woman because she is having a nervous breakdown and going to the ER with panic attacks. She asked me to sub for two weeks to two months. I was good, stood my ground, and said hell, no. I got out of here for a reason. I will not sub at that school for a month, I will not sub for a day. I will not sub in a box… well, you get the idea.

Our mutual friend was a little annoyed with me, but I am holding fast. No nervous breakdowns for me. And she can’t say I didn’t warn her.

(I’ll write more soon about the reason behind all of these nervous breakdowns, or you can check out my blog, Being Light Skinded.)

I am excited to announce that guest poster B will occasionally be posting commentaries on education. She’s a former school teacher who worked in the Oakland school district, and she actually has her very own site at Being Light Skinded. I think that her perspective on education issues will be interesting to a lot of you (and to me as well), and I am really pleased that she has agreed to devote some time in her busy schedule to guest posting here. I’m also hoping that her posts will get you thinking about the American education system and the ways in which it needs to be fixed; this is an election year, and it’s a good time to be thinking about issues like this.

B is also my first guest poster, so y’all need to be nice to her!