The Daily Show: Get Rid of Bush Tax Cuts or Cut Funding for Teachers? 

And - for the record? Take it from someone who's actually in the classroom, as a teacher, every day.

It is NOT a part time job. If I could count the hours I spent lesson planning, creating activities, powerpoints, smartboard presentations, faculty meetings, after school supervision, etc... Well, let's just say I'd earn the money I'm not making as a student teacher.

And the summer? Summer school, trainings, workshops, planning for the next school year...

Yeah, we get as much vacation as anyone else. The difference is - everyone else gets paid for all the hours they put in. We probably get paid for about half of the hours we put in. For every hour in the classroom, that's at least half an hour of planning. For every activity that requires models and materials... oh dear. Don't get me started.

Or does Fox News think we just pull great teaching out of our ass, on the spot, with no prep whatsoever? C'mon! This is your child's education here, not Improv Night at your local dive bar.

"Teacher's know kids are gonna be in the seats."
Right... That's why 7000 students drop out of high school every day. 'Cuz their in their seats.

"Hey! Maybe your mom was a sh*t teacher!"
I had to say this: I love John. I really do.

There's so many misconceptions about teaching it's not even funny. I've been in school for fourteen years and the only time any of my teachers left at 2:30 was when we had half-days. And even then, their job wasn't done.

I'm doing Service Learning three days a week, for about two hours a day. And I can guarantee you I do more in that two hours than most people do in one shift at a part time job. Teaching - whether it be student teaching, full-time teaching, Service Learning, teaching your own child, a working at a day-care, is anything but a full time job. The teaching part alone is a full time job, and that' without the planning, grading, creating, research, paper-work, meetings, handling pissy parents, and keeping up on the grade book.

Whoo! $51,000 a year? That averages out to around 4,200 a month. That's not a lot after taxes, mortgage/rent, utilities, grocery shopping, insurance, car payments, gas, food - and that's without kids and their needs. And (at least here in Ohio) any "extra" things teacher's need/want for their classroom, comes from their paycheck. But, hey. I guess teacher's don't need to worry about that.

The comment about bad teachers made me think of a debate we were having about home-schooling. One person pointed out that there's nothing stopping parents from teaching their kids after school. If their child has a bad teacher (or is struggling in a class), and, for whatever reason, they can't fix the situation (switch class-rooms, meet with the teacher, whatever) they can teach their kids when they get home. Or even hire a tutor. Or, since teachers are so "bad" and "greedy" why not home-school?

Then again, that would require these parents to actually get actively involved in their kids education.

"any "extra" things teacher's need/want for their classroom, comes from their paycheck."

- Yup. This is true for every teacher across the country. I'm already building my own classroom library. Half the things I ask for as presents for christmas and birthdays is around the idea of building materials for my classroom next year.

And you're right, $51,000 a year is not a lot of money, I don't know why they keep saying that statistic like it is. I feel like an average middle-class worker would hear that figure, and instead of saying, "Whoa, that's way too much," would say, "Hey, I make more than that!"

There's a great meme on the net about "paying teachers what they're worth." I think I'll link to it. :o)