Teachers Are Sharing The Things Most People Don't Know About Their Job But Should
The school year here in America is just about over, so a lot of people are making or buying teacher appreciation gifts for their kids' educators.
NBC / Via giphy.com
So, we recently asked the teachers of the BuzzFeed Community to share some of the things they wish more people knew, and based on the replies, you should probably just be giving them giant bags of diamonds.
Here's what 19 of them had to say:
1."Current HS English teacher in the Midwest: The level of masking at all times is mentally exhausting. I call it my teacher persona. It’s me, but it’s a refined, pulled together me. I try to show my students that I’m a real person, but off days are not something that you have the luxury of. And it doesn’t stop when the school day is over. You could run into students and parents anywhere and that teacher mask goes right back on. I don’t think anyone outside of teaching can really know the toll that part of teaching can take on a person. I don’t think it’s talked about as much because there are so many other aspects of teaching that are difficult."
"Individual students make it worth it. There are so many delightful young people I have had the privilege to know over the years." —chelsean9
Pixar / Via giphy.com
2."One of the reasons schools are struggling so much right now is because they are entirely run by school boards, and school board members don't need to have any school-related experience to make these significant decisions. Not always, but very often, these decision-makers come from the business world which comes with a way of thinking that is entirely incompatible with the educational model. Schools are fundamentally set up to fail."
—Anonymous
3."My wife is a teacher and the worst part of being one isn't what you'd expect. When she tells people she is a middle school teacher, most people cringe and say they couldn't deal with moody teenagers all day. While, yes, the kids can be a headache at times, the worst part is the parents. Parents constantly emailing or calling with complaints. Many parents nowadays think their child does no wrong. If my kid failed the test, it isn't because they didn't study, it's because you didn't teach them well enough. If my kid didn't turn in a homework assignment, it is because you lost the assignment when they actually did turn it in. Parents are one of the biggest reasons teachers are fleeing the profession, not the kids."
"As a teacher, I 100% agree with this. I teach everything from age 12 to adult, and while teens can be moody buggers at times, it's usually the parents who cause the most problems (especially because they can never see how their 'little angels' would ever misbehave)." —senseassetjadors
4.I’ve been a teacher for 11 years, 10 of which were spent teaching overseas. Only having taught one year in the US I had a rude awakening! I teach elementary school and most days we had a single 40-minute break. Assuming we don’t have meetings or conferences during that break, it is our only chance to prep for lessons or use the bathroom. I was a 'lucky' one who had one day each week without a single break. Imagine not even being able to use the bathroom once in eight hours!
"I was also shocked to see we have to provide ALL supplies ourselves except student textbooks. Not only do I have to buy my own classroom supplies (decorations, books, manipulatives, stationary, etc…) many students are too poor to buy their own supplies so I was left to buy some for them. All of this for a salary under $40,000. Oh and the state of NC doesn’t accept Master's degrees if they were earned after the year 2013. Needless to say I am moving states to try and find higher pay this summer!
Even though there is supposedly a teacher shortage it is extremely difficult for us to find decent schools. I’ve been job hunting for 6 months and have yet to have a school offer me a position! As an 11-year teacher with great references that is incredibly frustrating and the reason why so many people are leaving teaching!" —Anonymous
5."The amount of work for some levels and subjects is incomprehensible. Assigning an essay as a high school English teacher is a nightmare. I have 150 students and each essay takes a minimum of 10 minutes to properly grade and provide feedback, so that's 25 hours I have to find outside of the school day to work because my during-school time is taken up with classes, meetings, prep, and other duties."
—Anonymous
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6."I’m a first grade teacher's assistant and when you don’t work with your kids or read with them like you’re supposed to, we know. We see with progress and everything. You say you’re working with them, but we know you aren’t. If you don’t work with them, their progress is affected more than you know. We can work with them, but you helping them, benefits them so much. Help them with homework, reading, and anything else. It could save them in the long run."
—mads
7."Although anti-bullying is promoted not much is really done. This past year I had a student who bullied kids every day in my own class and nothing was done. She called kids horrible names, cussed at them, hit them on a daily basis and was never suspended. I called out admin on this and other students' behaviors. I was pushed on several occasions by a different student, hurt by chairs he threw on several other occasions, and needed to evacuate the room several times so the other kids were safe. I ended up needing to be on medication to be able to finish off the school year. At the end I was written up for standing up for the safety of my students."
—Anonymous
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8."No one knows or controls a student’s grade but us. I’ve never been outright unfair in grading, but I’ll nudge a few points for kids I like and who work hard, and will grade harshly and won’t move an inch for the kids who are assholes."
—Anonymous
9."That we take all the public criticism, derision, and contempt to heart — and it really hurts. Watching your profession be weaponized for political clickbait, knowing the very real children the pandering is affecting/will affect — it's heartbreaking, exhausting, and frankly, I think many more of us suffer with our mental health as a direct result."
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10."Because we only get paid for the months school is in session, we only receive pay over the summer months if we choose to have about 9-10 months' worth of paychecks spread out over 12 months."
"In other words, if the annual salary is $56,000 and we opt to get paychecks every other week only during the school year, it'll be about $2,800 per pay cycle. If we opt to get paychecks throughout the whole year, it'll be about $2,150 per pay cycle." —Anonymous
11."To be a teacher in many states, it’s required to get a master’s degree to maintain your certification. However, teacher salaries don’t make up the cost of the additional education required to be a teacher and we get stuck with loads of debt (don’t come at me about choosing a different career if I didn’t want the debt). Often, teachers are required to be more educated than other professionals but we are often treated by society as though we are idiots who couldn’t possibly do anything else. And now in many states that have severe teacher shortages, teachers are barely required to have a college degree of any type at all (see Arizona). It makes my years pursuing an education degree and multiple certifications feel worthless."
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12."Something that I've noticed recently, when you use Chat GPT to do your written homework, we know. I teach students whose first (and often second also) language is not English. I teach using British English. So when a student of an intermediate level hands me a written assignment in flawless English, using a lot of proficient language, American spelling, and no mistakes whatsoever — yeah, I know you cheated."
13."I was an educational assistant for eight years. I routinely went home with bruises and scratches given to me by 5-and-6-year-olds. I had to wear Kevlar when working with biters. Parents have no idea what goes on in the classroom, the amount of times your kid's class is evacuated because they are in danger from another kid trashing the class and throwing furniture. I left after eight years because I would cry every day on my way to work. I will never fucking go back to education. I still have the scars, both physical and mental."
—M M
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14."As a special education teacher, you spend more time doing paperwork, answering emails and sitting in meetings than actually being with and teaching students. And even when you’re with students, you spend 90% of your time with 10% of your students."
15."Teachers often get UTIs because we can’t use the bathroom whenever we want. We can’t leave a classroom full of kids alone while we go to the bathroom."
—Anonymous
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16."We can't go home until the kids go home. We judge you harshly if you're chronically late because that's time you are taking away from not just your kid, but EVERYONE ELSE IN THAT BUILDING. Sometimes, custodians can't even get their work started until all of the kids leave, so that means you're holding up their schedule too. I don't want a long sob story about how shitty your car is, or the traffic, just be on time to pick up your damn kid, so I can pick up mine. We're parents and people too!"
—Anonymous
17."Teachers are just as cliquey as students, and can be even worse than the kids."
—Anonymous
Miramax
18."I teach sixth grade in a very small town in NE Montana. I have been here for 11 years and have enjoyed most of my time here. This issue it seems to me has only come along the last few years, right before COVID but has become a bigger problem. I want people to know that teachers are not your babysitter. We have a curriculum to get through and that what we teach is going to help your child be successful in school and beyond. We aren’t just reading out of science and history textbooks and giving kids questions, we are teaching children critical thinking, how to analyze information and respond to it, responsibility. It matters if your kid misses school three out of five days, it matters if your kid sleeps through all of their classes, it matters if your kid doesn’t do ANY WORK."
"Somewhere down the line your kid isn’t going to be able to keep up and it is going to hurt them in the long run. My job is to help provide your child with an education, not watch them do nothing for six hours." —Molly E
19.And finally, "I had lower take-home pay as a private school teacher than I did as a nanny. Public school was only slightly better."
—Anonymous
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