we have the same types of problems here with primary school and highscools. teachers refuseing to take part in extra curicular activities as well.
even out and out strikes. this is not good for the students involved. it lessons what they can learn as homework is a major part of schooling. however
they are trying to earn a liveing and should have the same rights as the rest of us.
i have many friends and people i know who teach everything from daycare to university. one thing they don't talk about much is all the work involved
in teaching. my best friend is a highschool teacher so i will use that as an example.
what does a teacher do?well the simple answer is that they teach
it is not so simple however. they have many things that they need to do in order
to teach. generaly we just think of a teacher's job as standing in front of a class imparting knowlagee, and getting po'd when we act up. well lets
take a look at the life of a teacher.
to start off they spend much time and money getting a teaching certificate. the needed things differ area to area. my friend has a masters(?) in
teaching. it took several years to compleate , just like for many carrers.
now the complaint seems to be the unfareness of not giveing out homework. most will see this as just harming the education of those that they are
teaching, for no real purpose other than to PO their superiors. this is not exactly true.
a highschool teacher has say 4 out of 5 classes to teach a day. some schools even run on a two day systom.so that is 8 classes at a time. now all of
these classes are not the same. they may teach two or more subjects at multiple levels. grade 9-12 and basic to advanced. they may have 1 free class
to mark and prepare for other classes. that is not takeing into account that they also have to take turns watching the halls and lunch rooms. in fact
much of teaching takes place at home.
my freind tends to work every night at home. he has marking to do, he has to come up with how he is going to teach something ( a lesson plan). he also
needs to come up with homework to try to make shure that you learn what is needed. it has to be challengeing for even the best students, while not
being too difficult for poor students. same goes for tests. exam and report card times are even worse. exms must be cordinated by multiple teachers
working together as everyone gets the same one no matter who is the teacher. he tends to even spend a good portion of his weekends doing this. many
times has he canceled out on things because he has marking to do.
lets look at tests. ever wonder why teachers use multiple choice? easy it is to save time. yes you might guess the right answer, therfore looking like
you know something but it is an important consideratin for marking times. you can see in a second if the answer is right or not. just look at a simple
3 page test.
now said teacher has 3 classes (not even half of his students) takeing it. he is looking at 270 pages of marking that needs to be done. do you
honestly think a teacher has enough time to mark all of these in school? just look at a test that you have taken. time yourself on how long it takes
to slowly read each page to mark the answers as right or wrong. also remember that there will be worse handwriteing than you have as well as a lot of
bs put in to make it seem like you know what your are talking about.
i have seen a test where you would swear that the person KNEW the answer. but in reality they just went in circles without actualy answering the
question. (you have just spent 5 minutes on one question trying to figure out if it is right or not). some answers are not easy to figure out they may
just be answered correctly but poorly. or they can sound realy good but in fact there is no answer given, or it is wrong. you have to CAREFULY read
them to find out. this takes a lot of time, most of it on your nights and weekends.
same thing for all homework asighnments. you have to read every single one of them. then you have to judge if they are correct or not. again mostly
done in your "free"time. you are not paid overtime for this. again just think about that one piece of homework that you had to do then multiply it
out for all the students that take that course with the same teacher.
now as if this is not enough, teachers also have (yes here they have no choice but to do it, you are volinteered), things like: the chess club, the
school paper, sports teams, math clubs, science clubs ect. again mostly done before and after school. also no extra pay. most would agree that these
things are needed to help students in life. then you have all the time spent after school trying to help out those who are haveing problems.
even after all of this you have to deal with "class clowns", diciplen cases,those who are board, tired, and just plain rude and ignorant. how ever
much someone might egg you on you cant hit them, even in self defence to a degree. even a hint of a sexual complaint can end your career. even if a
complaintant later admits to lieing about it you are still out of work generaly, the harm is caused just by the possibility of it, not the factualness
of it.
ooo teachers get summers off. yeah right. they spend summers upgradeing their skills, and working on possible lesson plans for the following year. yup
nice UNPAID vacation.
in short teachers do NOT recieve pay equil to all the time put into their classes as much is done off the clock. heck at my company you can be fired
for working off the clock, it is expected of those teaching. some teachers even deserve danger pay as some schools are close to being battle grounds.
they tend to be abused by students and parrents alike. they get watched like hawks from the school boards. in reality teachers should be amoung the
highest paid in our society.
why should teachers not have the right to strike and have job actions? they are generaly treated like garbage. they are paid minimaly. and have to put
up with much more than can reasonably be expected. and lets be honest about it if we had no teachers we as a society would be screwed. and these
underpaid workers are what our society relies on to keep it going.
[edit on 26-4-2005 by drogo]