Our Nation’s Teachers Are Hustling to Survive

[JCSR]

I'm not sure how accurate this article is but a motorcycle trip to Polly's Freeze is on my schedule. Actually the teachers I know in my area do pretty well for themselves. What's your thoughts?

Our Nation’s Teachers Are Hustling to Survive - EdSurge News

Nearly 1 in 5 American public school teachers work a second job outside of the classroom. Why is this their reality?

www.edsurge.com

 

[woowoo2]

Even if the money is spread out over 12 months, teachers are only working for nine.
It makes sense to find something to help cover the other 3 months.

 

[jake blue]

Even if the money is spread out over 12 months, teachers are only working for nine.
It makes sense to find something to help cover the other 3 months.

The article didn't address 9-month versus 12-month earning potential. It recounts how teachers with college degrees earn so much less than a comparably degreed career and as a result have to have evening and weekend jobs to make ends meet. No doubt they can kick it up to full time in the summer but that's not justification for shortchanging the people we glibly extol as shaping the future. Good feelings only go so far. Then the ones that finally have enough of the financial struggle leave education entirely because it just won't get better. The heart of the article is how this side hustle for teachers is often unspoken but basically socially accepted as the norm.

 

[ditcherman]

I think it's a pretty accurate article.
I was raised by someone who believed "those who can, do, and those who can't teach" but now know that that is a stereotype that just does not fit.
The 8 to 3 and summers off is kind of a myth too. My wife puts more hours in than me in some seasons. And it's grueling hard work too, but it's rewarding for the right person. The requirements that the state, and to a lesser degree the district, put on teachers that are so far beyond what it takes to teach kids, with no hope of policing the poor teachers out, are ridiculous.
In other words, the stereotype that I think does fit is that most of them are not in it for the money, it's in their heart.

Someone could argue with the above, I'm sure. Maybe your experience is different, but most arguments come from not experience, but a point of view you've been sold by mass media.
What you can not argue with though, is the fact that you will not attract top talent that is also not motivated to make the world a better place at these salary levels.

 

[KLB]

There are lots of degrees that do not lead to high paying jobs. Teachers are not unique in that.

 

[ditcherman]

 

[BigRed]

I'm not sure how accurate this article is but a motorcycle trip to Polly's Freeze is on my schedule. Actually the teachers I know in my area do pretty well for themselves. What's your thoughts?

Our Nation’s Teachers Are Hustling to Survive - EdSurge News

Nearly 1 in 5 American public school teachers work a second job outside of the classroom. Why is this their reality?

www.edsurge.com

It should be:
"What ARE your thoughts?"




Anyhow, I would say it is the teachers unions that appear to be hustling to survive.

As far as Rothrock is concerned, her story sounds like a long series of bad decisions. Borrowing money to get a degree that lands you a job with a starting comp roughly equal to the debt? WTH was she thinking? It doesn't sound like her parents helped her much in letting her make such poor choices. Oh wait, they're teachers too!

No way in Hell I would want folks with this history of decision making "teaching" anyone I cared about, let alone pay for them to do it!

 

[Kurr]

I agree with "choices". If I really needed extra money perhaps slinging soft serve for 28 years wouldn't be my first choice. I'm sure other places would pay more. How much seniority pay do you get at a mom and pop roadside stand?



I used to live in Georgetown and would love stopping by there s a treat, but I wouldn't spend nearly thirty years there , I don't believe.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

There are lots of degrees that do not lead to high paying jobs. Teachers are not unique in that.

This. Teacher’s salaries are not a secret. They know what they signed up for.

Now, what teachers “should” make is a whole other discussion.

 

[BE Mike]

Almost all cops have second jobs. Many departments require degrees of one sort or another. Teachers aren't alone. I remember one teacher who worked the ticket booth at the drive-in theater (yes, I'm that old). The Polly Freeze is an institution in southern Indiana!

 

[littletommy]

I can’t really think of any other profession that complains more about how rough they have it than teachers.

I have four nieces and nephews that are teachers, every one of them live in a mcmansion and drive nice cars, I know of at least one person that I went to school with that became a teacher, they retired in their mid 50s, live in a mcmansion, and drive a really nice car to the golf course several times a week.

I’ve just never seen the struggle that they are “forced”to deal with .

 

[JCSR]

It should be:
"What ARE your thoughts?"

I blame this on my teachers.

 

[actaeon277]

In my 30's, I was going to college. Months at a time I was on 12 hour shifts/7 days a week because of Furnace relines.
So I told my college professor, I may have to call off, but I didn't want to miss the hundred dollars I'd lose.
She looked at me shocked, and said "I don't make $100 for a day".
So, I asked her, how many professors are killed on the job each year.
It may have come out wrong, cause she asked what I mean.
I told her, we had worker deaths. Sometimes we could go a couple years, but then we'd catch up by having an accident that killed the entire crew.
People were burned alive, crushed to death, electrocuted, suffocated by gasses, etc.

She didn't seem to want to continue the discussion.

And no, I'm not saying you have to get a risky job to get money.
But I knew what I was signing up for, and so did she.

I had the option to get another job. I did NOT like my job for 30 years. But they paid me and had a pension. So I stayed.
She also had the option to get another job.

 

[patience0830]

Why should teachers be any different than the rest of us?

 

[woowoo2]

Why should teachers be any different than the rest of us?

Agreed,
I had a second job for 17 years.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Did not read. Did it factor in public sector benefits and retirement pensions?

 

[bwframe]

Also, another consideration. Like so many of the rest of our public servants, the teaching industry seems to be pretty top heavy in their administration?


.

 

[femurphy77]

Wouldn't it also be fair to note that a teacher in small town America probably makes less than a teacher in medium town or large town America? Don't know, asking.

 

[ditcherman]

Wouldn't it also be fair to note that a teacher in small town America probably makes less than a teacher in medium town or large town America? Don't know, asking.

I would guess it’s almost the opposite. But there could be a big difference between rural poor and rural well-off.

 

[ditcherman]

Did not read. Did it factor in public sector benefits and retirement pensions?

I think those are things of the past.
My maternal grandmother was a Purdue grad in the early 40’s, had a great teachers retirement and it’s sure not that anymore.