Are teachers really overworked and underpaid?

Question

Are teachers really overworked and underpaid?

Answer 1

As a school teacher I definately say yes,

we don't just teach the 8 hour day to the students,

we have to completely plan out for everything we're going to do during the day, and then grade everything that gets done, we have to plan invdividualized programs for some students...I was working 14 hour days sometimes as a first year teacher....for 28k a year for a college level job...I'd definately call that overworked/underpaid.

Oh and not to mention good luck getting a full time job, they try and tell you how much they need teachers...they really don't

Answer 2

not exactly, teachers get to decide how much efford they want to put into teaching the class. and yes they are underpaid

Answer 3

The correct answer to this question is that some are and some aren't.  Some teachers work 14 hours a day, and some work 5.  My guess is that anyone who went through high school will have had some of both, although there aren't as many 14 hours per day people as there are teachers who post about what they deserve on yahoo.

Answer 4

I am a recent graduate and I am lucky to have found a job teaching a month into it. Teachers are underpaid and overworked. There is so much that we have to do that no one else knows and thinks "oh they don't do anything they just have to show up and teach." That's not true at all. We have to create weekly lesson plans that need to be turned in, create activities for students so that it doesn't get boring all the time, grade papers, attend professional development meetings, go to workshops, deal with parents, testing, differentiated instruction, parents, etc.

"Teaching is the profession that teaches all other professions" by Anonymous

That's my favorite quote. Teaching is one of the most important careers and yet we are underpaid, unappreciated, and overworked!

Answer 5

ASK YOUR TEACHER ITSELF!!!

Answer 6

No.

But they are UNDERVALUED and UNDERAPPRECIATED.

And that sometimes makes them feel overworked and underpaid.

Answer 7

sometimes they're overworked, it depends on the people they have to teach. in Wales they are on strike cause they get paid the same amount of money even after inflation!

Answer 8

My work is mentally, not physically draining. I am quite passionate about my subject area, Business. I am not responsible for state mandated tests. I am allowed to be creative and "think outside the box." I can't wait to go to work each day. In the summertime, I think about or plan my future lessons.

I MAY NOT BE RICH!! However, I am not underpaid. Perhaps, because my pay includes 13 years and 5 college degrees.

I am lucky enough to work in a school division which pays the most in the area. Plus, we get paid semi-monthly.

Teachers who are honest with themselves will help me to swash these misconceptions. I.E. There are too many career switchers who supposedly "took a paycut" to teach. I can name 3 friends who got one heck of a raise!

Answer 9

Speaking for myself: YES!  I'm a 1/2-day teacher by choice, but with all the professional development courses that I am required to take on my own time (that usually means during the summer), after and before school faculty meetings, evening grading and electronic posting of grades and lesson plans, I probably work a 50 hour week.

Answer 10

uhh yeah especially highschool teachers...having a kid like me in a class cant be fun for them.

Answer 11

Yes.

Answer 12

yes! this modernize ages, mostly ppl dislike being teachers coz low salaries, extra time without o.t. n many more reasons! so the schools or teaching centres should be happy n humble that there sum ppl who willing to work as teacher! like me for example, i work as a teacher in a private teaching centre but my boss treats me like nothing! she keep on saying me n nothing bout me that is good comes from her mouth! after a few months working thr, she started a new system! a system that will cut the teachers' salaries when we do a 3 times mistakes every month without giving us any chance to restore our mistakes! i hate her! n when i find a better place to work, i will leave that company happily! so for the boss of teaching centres or schools, care more bout ur teachers! u will lose the perfect teachers!

Answer 13

More importantly, teachers are UNDERAPPRECIATED.  I have been teaching for 2 years now.  My first year I spent over 50 hours a week at school.  I had no text book (and I teach math), had to buy my own supplies, run my own copies, the whole nine yards.  I would even spend hours at school on Sunday afternoons so that I could get my copies run and have all my lesson plans prepared.  I am now at a new school and coaching as well.  I have a text book now, thank goodness!  Coaching takes up extra time, but I get a stipend for each sport, and I get a stipend for teaching math.  As far as underpaid goes, I think that anyone who knew my salary would definitely say that I am not underpaid.  I know that everyone thinks teachers just spend the whole summer laying around the house . . . not true at all!  I have traveled for a teacher's conference where I spent three days learning new things to do with my students and spent another day at a workshop making and preparing lessons and activities that will be engaging and hold my students' interest.  I had to attend a week long class on how to drive a school bus since my district has decided that coaches don't already have enough responsibilities.  With that, I have spent several hours at the DMV waiting in line to take a test to get my CDL, and I'm not done, I still have 4 more tests to take.  That might not be so bad if the district would at least offer to pay for the license instead of making us foot the bill.  I am getting reay to start organizing and writing lesson plans because we are not given an opportunity to do this during the staff development week.  

So, with all that said, I really love my job and all that I do.  I feel very well paid and live comfortably (especially since I am young and still live with mom and dad).  Teachers are not necessarily overworked, they just take their jobs very seriously and CARE about their students and want them to be SUCCESSFUL.  Yes, teachers do spend a lot of time at home and on the weekends doing work (except for those who don't care and are just getting by), but it is only because they want the best for their students.  If parents really understood this and appreciated that fact, there might be fewer discipline problems in schools because the parents would be willing to back the teacher and take care of their kid.

Answer 14

Most of the time, people think that way. But talking as a teacher, still there are that majority who are not complaining about their condition. They are happy in serving their vocation because teaching is a calling.