Why do teacher's editions of text books have the answers in the back?

Question

Aren't they supposed to know the answers?

Answer 1

teachers are lazy b*ggers  

Answer 2

The people who suggest that its for us to check our answers have no idea what we do.

Most of us have masters degrees in our subjects btw.

How long would it take you to correct 1 paper of say 20 math  problems? a minute? perhaps you might check the work they show on each one? 3 minutes? I have a load of 160 students. going with the smallest number thats over 2 and a half hours every time I assign something.

They do it so we can check the work quickly - its all in one place, and we dont have to make answer keys every night prior to our 2 and a half hours.

Answer 3

Hahahahah.  Great question.  Maybe it is just to make sure they do actually know if the answer they got is correct.

Answer 4

Teachers know the answers, but the answers are provided to save us time...especially when grading papers.  Think about it, if the teachers didn't teach the material to you properly, your answers wouldn't match the answers in their answer guide.  

So, it's not because they can't do it or because they are lazy, it's so that we have extra time to finish grading your papers, contacting parents, planning cool lessons, dealing with tons of administrative paperwork, and making sure all is well in the universe that is the classroom.

Answer 5

First, not ALL teacher's editions of text books have the answers in the back. I teach psychology. My "teacher's" edition MAY have some tips or exercises with them, but for the most part, my books look exactly like yours. Most social science and history books don't come with "answers".

Second, as many others have said, math and science teachers have a TON of homework to assign and grade. Without these shortcuts, these teachers would never dig themselves out from the mountain of papers that need to be corrected and returned in a timely manner.

Third, it is OBVIOUS they know the material, especially lower levels. If they didn't, then they wouldn't be teaching. Teachers need to not only have college educations, but pass many tests to earn the certifications to not only be a teacher in general, but also for the subject matter that they are teaching.

Students often have not a clue what it takes to not only become a teacher, but to stay a teacher. If it were so easy, why do so many quit within the first 5 years? Here's a little quote for you: "A study conducted by the National Education Association offers staggering statistics: Roughly 50 percent of new teachers quit the profession within five years. Particularly in the struggling schools that need them most, new teachers are less likely to stay on due to poor working conditions, low pay, and high-stress environments."

Bottom line: We know the answers. We just need some help juggling everything because we're human.  

Answer 6

Yes, they should and the school usually checks, but just to make it a "quick check" on a test or piece of homework that a student hands in, they have the answers in the back!

Answer 7

Not really.  My sister in law is a teacher in High School, she asked me, "Does Thanksgiving fall on a Friday or Thursday this year?"  Idiot.

Answer 8

Have you actually seen some teacher's editions? Some of the questions that thy ask the students are extremely hard to figure out because you weren't the one to come up with the question. I look at the answer so that i can help the student come up with the answer. Sometimes I come up with an easier question than the book did because their question didn't make sense.

Answer 9

The teacher editions usually have the answers on the back because that way they don't have to actually do the difficult problem. They could be wrong so they could go back to check if their own answer it right.

Answer 10

Not really. They're still human beings and can make mistakes or may not know for sure.

Answer 11

People are human and can make mistakes, teachers are no different, it's to make sure they know the answer is perfect.

Also, they know the subject matter, not every intricate little detail. Just because you know algebra and geometry doesn't mean you memorize the pythagorean theorem for the h**l of it.

Answer 12

Teachers have a lot more going on than you know about - and when we have to correct dozens to hundreds of papers each night on our own time, having a teacher's manual to compare your answers to makes it go a lot faster.  If we had to go through all the analysis (which we've already done, many times), especially for upper work, on every single paper, we'd never be able to do anything but grade.

We plan your lessons, teach your classes, find ways to help those who just aren't getting it, handle disciplinary problems, grade your papers, handle administrative stuff, and oh yeah, have lives and families.  Those answers in the back aren't because we don't know the material, they're there to keep us sane.