What You Need to Know about Teachers and the Profession
cartoon by Bruce Plante
The Misconceptions and Realities
Recently, a right wing blogger and Twitter user slammed teachers for being pampered, dumb, and over-paid. As usual, she didn’t have much to support her claims. It was based on age-old beliefs of today’s teachers (both public and private). These rehashed accusations state teachers are:
- often at the bottom of their high school or college class;
- not able to make it in the “real world”;
- have political agendas (a popular belief among the ideological right wingers); and
- have an easy, secure job with a lot of vacation time.
These misunderstandings have led to several myths.
Also, when it comes to critiquing teachers, their unions are thrown in for good measure. They, the teachers union, are perceived by many (left, right or apolitical) as being too powerful, or blocking educational reform.
These misunderstandings have led to several myths. They are:
- Teachers lace real world experience;
- Those who can’t, teach;
- Anyone write a degree can teach;
- Districts fire good teachers, keep the bad one;
- Teachers are overpaid;
- Teacher unions are all-powerful;
- All teachers are “liberals, commies, and socialists; and
- You can’t fire tenured teachers.
While some are outright lies, others are either partially true or totally misrepresented or vague. The myths listed are only a few that have cropped up over years. In many cases, it is important to clarify what they are and what the realities really state.
Teachers Lack Real World Experience
Reality: Most teachers have had careers prior to teaching. This includes the military, law enforcement, and the private sector. Many of them had different reasons for becoming teachers.
One former police officer wanted a fulfilling job in which he could prevent youths from entering a life of crime. A former lawyer expressed her distaste for her previous profession and wanted to do something positive.
Some teachers have second jobs. Many own private tutoring companies or manage restaurants in their spare time. Others have invested in real estate, which has supplemented their income, handsomely.
Those Who Can't, Teach
Reality: Again, teachers came from various backgrounds before they started teaching. Also, many were valedictorians at their high schools or colleges. In some cases, they were ranked Number #1 in their class.
Also, public school teachers need to complete a four-year degree plus additional year to complete a preliminary credential, and then another year (usually to be taken five years after the prelim) for a clear credential (usually to be taken five years after the prelim). In some cases, it takes a few additional years, depending on the credential or subject matter.
Originally posted at dobienews.scuc.txed.net
In order to get the credentials to be a teacher, they must enroll in a school of education at the university level. This means they have to go through the procedure of:
- taking entrance exams,
- have a GPA above 2.5 (3.0-3.5 at the selective university programs), and
- demonstrate competency in the subject they wish to teach.
As for the argument that most teachers are “failures' ' in life, here are a few examples of people who started as teachers:
- President Lyndon B. Johnson, who was a public school teacher from Houston, Texas before entering politics.
- Stephen King and S.E Hinton (author of The Outsiders);
- Musicians Sting and Sheryl Crow;
- President Woodrow Wilson (Princeton University president before entering politics),
- President Barack Obama (professor of law), and
- Elizabeth Warren, United States senator
Anyone with an Advanced Degree Can Teach
Reality: Not Quite. An event in Southern California in the 1990s disproved this notion. Aerospace firms were closing down. Most were struggling or leaving the state. As a result, many engineers were laid off.
This came at a time when there was a shortage of math and science teachers. With an ease of state teacher licensing regulations and with federal support, many of these laid-off engineers were quickly snatched up by local school districts, hastily trained, and placed in a classroom.
What was the result? Many of them didn’t last a year. Many administrators from these districts were not impressed either. In one case, a school district official called them the “worst group of teachers” she had ever had to deal with it.
The reasons for their failures were immense; however, the biggest problem was communication. Many didn’t know how to transpose their knowledge to school age kids. Others had no clue about discipline and didn’t know how to handle a classroom. In the end, the experiment didn’t last long.
With the exception of a few these people, many didn’t finish the year. Some quit within a few days of starting their new profession.
Districts Fire Good Teachers, Keep the Bad Ones
Reality: Some districts may do this, but many don’t do this intentionally. Until recently, one of the biggest problems in teaching has been retention. Simply put, many teachers either quit or get non-rehired within the first five years. And the reasons vary. Some teachers quit because they realize that being an educator is not all that it was cracked out to be. Others move on to other professions or school districts that may have better pay. Also, there are the bad seeds – that is, teachers who lack professionalism, discipline in the classroom, or work ethics (i.e. being observed not teaching the students or following the state standards).
Some of these teachers were good and/or dedicated, others simply didn’t fit. They didn’t know how to work with students, and they didn’t know how to work with faculty and staff. If a teacher is bad, word will spread by either the teachers next door to them, by the students, or through the classified staff.
Still, there are effective teachers who have been let go. The current problem has been the ongoing funding crisis (at least in California). Public funds have been dwindling due to the state’s housing crisis. As a result, school districts have had to operate with very little. Also, new and veteran teachers have been laid-off because the position they were teaching had been eliminated.
Teachers are Overpaid
Reality: Even after 30 years on the job, most teachers will never reach this amount. They’d have to do extra duty jobs such as afterschool tutoring, substitute teaching per period (mostly in high schools) or summer school. Another way they may get close to this is to expand their education and earn more college credits or degrees. This will move them to a different column. Also, some districts may give a stipend for a doctoral degree or a national certification.
Still, the likelihood a teacher will make more than $89, 000 per year will be based on the district they are working for, the years they put in and the extra duty assignments they amass. That is, unless, they decide to go back to school, earn an administrative credential, and become an administrator.
This amount was an arbitrary number that came out of nowhere during the protest against the ban on collective bargaining for Wisconsin’s public employees. Unfortunately, it had spread throughout the Internet and among socially conservative groups.
The Teacher's Union are Very Powerful
Reality: If the union is so powerful, why are teachers losing their jobs at an alarming rate? Also, if this is true – especially in the state of California -- why is funding for education so low when compared to the money going toward the state’s correctional system?
In truth, the economy and politics do more to dictate what is being taught in the classroom and how schools are staffed. The union’s primary jobs to protect its members from unfair practices and to ensure students have enough teachers to help them academically.
The teacher’s union is not a perfect system. It has been wrought by controversy and has been involved in tactics that were counter-productive. On the other hand, they have advocated for better working condition, protection against unfair labor practices, and better tactics to teach students.
All Teachers are Liberals, Commies, and Socialists!
Reality: They come from every part of the political spectrum. Many are moderates or centrists, while others have very strong ideological views that put them on the extreme ends. In a recent edition, California Educator – a magazine published by the California Teachers Association (CTA), it showcases several Conservative Republican members. These members had a chance to express their views, as well as their support for a tax initiative to help fund schools and prevent major cuts.
In the end, most teachers will shed political ideologies when teaching. To them the most important thing is teaching the students.
You Can't Fire Tenured Teachers
Reality: Tenure may protect teachers from being fired without reason, but it doesn’t protect them from being laid-off, removed from the class for insubordination, or fired for criminal misconduct. In some states and districts, the concept of tenure is no assurance of job protection.
First of all, one thing needs to be understood about the use of tenure. The designation serves several purposes. It was intended as a way to protect a teacher’s constitutional right to free speech. Before its designation, teachers were fired for what they were teaching rather than how they were teaching. This included such hot-button topics such as evolution, sex education, history, or literature.
...it’s hard to entice people to enter the profession these days (especially with its notorious low pay) tenure is possibly the one way to lure likely candidates to the profession
Another important role of tenure (especially for districts in large cities or urban areas) is to be an incentive to retain teachers. These schools often have high teacher turn over rates. And, considering that it’s hard to entice people to enter the profession these days (especially with its notorious low pay) tenure is possibly the one way to lure likely candidates to the profession.
Still, in the age of tenure, educators can still lose their jobs over frivolous reasons. Case in point: a veteran teacher in Texas was removed from the classroom on the suspicion of being an “atheist”. The original accusation came from a disgruntled student; however, according to reports, a school board member who had past conflicts with the teacher took up the cause of trying to get him fired.
Final Thought
The right-winger may have had a lot to say about teachers; however, her views were formed by opinion with little or no factual support. What she must realize is that teachers are people dedicated to their professions. Ideological rants will do little to change this concept. As it stands, this country will benefit by having qualified educators. But, lambasting them with myths will not serve anyone, including the students.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
© 2012 Dean Traylor
Comments
Greg Horlacher from Grand Prairie, TX on July 26, 2012:
Awesome, man! Thank you for this! I'm so frustrated with hearing these myths spouted over and over again without ANY evidence or research! You hit all the important ones, too. Right on! Imagine that I've written several more compliments with even more exclamation points because you deserve them!
iheartkafka on July 24, 2012:
Great article! Another myth: "teachers have it so easy; I mean, they get an entire summer off, not to mention all those breaks in the middle of the year!"
BlissfulWriter on July 18, 2012:
Teachers are way under appreciated. We need to support our teachers.
Brian Dooling from Connecticut on July 18, 2012:
My mother is a third grade teacher and not only did you disprove all these myths we hear about over and over, that cartoon at the top of the page is scarily accurate (minus the hair because my mom always looks professional, every day of the school year!). You wouldn't believe how many times I have gone to the store with her so she could buy supplies for her students out of her own pocket! She is not liberal by any means. She definitely doesn't make $89,000 a year. She had a job in the private sector before becoming a stay at home mom, then became a sub for years before going back to school (with 4 grammar school age kids might I add) at nights for her Masters, where she got straight A's ! I have seen her stay up a number of times correcting papers and filling out comments about standardized tests, in fact the cartoon at the top of the page with the stack of papers is exactly what she had to bring home and it's only 3rd grade!! And now I feel a rant coming on so I'll stop but thanks for this great hub (sorry for the long comment) sharing, voting up useful, awesome and definitely sharing this with my mom!
Jim Higgins from Eugene, Oregon on July 18, 2012:
I am not a teacher but started down the road to be one. This is an excellent Hub and one that deserves to be widely read. My daughter's
excellent education was in part due to her motivation and the rest to her excellent teachers.
Janine Huldie from New York, New York on July 18, 2012:
As a teacher by trade, I can tell you that all these myths are untrue and thank you writing to disprove them. Specifically in this day and age, tenure does not stipulate that you cannot lose your job in this profession anymore. I have friends who were teaching for 10+ years and tenured who were let go, because of the economy and job excesses. I also have my undergraduate degree in business management and worked in finance before working for my master's degree to become a math teacher, so you are correct in disproving myth #1 that all teacher lack real world experience if you just go by my story alone. Thank you again for this truly informative hub article. Have voted up and shared too.
Donna Hilbrandt from Upstate New York on July 18, 2012:
Thank you for writing on this topic. We teachers need all the positive press we can get! I don't know where these critics come up with their talking points sometimes. In NY, a master's degree is required to teach in public schools. We go through rigorous state exams and a student teaching internship before we can take on a teaching job. I don't know any teachers who graduated at the bottom of their class. And the myth about pay had me rolling on the floor laughing! I would just like to note that even working summer school, advising 2 afterschool clubs, and taking on as many after school detention duties that I could get my hands on, I will come nowhere near $89,000 this year, and I have been teaching for 8 years. Voted up and shared.
Krystal from Los Angeles on July 18, 2012:
This was a topic very intimate to me and I felt that you really brought some good points to light. It is a hard and beautiful profession to those that love it. We seem to be in a world that wants to make it EVEN more challenging! I voted up and certainly shared this.
Howard Schneider from Parsippany, New Jersey on July 18, 2012:
Teachers are, in my mind, the finest and most noble civil servants in our country. They are marvelously dedicated to educating our youth and deserve nothing but our thanks. The Right Wing in this nation has gone off the rails on this subject and many others. After all, they have become the anti-science and anti-government group. Great Hub, Dean.
