Elementary ed teachers are an ornery bunch

[TSD]

I just got reamed on facebook by the elementary ed army for implying elementary education is an easy degree.



A buddy of mine was complaining about people complaining about elementary ed teachers making too much money. I merely said, the market is flooded, because its not a particularly difficult degree and alot of people do it for that reason ruining it for those who really want to teach. For that sentence i got the goddamn wrath.



I dont know what education major they took that was so damn hard, but I lived with a bunch of edu majors in college and I saw what they did, and I could sleepwalk through that shit and pass. Some girl then said "Well I think information technology is easy, what did you get a degree in again?"



Thats fine, i wont get offended and bent out of shape because I know its not easy(well really i didnt find my degree difficult just because that shit came easy to me). On the otherhand I obviously struck a nerve. All I have to say about that is, if an elementary ed teacher made what I make, students at a school near you would be saying "Good morning mr. sex disease".

 

[Sir Mike of Burbs]

My Lady and a few friends are doing The education program at Elmhurst college. The test to get in is Really hard and expensive. And if you fail a certain section you have to pay and do that part all over again. as far as the classes go, it's just a ton of reading and writing. They do about 2 books a week per class. So if you're a good reader and can pay attention to a shitty novel then it's no problem I suppose. It seems the degree is more of a pain as it is hard, depending on where you go.

 

[jakobeast]

so obviously I am not a teacher, or went to kowledge, but here is my take.



If a teacher really loves what they do, it doesn't or won't matter what they are paid. I have come across a few teachers that really love what they do. They have a passion for teaching, whether it was kids or just teaching in general. The passion comes through, the thrill of enlightening brains of folks is amazing for them. It doesn't matter to them the pay, and in fact, is its own form of payment. Many times, the money comes later.

 

[BiscuitintheBasket]

Bah, IT degrees and certs are a piece of cake. I recently updated my CCNE cert while completely hung over. Get a degree in Computer Science with a Math and Theory focus. Your brain will hurt for decades. LOL.





Seriously though, the more interest you have in anything the easier it is to obtain the information and perform in class. It is as simple as that. I have never taken any stock in a degree being harder than another. Some just have more hoops to jump through or more time required, but information is information. The more you enjoy the subject the easier it is to jump those hoops and put that time in. Hell, of the 5 degrees I have, only 2 are for professional reasons, the others were for interest.





As far as teachers go, TSD, welcome to my working world in academia. Most are just as ornery if you state that a round shaped pencil is better than a hex shaped pencil. It is the nature of the business to feel that the are correct and the subject matter in everything. And more so to stop any of their infighting to go full bore against an outsider. Debate takes forever as most follow the rule of three (need to ask or be told three times before listening), and most will spend more time on a minor detail rather than the concept of the conversation. Kind of like being on a message board.

 

[TSD]

Bah, IT degrees and certs are a piece of cake. I recently updated my CCNE cert while completely hung over. Get a degree in Computer Science with a Math and Theory focus. Your brain will hurt for decades. LOL.





Seriously though, the more interest you have in anything the easier it is to obtain the information and perform in class. It is as simple as that. I have never taken any stock in a degree being harder than another. Some just have more hoops to jump through or more time required, but information is information. The more you enjoy the subject the easier it is to jump those hoops and put that time in. Hell, of the 5 degrees I have, only 2 are for professional reasons, the others were for interest.





As far as teachers go, TSD, welcome to my working world in academia. Most are just as ornery if you state that a round shaped pencil is better than a hex shaped pencil. It is the nature of the business to feel that the are correct and the subject matter in everything. And more so to stop any of their infighting to go full bore against an outsider. Debate takes forever as most follow the rule of three (need to ask or be told three times before listening), and most will spend more time on a minor detail rather than the concept of the conversation. Kind of like being on a message board.

I completely agree with you. I got an IST degree because I am horrible at math and couldnt hack it in CS. I am sure if I wanted to put fourth the effort I could have but I didnt. If someone tells me my degree is easy, wtf do I care? Although I ended up getting a job that normally requires a CS degree. My degree was more geared toward Networking/Systems Admin, but I couldnt find a job in that field and I ended up being a software developer. I can do that, but found the math portion of CS too freaking annoying. I never saw the point to it as there really isnt any advanced math involved in what I do, its more abstract logic.



In these conversation I eventually yielded and said fine, your degree is hard. Then ended on a bit of humor saying "now college professors on the other hand...". And jesus mary and joseph, they came out of the woodwork and attacked me for that, writing a page on what it takes to become a college professor. I informed them that was a joke and they were not amused.



this one particular girl was being a complete ****, I wanted to tear her a new rectum, but this was in my friends wall post and i didnt want to piss him off.



All I have to say, is I hope that isnt what they teach their children, when someone has a differing opinion, berate them and throw personal insults until they agree with you. I just dont understand why they care so much what others think, if they like what they do.



They do need to quit whining about not getting paid enough though. Become a highschool teacher then, they make decent money. Until something is done to limit the number of elementary ed teachers entering the market, it isnt going to change. The only thing I can see done to do that, is to make it harder to become one.

 

[winos5]

Those that can, do.

Those that can't, teach.

Those that can't teach go into politics.

 

[MassHavoc]

Those that can, do.

Those that can't, teach.

Those that can't teach go into politics.

Damn, you beat me to it.

 

[genefoley]

My roommate is a special ed major at ISU where education is probably its claim to fame and the amount of effort needed and the difficulty of his work is a joke. You could pull a kid out of high school and they could do the exact same work. Not sure if it is a reflection on the school or him as a person but it seems like it is a really easy major.

 

[winos5]

I don't have the patience to teach. I'm sure I'd go postal within a few days.

 

[Pez68]

So my daughter is getting ready to go into high school in the fall. Did the tour of the school, and several of the teachers there, I actually attended high school with. Let's just say... they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Basically C students, and that's not even in the honors program. Just general population. A couple of my sister's friends are getting education degrees, and they are the reason the blond stereotype exists. IMO of course.



Based on that, I'd say getting an education degree is no difficult task.

 

[TSD]

So my daughter is getting ready to go into high school in the fall. Did the tour of the school, and several of the teachers there, I actually attended high school with. Let's just say... they weren't the sharpest tools in the shed. Basically C students, and that's not even in the honors program. Just general population. A couple of my sister's friends are getting education degrees, and they are the reason the blond stereotype exists. IMO of course.



Based on that, I'd say getting an education degree is no difficult task.

thats funny, because that is what I wanted to say to my friend when he said "education isnt easy". I really wanted to say "well you passed didn't you?". If anyone would have suggested he would be a teacher when we were younger, I would have laughed, he probably would have laughed. He is so the type to pick something because its easy. Now hes crying because he cant find a job and teachers get paid shit. I merely tried to explain why that was and get my head bitten off.



I mean seriously, maybe i am wrong, maybe my perceptions are way off. But seriously, why are there SO many freaking elementary/middle school teachers out there? I find it incredibly hard to believe that many people simply "love" teaching. I think far more of them love the idea of every state/federal holiday off, christmas vacation, spring break, and all summer off, they want that and want to get paid 50k a year for it starting out, **** them.

 

[Pez68]

thats funny, because that is what I wanted to say to my friend when he said "education isnt easy". I really wanted to say "well you passed didn't you?". If anyone would have suggested he would be a teacher when we were younger, I would have laughed, he probably would have laughed. He is so the type to pick something because its easy. Now hes crying because he cant find a job and teachers get paid shit. I merely tried to explain why that was and get my head bitten off.



I mean seriously, maybe i am wrong, maybe my perceptions are way off. But seriously, why are there SO many freaking elementary/middle school teachers out there? I find it incredibly hard to believe that many people simply "love" teaching. I think far more of them love the idea of every state/federal holiday off, christmas vacation, spring break, and all summer off, they want that and want to get paid 50k a year for it starting out, **** them.

Ding! We have a winner! There are good teachers out there though, don't get me wrong.

 

[Ymono37]

Seems like there's a couple different "discussions" in this thread. Personally, I can't blame anyone for getting their feathers ruffled when someone seemingly slams their chosen profession... why wouldn't someone get upset about that?



Having known (and still do) many a teacher, I can say that none I know chose it because it was "easy" educationally speaking. With that said, of those I know who aren't the brightest bulbs (and there were really only a couple - most are pretty smart) still did muddle their way through without much trouble. While I did contemplate going that route once, I decided not to and not because it wasn't challenging, but because there were a host of hoops to jump through that didn't make sense to me.



I think the issue comes up when people think what teachers do on a day-to-day basis (after securing a job) is easy. It's not and often teachers buy supplies with their own money (yes, even in the suburbs), go in early, work late, work weekends at home and a day off for the kids isn't necessarily a day off for the faculty. Add-in that every parent thinks their precious little asshole can do no wrong and Administrators with agendas and it's a lot to deal with. Most teachers I know are pretty stressed out and stretched to their limit but are happy to do it because they love working with the kids. I had a friend of mine the other day tell me that when she was in school she always worried it would be the kids that would make her slowly hate her job. She told me nowadays it's the kids that actually make it fun, it's the Administrators that make it occasionally intolerable.



And I realize the paragraph above isn't exactly what TSD is getting at, but when you have a stressed out group as it is... it makes sense to me that they'd be a little touchy when it looks like someone is attacking their job - as it's that kind of mentality that drives politicians/parents to cut funding to education.

 

[MassHavoc]

As with any degree it is as hard as you want to make it, there is the really high end, like my former roommate who did double major Elementary Ed and Special Ed with some weird concentration. And then their were some of her friends who were getting an elementary Ed degree and I'm not sure how they stayed in school, not just because of their smarts but because of their partying and such. And this is coming from a Com major. Your going to have a lot of high end teachers out there that deserve a lot of things and have worked hard for it. But to often than that there are a lot of people that just want more for doing less. And that's with any profession. The corruption and the money grab all over the state is equally as harmful to the rising debt as any economic factor. The fact is that for years and years and years people have demanded more, while doing less. Hell even I don't think I'm worth what I get paid at my current job. But I'm happy with what I got. Teachers complain about 30k average salaries, because they start in the low end because most of them are not good and there is a high turnover rate. But it's all dependent on location, tenure and education/experience. In some states after 10 years the starting salary is doubled. You don't get into teaching for the money. I believe in paying them, and I believe the education system is the most important foundation of the nation, but you don't get into it for the money. It's just not there. You work 6 hours a day for 9 months with all the federal holidays and decent enough benefits. I'm sure your hourly rate for the year is actually quite decent when you factor it out compared to the other professions. You want a pay raise, do your job, educate the kids better to turn the country around and not be such self-centered egotistical cocksuckers who are all about themselves.