# With profuse apologies to all those connected to teaching



## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

I was sent this recently and thought you should all be aware of why the present Government wants to ring-fence education (as they cut University funding);

Aren't you sick of all those high paid teachers?

Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work nine or ten months a year!

It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do...baby-sit!

We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. I would give them £3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly

planning time.. 

That would be a day (7:45 AM to 4:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch).

Each parent should pay £19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. 

Now, how many do they teach in a day... maybe 30? 

So that's 19.50 X 30 = £585.00 a day.

However, remember they only work 180 days a year!

I am not going to pay them for any holidays.

Let's see . . that's £585 x 180 = £105,300 per year.

(Hold on! .. My calculator must need batteries!)

What about those special teachers and the ones with Master's degrees?

Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair, £5.52 an hour.

That would be £5.52 times 6.5 hours times 30 children times 180 days = £193,752.00 per year.

Wait a minute, there is something wrong here! .....There sure is, duh!

Make a teacher smile; send this to someone who appreciates teachers!

(Average teacher salary £21,000/180 days = £116.66 per day

/30 students = £3.88

/ 6.5 hours = £0.59 per hour per student.)

Very inexpensive babysitter, and they even educate your kids!

Crazy, eh!


Obviously sums are difficult for the Government to understand! 8O 

I have to declare an interest as a paid baby-sitter for youngsters aged 9 - 19. (And one who really loves working with youngsters! I consider it the best job that exists - youngsters are such fun to work with, they are not cynical or biased in how they approach things!) :lol: 

Go on, hug a teacher!  
Dave


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

You know what they say:

_ If you can read this, thank a teacher _

G


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

Just could not resist, error in line one. Must try harder. "Aren't you sick of all those high paid teachers"?

Highly, Alan.


----------



## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

ernieboy said:


> Must try harder.


I would just like to point out Alan, the importance of the need for the careful reading of posts;

I believe that I posted;



Penquin said:


> I was sent this recently


I do not claim ownership, or authorship of the content - it was sent to me by someone else.

If I had changed it I would have had to claim at least partial editorial ownership, which I do not,

so your



ernieboy said:


> Must try harder.


could well be applied to the person who originally wrote it, whoever that might be (and it appears to have been around for a little while).

Perhaps, it could be applied to me, - I am always happy to have my failings pointed out to me since I NEVER profess to be totally accurate as regards typing - that is not one of my skills, although I have to use it more and more now.

But thank you for pointing out that you have at least read it fairly carefully!

Dave :lol:

(no offence taken or intended for your contribution of course!  )

PS I teach biology anyway! (Although we all try to correct mistakes in English where they occur - provided it is not to the detriment of the confidence of the person who produced the work - hence RED  is not used a great deal for student marking)


----------



## Manchego (Sep 26, 2009)

Don't they also say, those who can do, those who can't teach !.


----------



## olley (May 1, 2005)

Those that can't teach go into politics.

Olley


----------



## Caggsie (Aug 19, 2008)

I'm in FE, I'd go for that !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Karen


----------



## erneboy (Feb 8, 2007)

erneboy said:


> Just could not resist, error in line one. Must try harder. "Aren't you sick of all those high paid teachers"?
> Highly, Alan.


I said nothing about authorship, nor did I specify who should try harder. Actually I was making a joke, Alan.


----------



## DTPCHEMICALS (Jul 24, 2006)

olley said:


> Those that can't teach go into politics.
> 
> Olley


And they screw up in that.

Dave p


----------



## richardjames (Feb 1, 2006)

Penquin - Will you kindly explain 'work only 9 or 10 months a year!!!!'
Have any first hand experience of thirty plus children in a classroom and trying to impart a subject? When do think teachers keep up-to-date with their subject?
The trouble with the general public they only see teachers doing a 9am to 3.30pm job with 12 week's 'holiday' What 12 weeks holiday.
What the general public forgets is that if the job is so 'good' they only have to train for up to 4years with a grade one or two pass and they can enjoy the so called benefits.
For over thirty years I have been the subject of this narrow minded attitude toward teachers.
I have now retired from teaching and would not go back to all the extra work and pressure that is demanded of teachers. THEY EARN EVERY PENNY THEY GET.
I'm sorry Penquin but you have hit a raw nerve


----------



## carolgavin (May 9, 2005)

richardjames said:


> Penquin - Will you kindly explain 'work only 9 or 10 months a year!!!!'
> Have any first hand experience of thirty plus children in a classroom and trying to impart a subject? When do think teachers keep up-to-date with their subject?
> The trouble with the general public they only see teachers doing a 9am to 3.30pm job with 12 week's 'holiday' What 12 weeks holiday.
> What the general public forgets is that if the job is so 'good' they only have to train for up to 4years with a grade one or two pass and they can enjoy the so called benefits.
> ...


Erm hunny the most lovely Penquin *is* a teacher. This is what he said in his second post.



> PS I teach biology anyway


----------



## richardjames (Feb 1, 2006)

Carolgavin - thank you for your input but my target was not necessarily aimed at Penquin, just the article, but basically at the narrow minded public who see teaching as an easy number.
I appologise for sounding off butyou, being a teacher, will know the feeling


----------



## carolgavin (May 9, 2005)

richardjames said:


> Carolgavin - thank you for your input but my target was not necessarily aimed at Penquin, just the article, but basically at the narrow minded public who see teaching as an easy number.
> I appologise for sounding off butyou, being a teacher, will know the feeling


Oh sorry Richardjames I misunderstood, sorry about that. 
I am not a teacher though but quoted Penquin who is I am actually a scientist for my sins. It was my rubbish quote that caused that one.

Wanna start again :lol: :lol: :lol:

PS My sister is a teacher and she goes nuts when my other sister talks about her 'part time job'


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

richardjames said:


> I appologise for sounding off butyou, being a teacher, will know the feeling


I'm a teacher ( retired/ secondary/science) and I saw penquin's contribution as rather a clever rebuttal of the thoughtless statements of teacher-knockers.

G


----------



## Tezmcd (Aug 3, 2009)

I'm not knocking teachers for one second

But applying the same principals to my job should make me earn several billion a year

And as for the stewards at your local football match - well they should be paid more than the premiership players!


----------



## Grizzly (May 9, 2005)

Tezmcd said:


> But applying the same principals to my job should make me earn several billion a year


Well it was in the _Jokes and Trivia _ section so perhaps was not intended to be taken entirely seriously.
:wink:

G


----------



## Tezmcd (Aug 3, 2009)

Grizzly said:


> Tezmcd said:
> 
> 
> > But applying the same principals to my job should make me earn several billion a year
> ...


Nor was my reply


----------



## MrsW (Feb 8, 2009)

richardjames said:


> Penquin - Will you kindly explain 'work only 9 or 10 months a year!!!!'
> Have any first hand experience of thirty plus children in a classroom and trying to impart a subject? When do think teachers keep up-to-date with their subject?
> The trouble with the general public they only see teachers doing a 9am to 3.30pm job with 12 week's 'holiday' What 12 weeks holiday.
> What the general public forgets is that if the job is so 'good' they only have to train for up to 4years with a grade one or two pass and they can enjoy the so called benefits.
> ...


Oh crumbs! Get off your high horse Richard and read all his post and you will see he is a teacher, now in his 36th year of very loyal service. And the joke, JOKE was sent to him by....my sister, herself a teacher!! :roll:

We both read this as an "anti-knocking teachers" post and nothing to get any teachers blood pressure going sky high, especially as all these part-time workers are about to start their long-overdue holidays!! :lol: :lol:


----------



## Penquin (Oct 15, 2007)

To richardjames,

thank you for your comments, I also get micturated off at the frequent teacher-bashing that takes place.

BUT I do not see it often on MHF !

Perhaps that is because a great many MH users and owners are teachers or former teachers and we KNOW what is involved.

YES it was put in the Jokes and Trivia section and YES it was intended as a counter to those common views about the 9 - 3.30 (with lunch) and NO I did not write it! I think writing such a thing requires a sensitivity and finesse which I am certain I do not have!

I have not taken offence in any way! I am just looking forward to only 4 more terms before I too, can relax a little more without life being dictated by the ever-dreaded bells.

Do I enjoy teaching? YES - as I said at the end of the original post;



Penquin said:


> I consider it the best job that exists - youngsters are such fun to work with, they are not cynical or biased in how they approach things


Do I like the salary? Not particularly when I compare it with other professionals who have worked for as many years and earn three times what I earn, or my daughter who as a newly-qualified GP earned more in her first year as a Doctor than I currently earn.........

Would I recommend anyone to go into teaching ? YES without any reservations - my eldest daughter is a deputy headteacher and my youngest a secondary modern languages specialist teacher. They must have picked up the sheer love that I have for what I do (warts and all).

Sadly teachers have had an impossible workload put on them by successive Governments who simply do not trust us. Perhaps that is because we do "what it says on the can" and have not been caught with fingers in the expense claim fiddles, the overseas travel claims, the second homes and so on. Politicians probably cannot comprehend how such a group of stalwart workers can not have a hidden agenda!

Still I had better close since I have 15 A2 written ISA assessments to mark before the end of term, including the detailed statistics analysis which has to be checked, the papers marked and then re-marked by another teacher within the department before they can be moderated. But of course we do not get paid for doing that - even though public examination fees keep on rising and we are doing a significant part of their work for them.

Feel free to come back at me, but then perhaps others reading this will consider my very last comment on the original (remember it is a Joke) post;



Penquin said:


> Go on, hug a teacher!


Dave


----------



## richardjames (Feb 1, 2006)

It really makes me angry when I read articles knocking hard working teachers, yes there are users of the system, as with any job. Teaching has gone beyond the task of imparting knowledge, my wife, who still teaches, works many hours into the night 'doing' the paperwork. She tried to retire but because of the shortage of teachers in her particular field the county offices begged her to continue albeit part time she still loves teaching - it's all the other aspects she hates 8O 
No MrsW I am not on my high horse I was just reacting to the article as already explained


----------



## moblee (Dec 31, 2006)

> Go on, hug a teacher!


I do everyday :!: My wife is a primary school teacher,someday's she comes home knackered  by the sheer amount of work she has to do.
But she loves the Job & the children love her.
I understand the context of Penquins post & see it as Humour.....
Also the school holidays are more for the children...Really.


----------



## geraldandannie (Jun 4, 2006)

The lovely Annie was a teacher for a lot of years, primary schools, and rose to the position (or was pushed into it) of deputy head of a huge school. She hated the huge pressure and stress the job brought with it.

For the last couple of years, she stepped down, and did PPA supply teaching. She loved getting back into the classroom, and interacting with the children again.

When I started working in schools, people used to ask me why I didn't train to be a teacher, so we could have the same holidays (I worked most of the school holidays updating and installing new equipment). When I saw how much work was involved planning, preparing, recording, and marking, I laughed. The holidays we could work around, but there was no way I would move from a stressful job in industry to then take on another stressful job in education.

Critics of teaching (and, thankfully, there have been none on this thread) would do well to shadow a teacher for a week, and see what they have to do. Standing in front of a class is the bit they love, but there is so much more to being a teacher these days.

They all have my utmost respect.

Gerald


----------



## mandyandandy (Oct 1, 2006)

All I want to add is 

a. I would never want to be a Teacher - 

b. It just goes to prove many of the points made on the do you take offence thread, ones persons humour (even when done in support of teachers) is another's sore point. 

Good luck to all you teachers, I pity you especially having to take your holidays when you do. 

Mandy


----------



## locovan (Oct 17, 2007)

Teachers work very hard.
I wouldnt like to handle a class of 40+ of todays youngsters

http://www.bls.gov/k12/help01.htm

I know this is the USA but it is the same the world over

Teachers like to see children learn. But sometimes teaching lots of students can be stressful. Teachers also have to deal with children who misbehave and its this part that I do not envy and they are worth every penny.

With the Motorhome Rallies I have stayed at many schools so I have seen the hours they work and even at the weekend they are back at the school as there are so many out of school hours activities.
Bless them all :wink:


----------



## THEPOET (May 1, 2007)

Crikey....when I first started to read the post, my blood started to boil....then i read further and started to smile. Good self depreciating joke.

If that calculation was used, Fi would be a billionaire and would not have to work anyway.

She is a Teacher at a private Prep school, she works a 10+hour day every weekday, constantly having to cover, etc etc etc. A few days before the end of the summer 09 term, (she taught PE/Games, English and French) she was informed that from the Sep she would be teaching PE/Games, History and Geography. She had no previous experience of teaching those subjects. She duly crammed during 'the holidays' and started to teach in Sept, basically running to keep ahead of the pupils. Three weeks into the term, she was informed that she was not goint ot continue with History and Geog, but teach RS/RE ! She then had 10 days in which to learn RS whilst still teaching her other subjects before going live with RS. Into the bargain she has upward of 200 end term reports to write various marks to be input to different computer databases, take teams to away matches, etc etc etc. 

I was one of those that thought Teachers had a cushy life...no longer.

PS, by the way just because the parents can afford to send their children to a private school does not mean that the children are any brainier. I have seen some of the work and it is atroshus.. atro..BAD  

Pete


----------

