When people think about teachers, they think of only 9 months of school and summers off. They think about how “easy” they think the job would be. Well, teaching is not the easy job that most people think it is. Teachers go through many stresses and overload throughout the school year. From grading assignments and tests to planning lessons, it takes up a lot of their time outside of school.
A normal 9-5 job does not consist of the amount of work that teachers have to do outside of their contract hours. “When I go home, I usually grade for mauve two to three hours. Some nights, potentially more,” said teacher Mr. Buckley. Teachers do not get paid for the hours they put in outside of school grading. When the school day lasts from 7:45 to 3:15, that 2-3 hours can make their workday last up to 10 hours, but not getting compensated for 3 of those hours.
Teachers also struggle to balance their social and family lives due to the demands of their job and the responsibilities they have to their students. The weekends are the only time that they are able to do things not related to school, but even then, not often. “It can be really hard on weekdays,” said teacher Ms. Cooper. This causes friendships to be tough to create and maintain. Teachers’ lives are tied to the school.
Teachers also can’t miss their job as much as other jobs can. Teachers can’t take a vacation during the school year because of how much they need to be there. This messes up their lesson planning and forces the students to learn with a substitute teacher. Everyone knows that when substitute teachers are there, students do not learn as well, if at all. Teachers usually have to battle through sicknesses as well to make sure they don’t miss days. Some even have to battle through family issues as well. This all just unfortunately comes with the job. These stresses are the reason that 50% of people who graduate from college planning on being a teacher end up getting another job. “I just can’t take a day off when I really want to,” said Mr. Buckley.
Teachers who coach have even less time. “I was probably working 11 to 12-hour days, at least especially during football season . . . it takes over your life when you’re in a sport,” said teacher Mr. Klemm. Teachers already have little to no free time, so when they are in a sport, they have even less. Coaches are also held to standards to win and perform as a coach as well. This makes it even harder for teachers to be there for their families and friends even more.
On top of all of this, teachers don’t get paid that much either. The average starting salary for a teacher is only $46,000. So with all of these stresses and overloads that get put on to teachers and especially the ones that coach, they do not compensated enough for their work at all. This is an actual problem in this country. As teachers are struggling to pay off their student debt, as those prices are also rising.
