@JPB,
JPB wrote:
Strangely enough I used to know a few teachers who worked as flaggers during the summer. Others drove public buses as temps while the regulars were on vacations. Some teach summer school, some take the summers off, but many take on seasonal jobs during their school "vacation".
JPB mentions something I've often wondered about....
Serious question Littlek, I really don't know how it works...
For agruments sake, let's just say a teacher works 9 months out of the year.
Do they make $15.75 an hour for the approx 1500 hours that would constitute 9 months worth of work, or do they paid $15.75 an hour for the entire year, which is approx 2000 hours?
That's the difference between making $31,500 a year and $23,625 a year.
If it's the $31,500, that's like making $21 an hour, and you have 3 free months to work another job. Let's say you only worked 8 weeks of the 12 available to you, at $10/hr. Now you're making $35K a year....if you could get an 8 week summer job for $15/hr, you'd be making a little more than $36K a year.
Comparing what a flagger does to what a teacher does reminds me of the thread Pentacle Queen has going on about what you would like a layman to know about your job.
Unless you talked to them, you don't know what other things the flagger has to do, that you don't see.
I'm just thinking...there has been a crew of men working on our street on and off through most of the Spring, and into the Summer. We've learned over time that almost the entire crew is related to each other....cousins, brothers, one of the fathers...so they really work together seamlessly. I've sat and watched them for an hour or two at a time, and they work their asses off. On top of that I've seen them almost get hit a number of times, cursed at, people approaching them like it's their fault they were assigned to do major repairs on the various streets in the neighborhood (but at the same time, these same people are the ones that complain the streets are in bad repair and "someone should do something about it")
I'm not arguing for or against teachers making more or less money.
For some people, teaching is their vocation, they feel like they were called to do that, and they wouldn't be happy doing anything else. To others, it's just a job.
My neighbor is a teacher, and honestly, I can tell she really don't even like kids. Occassionally I'll ask her how the school year is going, and I've yet to hear her say anthing positive about her students.
I remember a poster that hasn't been here in like forever...planinoldme...who used to disgust me with how much she obviously loathed each and every one of her students.
Aides who work in nursing homes get paid very little, and have people spit at them, throw things at them, call them vile names, and for all that they get the privilege of cleaning up relative strangers **** and making sure they don't fall and kill themselves.
They don't need to be educated, but they do need to daily take care of your mother. They'd love to get $15.75.
In short, it's all apples and oranges.....I can't say who's worth what until I walk a mile in their individual shoes.
Some teachers are worth a lot more, others aren't worth half of what they make.