h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Why is it that poeple who carry out a normal days work when leaving for home in the morning will say to s/he who they are leaving behind at home that they are off to work.

A teacher will not say this but that they are off to school !

Teachers are generally lazy and critical of all others who are not teachers, they speak to all adults as if they are children when confronted with reality eg the real world.

They also consider the long breaks to be essentail for them as they work so hard, the summer break was not for them it was for the children to work and bring in the harvests.

Underated you might think but as with the majority of those who work and support them in so that they may spend most of the time talking about their last holiday in the first 3 weeks of term and the holiday that they need during the next 3 weeks prior to guess what another minimum break of 9 days including the weekend I think over rated is more true.

They are children in an adults world who teach old and tested formats of education, history has not changed since I was taught history, algebra since it was discovered, languages ditto, need I go on?

Thank you

If you think that teaching is so easy, if you think that they are whinging over their workload, even with the holidays, if you think that all you hear is teachers complaining that they are misunderstood, become one. All you need is a degree in education or a first degree which will allow you onto a PGCE course, and an immense amount of patience to work in a profession where you are trying to provide information to the masses who don't won't the information now, but will appreciate it in the future and parents who wash their hands of their offsprings behaviour beyond the front door, as "they don't do that at home".
There are very few profession that require such high qualifications yet put a ceiling on wages, don't provide any form of medical cover, company car, freedom of transfer between employers and freedom from abuse from "clients" when you meet them in the High Street.
If you wish to criticise, practice before you preach!!!

Hmmmmm...being a pupil (though a model one myself of course) I would be inclined to agree that teaching is not an easy task. They have to put up with other teachers, arrogant students, bad jokes (about them), seriously bad nicknames, and rumours (generally that they are either having an affair (though actually that was true in the case of our headmistress) or homosexual).

You make it sound much more interesting than it is.

You have raised my blood pressure.
"Teachers are generally lazy and critical of all others who are not teachers" How is marking numerous books per day, planning work for the year, the forth coming term and the following week, standing in front of 30 kids more interested in what's going on outside than in, having parents breathing down your knecks at parents evening considered lazy?
You ought to try sitting in on a school day. Just one. You will have changed your opinion when you come out.

And no, I am not a teacher before you come back at me with that.
I have worked in school as a Teaching assistant and intend to train as a teacher in the near future.
Teachers teach because they value children and want to make a difference. NOT because they want long holidays.

Teachers get to participate in the formation of the ideas and beliefs of kids. they get to impart "memes" onto their students. Students essentially incorporate a part of their teachers and carry this with them throughout their lives. you never forget your teachers. you, in essence, transfer a part of your very self into your students. it is the analogue of gene propagation. it is the propagation of ideas, which is why artists create art, authors write books, musicians compose music, etc... to leave a part of oneself immortal...
so, in my opinion, teaching rocks!

Very well said.

I do not slag other proffesions off as I do not know anything about them. Only when I had done a job could I justifyably blast the people who do it.
Amanda

The originator of this thread joined in Sept 1999 and hasn't been back since Unless he rejoined after Rupert under another non de plume.

Incog.

Good. we can do without people as narrow minded as them anyway.

Funny thing is that they apppeared to BE a teacher.I suspect that they have long since left the profession.Probably gone into Ofstead.

Incog.

LOL, yeah probably.
OOOH, people like that really make me mad though.
Teachers get such a hard time off people outside of the proffesion.
I have a couple of interviews coming up for B.Ed courses, What am I letting myself in for?

Well if you really like children you will enjoy it even with all the hard work.I've been in the profession for 28 years and it has it's good days and it's bad.I suspect it is much like any job/vocation in that respect.However you will get out of it what you put in. Somewhere there is a conversation I started http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=94202&post=780882#p780882 on what qualities people considered necessary in a good teacher and the overwhelming response was the need for enthusiasm. Hard to maintain sometimes with some disruptive students but if you show them that you love your subject then they will on the whole respond well. The nicest part for me is when I meet ex-pupils and see how they are doing in life.I've only ever had a positive attitude from any old pupils.Indeed one of them married into my family. Incog.

I have been working as a Teaching assistant whilst applying for uni and have loved every minute of it.
It's my old primary school and as they know I want to teach, they let me in on things, I can go to meetings and get a chance to see planning and all sorts of things. They let me take small groups of kids and let me have freedom to plan my own stuff. I have recently become envolved with a intervention scheme. FLS? I have my own group of 6 and am planning and running my own little group.
They are all helping to prepare me for my interviews as well. So fingers crossed, I might get into teaching in the end.

So that's enthusiasm sorted.That and patience are the two most important qualities.
Good luck! I'm sure you will do well.
The training I did was half geared towards Secondary but I did do a teaching practice in a Juniors.I have to say I truly admire Primary teachers as I found it very hard work(but enjoyable)and the teachers I truly think should get the most pay and money are reception teachers.Their is is the most important job for they are the ones who set a childs perception of education and their attitudes there after.So they should be the very best teachers of all.

Incog.

I found patience, I never knew I had. I haved worked in secondary for a whort while, but I prefer primary. I like KS 2 the best.
You are right about Reception teachers. They have their work cut out for them.
It's a shame how many teachers are becoming despondent and leaving the profession early.

Amanda

I've just finished an extremely hard day's supply teaching, gone to my second job (a necessary evil when you can't get a full-time teaching post) and logged on to H2G2 to find a lot of teacher-directed hate. I suspect a lot of the rants are the ramblings of irate teenagers and those who didn't attend school in the first place, if the grammar is anything to go by.

If we appear to be a whinging lot then good. Most teachers have a black sense of humour about the whole thing, otherwise we would crack up but the 'whinging' image is a result of the unions making the problems public. If people are sick of hearing about the problems, imagine working with them!

Main thing is never ever let them see you cry unless it's with laughter...

Cry? Why I rather shout with rage and anger!

I posted on this thread over 3 years ago before I trained as a teacher.
I'm now fully qualified and working in a secondary school.
I had totally forgotten about this thread until I found it totally accidentally whilst posting elsewhere.
I can't believe how pathetic the original post is.
Come and spend a day in my classroom and say the same thing afterwards.

Amanda, I doubt he could. He's probably signing on that day.