NEA Sent Me a Survey....Yes Indeed I Completed It!

[80zephyr]

I worked a minimum of 12 and up to 14 hours a day on school days for about 200 days a year. That's about 2400 hours. I was paid hor about 1500 of those.

Thats fucked up.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Rather than talking about hours-per-week or hours-per-year, how about talking about career length?

As a regular passenger on luxury cruises, it is astounding how many of my fellow cruisers are retired teachers - some who were union members and some not.

There is a good reason for this phenomenon. Normal, working Americans work into their late 60's or longer before they can retire, but teachers generally can retire after 30 years of service, more or less. That means they retire in their early 50's, with a full pension, full benefits, and usually in expectation of collecting Social Security when they reach that age.

So considering that typical healthy people are pretty much done with fun stuff - tourism, golf, bowling, dancing - when they hit 80 years old, they have about 12 years of healthy retirement before getting to the waiting room for the Grim Reaper. But teachers have about twice that long, all on the taxpayers' dime, to enjoy their retirement. This is what explains why so many teachers are found in "senior"recreational activities. They are disproportionately represented among retired people.

So I take the claims of 60 hour weeks with a pinch of salt. I don't believe that it is literally true, at least on a continuing basis, and it ignores the phenomenon described in my previous paragraph.

And it is significant, if never mentioned.

I highlighted your first error. Retirement benefits for teachers are routinely exaggerated. They usually suck!

You may continue with your misinformed rant.