"Teacher Shortage" is a misnomer. The shortage is in the pay and benefits that districts offer to teachers

[Seymour Flops]

It's simple economics. I almost posted this in that section.

If workers are NOT willing to work for you, it's because you don't offer enough compensation.

In the last two school years, the demands of teaching have gone through the roof, starting with the Fall of 2020, during which teachers were typically required to teach virtually with zero lowering of expectations for the quality of their teaching. Then we had a combination of live and virtual teaching, with the same teachers doing both simultaneously and families given the choice of sending their kids in or having them "learn online."

Teachers were not given the work-from-home option, and we were required to wear masks at all times, and enforce mask wear for students. District set policy and we followed it or we quit. It didn't matter if we thought that COVID precautions were being over-done, or not done enough. One of the teachers at my school, in her late thirties, with a pre-existing condition, died of COVID after weeks of being face down on a respirator. She literally died to teach the kids.

Now the state has changed its standardized test in ways that will be even more stressful for teachers. More about that on another thread.

All this was part of the job. I'm not complaining, I'm just saying how it was and continues to be. I'm saying that if you hire a guy to build a pool for you, and then decide that you absolutely need a high dive and a hot tub also, you don't get to pay the same and say "don't complain, that's part of your job." You want more, you pay more.

If not, don't be surprised if fewer people want to work for you.

 

[Anathema]

I’m going to quote my parents (both teachers): “You don’t get into teaching to make lots of money. It’s a calling, not a profession. If you’re getting into tesching for the money, you’re in the wrong field.”

 

[okfine]

"If workers are willing to work for you, it's because you don't offer enough compensation"

LOL

 

[Seymour Flops]

"If workers are willing to work for you, it's because you don't offer enough compensation"

LOL

Corrected. You caught me.

 

[Seymour Flops]

I’m going to quote my parents (both teachers): “You don’t get into teaching to make lots of money. It’s a calling, not a profession. If you’re getting into tesching for the money, you’re in the wrong field.”

Then don't be surprised when so many realize that they are in the wrong field. Tell them to go screw themselves, and who cares if the kids learn.

Or maybe you think that teachers are not that good for kids, anyway. Lord knows there are enough of them posting tic-toks who make our profession look bad. If so, cut the pay to the bone and take what you get.

Just don't deny the truth that they so-called "teacher shortage," is caused by low pay, stressful working conditions, and increased expectations for the same compensation.

 

[Anathema]

Then don't be surprised when so many realize that they are in the wrong field. Tell them to go screw themselves, and who cares if the kids learn

Honestly, I don’t believe we should have a mandatory public school system. I am a strong believer in local PRIVATE schools that parents can choose to pay for, or in homeschooling.

I find most teachers I know are in that field for absolutely the worst reasons. Few want to truly educate kids. Even fewer have the skill set to do so. I find most school sydtemd absolutely void of anything even closely resembling a useful curriculum and educational theory.

I would not send any child of mine (if I had any) to ANY public school in this country.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Honestly, I don’t believe we should have a mandatory public school system. I am a strong believer in local PRIVATE schools that parents can choose to pay for, or in homeschooling.

I find most teachers I know are in that field for absolutely the worst reasons. Few want to truly educate kids. Even fewer have the skill set to do so. I find most school sydtemd absolutely void of anything even closely resembling a useful curriculum and educational theory.

I would not send any child of mine (if I had any) to ANY public school in this country.

I respect that. But it is not a one size fits all solution, any more than public school itself is.

I happen to work at a district that provides a very good education to its students. A big reason is that it is in an industrial area and the tax base is strong, enough that they gave stipends to teachers during these recent hard times. They get what they pay for.

The particular middle school I work in serves primarily first generation kids whose parents came from Latin-America, mainly Mexico, to give their kids an opportunity. Those parent cannot reasonably home school their kids, and even if they were given vouchers, would mainly choose religious schools or schools that would teach in Spanish. So they would learn to be lightly educated Mexicans, instead of well-educated Texans as they need to be.

 

[1srelluc]

Teachers are the most entitled bunch of snowflakes in the fuckin' country.....It's always me, me, me, and more, more, more. Hey assholes you are the reason my property taxes have gone to the moon....You are never satisfied.

I swear if those assholes were handed a one ounce gold coin every morning I bet after a week and they will be demanding two ounces.

 

[Anathema]

I happen to work at a district that provides a very good education to its students. A big reason is that it is in an industrial area and the tax base is strong, enough that they gave stipends to teachers during these recent hard times. They get what they pay for

I’m not going to question your assertion about your school district. Obviously I’m not there.

Honestly, I see far too much money being given to sports and unnecessary curriculum like foreign languages, ESL, SPED, art, music, etc… in every school district I see.

 

[bodecea]

Honestly, I don’t believe we should have a mandatory public school system. I am a strong believer in local PRIVATE schools that parents can choose to pay for, or in homeschooling.

I find most teachers I know are in that field for absolutely the worst reasons. Few want to truly educate kids. Even fewer have the skill set to do so. I find most school sydtemd absolutely void of anything even closely resembling a useful curriculum and educational theory.

I would not send any child of mine (if I had any) to ANY public school in this country.

And how many teachers do you know?

 

[okfine]

Teachers are the most entitled bunch of snowflakes in the fuckin' country.....It's always me, me, me, and more, more, more. Hey assholes you are the reason my property taxes have gone to the moon....You are never satisfied.

I swear if those assholes were handed a one ounce gold coin every morning I bet after a week and they will be demanding two ounces.

What a bitch.

 

[Anathema]

And how many teachers do you know?

More than I would like to. In my close family there are at least half a dozen (mostly parochial schools or college level). In my close acquaintances, another probably six to eight at least (public/private primary and secondary Ed.)

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

Teachers are the most entitled bunch of snowflakes in the fuckin' country.....It's always me, me, me, and more, more, more. Hey assholes you are the reason my property taxes have gone to the moon....You are never satisfied.

I swear if those assholes were handed a one ounce gold coin every morning I bet after a week and they will be demanding two ounces.

When were you a teacher?

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

I’m not going to question your assertion about your school district. Obviously I’m not there.

Honestly, I see far too much money being given to sports and unnecessary curriculum like foreign languages, ESL, SPED, art, music, etc… in every school district I see.

Unnecessary curriculum? Since when do you get to decide?

 

[Mr Natural]

Teaching is an important occupation that should be decently compensated.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

More than I would like to. In my close family there are at least half a dozen (mostly parochial schools or college level). In my close acquaintances, another probably six to eight at least (public/private primary and secondary Ed.)

In that case, you are a lying sack of shit!

 

[Anathema]

Unnecessary curriculum? Since when do you get to decide?

Since my unGodly high income and property taxes pay for the teachers, books, buildings, etc… to support that unnecessary content.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Unnecessary curriculum? Since when do you get to decide?

Since my unGodly high income and property taxes pay for the teachers, books, buildings, etc… to support that unnecessary content.

I talked about this too on another thread. It isn't parents who get to decide the public school curriculum. Neither is it taxpayers who get to decide the public school curriculum.

Public school curriculums are determined by the state school board who are elected by voters and by local school boards who are elected by voters in their territory. Paying taxes for the public school system doesn't get you an extra vote. Neither do you get an extra vote for each child you have going to public schools.

Maybe you should. Maybe people who don't pay taxes shouldn't get to vote and people who pay more taxes than others should get more votes than others. But the system now is each voter has one vote to vote for the representative that decides things like laws and school curriculums.

As of now those Representatives believe that special education, English language learning, Sports, and other things that are not reading writing and arithmetic are important enough to fund. Maybe there are some who believe there's no reason to pay for math education Beyond basic arithmetic, because whoever uses algebra in everyday life? Maybe there are those who think in the era of spell check and Grammarly, no further English is needed past sixth grade.

It doesn't matter a wit that an individual disagrees, taxpayer or parent. Don't like it? Start a movement to ban public schools and return the money to parents to put their kids in private school.

No reason why the taxpayers should not be forced to pay for parents to send their kids to private schools if they can now be forced to pay taxes to educate other people's children in public schools.

Private school teachers are paid much less than public school teachers, and they get better results. However... private schools can pick and choose the cream of the student crop, while public schools have to teach all the rest.

Don't like classes with no teachers? Decide how much you are willing to pay to have them there. If teachers deem that not enough, they will work elsewhere. That's the free market, isn't it?

 

[Anathema]

I talked about this too on another thread. It isn't parents who get to decide the public school curriculum. Neither is it taxpayers who get to decide the public school curriculum

Just another reason I have no use for public schools. School curriculums should be determined and paid for by the parents of the students in attendance. Nobody else.

 

[Seymour Flops]

Teachers are the most entitled bunch of snowflakes in the fuckin' country.....It's always me, me, me, and more, more, more. Hey assholes you are the reason my property taxes have gone to the moon....You are never satisfied.

I swear if those assholes were handed a one ounce gold coin every morning I bet after a week and they will be demanding two ounces.

If the teacher job fairs were filled to the brim and teachers who have jobs were bitching about the pay, while quickly signing their new contracts every year, you'd have a point.

That used to happen but now it doesn't. Teachers are voting with their feet that the compensation is inadequate for what they are now asked to do.

RELATED: Task force created to find out how to keep teachers in classrooms
Here's a breakdown of all five of the area's largest districts:

• HISD: 880
• CFISD: 472
• Fort Bend ISD: 275
• Aldine ISD: 409
• Katy ISD: 200

Here are all the teacher vacancies at Houston-area school districts

Districts are dealing with shortages among school bus drivers in addition to teachers.

www.khou.com

Pay barely goes up year-to-year, which is fine when we don't have a federal government that insists on inflating the money and at the same time raising taxes on the middle class. But now a 3% pay increase amounts to a pay cut, and the easiest way to get a pay raise is to go work in a field that pays more.