What is the most respectable career?

[scorpa]

Farmers - the ones who work the land they own.

Agreed. A respectable profession and also a much underappreciated one.

 

[Zantra]

On teaching: Perhaps they are paid reasonably well in most cases nowadays. Do I think they're overpaid? absolutely not. I do agree that competency evaluations and performance related pay would help to motivate and weed our the bad teachers. But even if they're making 50-75k /year I think it's a necessary investment. In any other field that is underserved, increasing pay always attracts more quality candidates- teaching would be no different.

I think those of you complaining should try teaching before you knock it. And I don't mean just tutoring. Teaching a class is trying focus 30 minds on a single task or line of thought, and it's harder than you think. Try it sometime;) And no, I'm not a teacher, but I've taught classes before.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

No ,your mother loves you. Very different.

They are quite different. My mother does both. We were taught that love ebbs and flows, but respect remains.

 

[click]

The career that forces you to work without personal gain for the betterment of humanity...

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

The career that forces you to work without personal gain for the betterment of humanity...

I'm not sure what you mean. Even slaves get fed.

 

[turbo]

I think those of you complaining should try teaching before you knock it. And I don't mean just tutoring. Teaching a class is trying focus 30 minds on a single task or line of thought, and it's harder than you think. Try it sometime;) And no, I'm not a teacher, but I've taught classes before.

Funny - I spent several years developing curricula, writing manuals, creating course materials, and teaching courses. No, I wasn't teaching HS kids - a much tougher crowd than that. I was hired to teach pulp and paper mill utility operators the physical principles behind the operation of chemical recovery boilers, power boilers, turbine-generator sets, and steam and electrical distribution systems, and (more importantly) the safety issues and procedures relevant to the operation of those systems. Some of my students had over 30 years of experience operating the equipment in question, and some had had at least some relevant training, but many had none, apart from on-the-job peer training, so they knew their job functions by rote and by whatever fundamentals their co-workers and supervisors could pass on. It can be tough to teach experienced adults who haven't had to take a course or put pencil to paper to take quizzes or do in-class assignments for decades. Some were bored, some were anxious about not doing well, some were resentful at having to take training courses covering equipment that they had been operating for years. By the end of the week (most courses were 5 full days) though, even the crustiest old crabs would come up and shake my hand as they were leaving and briefly touch on some principle or procedure that they had picked up in class or understood more fully because of the class. That was good.

 

[Mk]

most people wouldn't go into a burning building to save someone then I'm disappointed.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Astronuc]

On teaching: Perhaps they are paid reasonably well in most cases nowadays. Do I think they're overpaid? absolutely not. I do agree that competency evaluations and performance related pay would help to motivate and weed our the bad teachers. But even if they're making 50-75k /year I think it's a necessary investment. In any other field that is underserved, increasing pay always attracts more quality candidates- teaching would be no different.

I think those of you complaining should try teaching before you knock it. And I don't mean just tutoring. Teaching a class is trying focus 30 minds on a single task or line of thought, and it's harder than you think. Try it sometime;) And no, I'm not a teacher, but I've taught classes before.

Agreed.

A family member works as a teaching assistant, who works with reading and math to help get some of the slower kids up to speed with the rest of the class. Or the teacher may provide remedial work while the TA monitors the remainder of the class. The students have a variety of capabilities and experiences, which by itself provides a challenge to get them all learning the same material at the same time, i.e. they are ALL supposed to have a similar competency at the end of the school year (at least according the expectations the system/community). Add to that the psychological/emotional issues - children coming to school hungry or without proper clothing because the parents cannot afford food or clothing, or children whose parent is ill, or who loses one parent because of divorce or death - or children coming to school after experiencing physical or psychological abuse, or witnessing one parent beating the other - and the teacher faces a huge challenge. Or how about dealing with children who are bullied or otherwise threatened by their peers?

The requirements to teach the children do not allow for the huge variations in academica ability in addition to the other factors.

 

[scorpa]

I'm not saying teaching is easy, far from it. Any teaching experiences I have had (and there have been only a few) have been difficult but also rewarding. All I am saying is that although perhaps teachers are not overpaid they are not underpaid either. They get paid more than most people with a 4 year bachelors degree do.