I wouldn't argue against it [overpaid & lazy] because for most teachers it isn't true.
"Not to pick nits, but where do you see teachers putting in only "25-28 hour workweeks"?"
First, let's stipulate that with only 180 school days per year, there aren't too many full 5 day work weeks. And there are a whole bunch of whole weeks off every year [far more than any other full time job, including gov't employees].
Almost every school I visited [plus my local schools] generally have teachers arrive at 7:30 - 7:45 am & their day ended around 2:20 - 2:40 pm [some started earlier, some later, with the quitting time moving almost equally]. So they're physically on site less than 7 full hours a day.
And at quitting time it's like a jail break for the teachers just like any other job.
They all get a lunch break of at least 30 minutes. They get a free period, monitor a study hall & monitor home room [with the only work there is taking attendance]. And there's a several minute break between every class.
There are numerous other times when they aren't exactly working as well [I stipulate this varies widely from school to school, teacher to teacher & varies based on the subject being taught]:
Late arrivals,
early dismissals,
half days that all count as full days,
School trips,
assemblies,
recitals,
DARE [drug prevention] & other lectures,
aptitude testing,
career days, etc.,
Showing movies, documentaries, internet webcasts, ET AL in class in leiu of actual teaching,
In class tests & quizes are no different than monitoring a study hall,
In class reading assignments, problem solving, having students read to the class & students reading their written reports.
There's more, but I think I made my point.
And yes by themselves any one might sound like nit picking. But add it all up & it amounts to a significant amount of time. |
