David, I'm not sure this is a good place to have long arguments about education, but maybe a short discussion is okay.
Teachers work about ten months a year, actually. They come back before school starts, and work in their classrooms after the year ends, as well. They do have a workday which seems to be about an hour short of what you would work in an office, for example, but in reality they spend many hours at home, evenings and weekends, correcting papers, writing lesson plans, doing report cards, etc. There do seem to be a lot of holidays, but many of those are actually teacher "in-service" days, where they report to their schools or the district offices to work a full day. This is mandatory, incidentally. Most of the teachers I know also spend several hundred dollars of their own money every year on supplies for their classrooms that are essential but are no longer provided. Bright people tend to go where they will be reasonably well compensated. I have no comment on teachers' unions, because I don't know enough to argue intelligently. |
