I ran into a friend at the library yesterday. Told her I was
applying for teaching jobs.
“Why?” she asked. She works at a school. “I don’t know why
teachers do it.” She’s at a Title I school where test scores and morale are at
an all-time low. The principal rules whip-in-hand. Sad. Makes me want to go in
and turn things around—not that I could or am in a position to do so.
Teaching anywhere is challenging, but some schools are
definitely more challenging than others. So far I’ve tried to apply for jobs at
schools I would enjoy working at—the types of schools I would be happy sending
my kids to. I’ve had four interviews, which I consider pretty good in this
market, but no offers yet.
I have to say, I wasn’t upset that the local high school rejected
me, after I’d learned that the teaching load is six sections of 36
students. Can you imagine grading over
200 papers? How can a teacher possibly
give frequent, constructive feedback to 200 students? In contrast, at the charter
school where I interviewed this week, teachers have five sections of 25
students each—125 students total. Some
college professors have as many students.
How do charter schools do it? Well, their teachers aren’t
unionized and are often paid less than their district-school counterparts;
starting salaries are comparable, but median salaries are much lower at the
charters (in part because all the charters are new, so the teachers haven’t
been there long). I for one would take
the lower pay for the smaller classes.
Not that anyone around here pays teachers well: the median teacher
salary in Utah in 2011 was $45,329; $46,448 for district schools, $35,000 for
charter schools. Median starting salary:
$32,889.
I’m not—teachers aren’t—in it for the money (at least, not in our fair state). Like most or all teachers, I’m somewhat
idealistic—I like the idea of doing good in the world, changing lives, teaching
kids. Maybe I could make a bigger
difference in a poor urban school than in a prep school, but frankly I can be a
better teacher in the prep school where I have 40% fewer students and
supportive administrators. And I want my
kids in schools where their teachers have a reasonable teaching load and
supportive administrators (let me say that my local high school is neither poor
nor urban and seems to have supportive administrators).
Our society has unrealistic expectations for teachers—we overflow
their classrooms with students and drown them in mandates, then blame them when
our students don’t perform as well as students from other states or nations.
So, why is it so hard to get a teaching job?
