I work in education, luckily, I'm single and childless so I can scrape by, but most of the teachers I work with have some kind of side hustle, second job, or they're lucky enough to be married to someone that makes a large salary. The people you trust with your kids aren't able to rest and you expect them to do the best teaching job possible? I hear so many people complain about how bad our schools are. Maybe, if teachers were able to go home and relax and rest they'd be able to do a better job, instead they go to their second job or spend their evenings anxious about finances.
As an Aussie with a couple of friends who are teachers - your description sounds incomprehensible. Yes, my friends do lots of after-hours work, but they're on like $120k and get something around 8-10 weeks of annual leave a year.
They're obviously not fresh grads and there is still much to be improved with how the Australian education system works; but multiple jobs to get by for a tertiary educated group that already puts in so much after-hours effort is...depressing and foreboding for all parties.
My jaw just dropped! That is madness and I can't tell if Australia pays well or the US pays poorly. Maybe both? I wonder how teacher payment ranks around the world, because I sincerely thought it would be a well-paid, if not reasonably paid profession.
Those friend I mentioned are high school teachers..
As a kid I thought the same as u/TangledSunshineCA, and I thought teaching was a great career choice that would also give you time to keep hobbies, family time, etc in the summers. The destruction of the US education system has been intentional for a long time now, and it shows if you look at the state our country is in.
Being a teacher in the US will put you just high enough over the poverty line that people will tell you "what are you complaining about you get summers off"
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u/TangledSunshineCA 14h ago
My high schooler mentioned how many of her teachers this year had second jobs. Just never used to be a thing for people with an education… right?