school fundraisers

cjra wrote:
On Dec 5, 2:08 pm, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
cjra wrote:
On Dec 5, 9:47 am, Ericka Kammerer wrote:
I don't think teachers are martyrs, and it's certainly the
case that compensation isn't really "fair" by just about any yardstick.
Some of the most difficult and dangerous jobs have lousy pay.
Plenty of soldiers' families in the US military are on food stamps,
thanks to the lousy pay. I think most would agree they don't have an
easy job.
Just because it's not fair to them doesn't mean everyone has accept
their own lousy pay.
I think that's the point I was trying to make! ;-)

Yeah, I was backing you up. Not that you needed it.

Ahhhh...couldn't tell if you were agreeing or disagreeing!
(But then again, it was Nutcracker opening night last night and
I'm running on way too little sleep, way too much stress, and a
cold to boot, so my powers of perception aren't really at their
peak at the moment!)

Best wishes,
Ericka

Michelle J. Haines wrote:
Ericka Kammerer wrote:

I don't think teachers are martyrs, and it's certainly the
case that compensation isn't really "fair" by just about any yardstick.
Some of the most difficult and dangerous jobs have lousy pay.
Nevertheless, that doesn't mean that a teacher who is paid significantly
less that his or her counterpart with similar job requirements outside
the teaching profession doesn't have an argument. In some areas,
teachers are well compensated relative to other similar jobs with
similar requirements. In other areas they aren't. The fact that
EMTs are often woefully undercompensated as well doesn't mean that
no one else gets to complain ;-)

Well, teachers are both paid and compensated pretty well in a lot of
places. And I suppose it's the nature of the complaints that gets to me
sometimes.
"OMG, I have to do continuing education!"
"Er, so?"
"OMG, I have to pay for training hours!"
"Yeah, and?"
"I have to do work on my own time!"
"So what?"

I fail to see how this makes them different than anyone else. In
professions paid both more and less.

I think the point either way is that one has a right to
point out the disparity when one has a job with less pay or less
total compensation than comparable jobs in terms of education, skill,
demands, responsibilities, or importance to society. And, of course,
there *are* jobs with much lower demands for education, continuing
ed., and and total hours (some of which are better compensated).
The world isn't fair in a lot of ways, and I don't see a lot of
use in complaining, but I don't begrudge anyone the right to point
out disparities and try to resolve them. And, of course, my bias
to start with is that many work practices are simply exploitative
to begin with, and I think everyone ought to complain about those.

Best wishes,
Ericka

On Tue, 04 Dec 2007 23:23:55 -0700, "Michelle J. Haines"
wrote:

Not the people who crawl into ditches to pull you out of your wrecked
car, though, or those who put out the fire while your house burns down.
I suppose I've gotten to the point I don't have a ton of sympathy
for the whole "teachers as martyrs" thing, and the fact that my in-law's
are both teachers just contributes to it.

Everyone thinks they can do the job better than the professional in
the classroom. That's the biggest problem. Pay is less of a problem
now than it used to be, but working conditions are often worse.

You would never tell your accountant how to do his job, but everyone
believes that because they were students that they know how to teach.



--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits