But You Get Summers Off......

Oh man, how this phrase, "But you get summers off...." stirs up a wrath of emotion in my house. And not from I, the teacher, so much. I'm used to it, have heard it, am desensitized, know the perception and have gotten past caring. But from the husband of the teacher in the house, who understands from a non-teacher perspective how degrading, demeaning, and dismissive this statement is to hard-working individuals.

Personally, I think we all, by all I mean the entire American workforce, deserve "summers off." Anyone who works hard should have some time to be leisurely. Of course, I'm sure our economy would implode, and then there would be another great onus to put on teachers. I can see the headlines now. "Teachers Set Precedent for Summers off. Responsible for Crash of the Global Economy." I mean if we're gonna take some hits, why not just take 'em all.

But I digress. Let me share why this phrase about our lazy summers, that imply we are simply 'slothing' our way through our careers, is much more defamatory than people realize.

For one, does anyone consider that we didn't ask for summers off? It's just a part of the package. I didn't get to check some option on my contract that says: "Would you like to work nine months and figure out how to live on that salary? Yes or No?" The reasoning for summers off is kind of archaic actually. Back in the day when kids had to work hard and help their families, they spent summers cultivating crops. Their families needed them to contribute for economic reasons during that season, so the school year was structured as such.

Do people also understand that we are not PAID for twelve months of work? We are paid for roughly 9.5 months, that is spread over twelve months. Many, many teachers can't afford to live on a 9.5 month salary, so they seek other employment over the summer. I'd say that even puts us at a disadvantage. Those teachers have to seek employment, go through the process of applications and such, every single year. That's hardly desirable. Lots of teachers also use this time to update their educations, at their own expense. My required updated certification was roughly $10,000. I have the tuition bills to prove it, $3200 of which is still on a credit card.

My husband rolls his eyes when he hears this phrase, I think because he has walked in on me in the wee hours of the night grading papers, tweaking lesson plans, searching for interesting and engaging reading for my students, etc. Part of this is because I work better at night when it's quiet and I'm alone. But part of this is because I simply can't get this done during my contracted work day. There is no exaggeration about it, it can't be done. I am "paid" for a half hour planning time per day. Thirty minutes of planning to cover 4.5 hours of instructional time for 31 students (down two students from 33 last year), who come with such a broad range of need it's unreal.

And here's the kicker. I don't complain about my pay. You can't even add benefits onto my pay scale because for a half-time teacher, benefits are too expensive for me to participate in through the district. So my salary is my salary, period. That being said, I'm not dissatisfied with it. I didn't go into education for competitive salary reasons. I went into education because when I got my first job in a fast food restaurant at the age of 15, the greatest life lesson I took from it was that I did not want to ever again get a job I dreaded going to. That I wanted to spend my career doing something fulfilling and engaging.

Don't get me wrong. I'd love to make more money. Not because I'm greedy, but because I work crazy hard to do a good job. People in the private sector argue that if you work really hard, you get compensated accordingly. Teachers are expected to be EXPERTS in their field. EXPERTS. Most teachers probably expect this of themselves. Washington State believes this so much, that they further shovel requirements on teachers that are BURYING them. The required Professional Certification is a topic for another post, but trust me when I say, teachers are being asked to do more and more, with less and less, FOR less and less. In addition, the expectation is that we take this willingly, with a smile on our face, because we love kids and teaching so much. And to be honest, we are the easiest to take advantage of, BECAUSE we love kids and teaching so much.

Do I like getting summers off? Of course I do! Some years it feels like all I could do to hang on until that last day let out because I worked so hard up to the very last bell. Do I appreciate having summers off? I absolutely do. It allows me the time to immerse myself with my own children, hopefully helping to create good citizens of our global community later on. But do I take offense when people throw that phrase, "But you get summers off!" Yeah. Because in one flat sentence they have negated every bit of hard work teachers do all year long.