I like teaching. I really do despite my bitching.
What I don't like is bad administrators, bad teachers, piss-poor parents, arrogant coaches, and enabled children. I expected some. What I'm seeing? I'm surprised out of my socks regularly.
For example - I just found out that a history teacher gives the answers to the kids on the day of a test. They get to review the answer sheet for ten minutes and then take a multiple choice test. It's already well known about this guy's class. Take 15 minutes of notes off the projector and you get free time for the rest of class. The kids love him! They get to bring their phones, iPods, and drinks! They can talk, play games, and sleep! And what could be better than getting an easy A or B?
Bad teacher. Bad class. A group of kids who - after I asked them directly - said that World War I was in the 1800s.
We could hate on the teacher for being shitty, but who's to blame? The administrators that never observe? The principals that don't report it if they do observe? I mean, everyone at the school knows what's going on in this guy's room. Everyone. But somehow, it goes unnoticed by those that can actually do something about it.
Did I expect to be treated unprofessionally by my superiors? Did I expect for them to literally make me babysit for a week because they didn't want to put in an extra twenty minutes to plan the 9th grade schedule for this week? Nope. Wasn't expecting that.
All my other complaints are well documented.
I really like the kids when we get time to ourselves. But even that's rare with special ed inclusion, drills (tornado, fire, lockdown), and benchmarks.
I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. Not anyone that really wants to teach a subject and make an impact on kids.
If you really want to do it, get a job at a wealthy, upper-middle class school or a private school like Altamont or Indian Springs. OR know that your extracurricular activity will be valued. If you want to impact kids, be a coach.
I definitely don't want to go to law school or be a lawyer. A friend of mine graduated two years ago with a law degree and just got a job. He's $120k in debt. And now that he got a job, he works 70 hours a week doing plaintiff work. No thanks.
But I would love to make some noise in Montgomery or Washington when it comes to education.