Top Three Teaching Myths

Teaching is certainly rewarding work, but many people don’t realize that it is also time-intensive and can be emotionally exhausting. As the daughter of a public school teacher, I will often hear my mother’s non-teaching friends express envy over an “easy” work schedule, ending at 3pm every weekday, and annual summer vacations from “glorified babysitting.” These misinformed comments regarding the teaching profession can go a long way toward devaluing what teachers actually do on a day to day basis, and can also take a toll on how teachers view themselves as educators. In this post, I’d like to address some of the most common myths about teachers and the teaching profession.

Myth #1: “You don’t work a full day.”

Even though the average school day for students is 6.64 hours, for most teachers, the contracted school day approximates that of a typical 40 hour full-time job. In other words, an eight hour (9 to 5) schedule is simply moved back by two hours. For example, one local school district’s contracted day for teachers is from 7:15 to 3:15, with many teachers staying later to assist students who need after school help, or who need additional time to make up work.

When teachers aren’t actually teaching, the school day is spent in a harried pace of activity consisting of non-existent bathroom breaks, 20-minute lunch breaks, playground and bus duty, instant-communication-inspired parent contacts, and excessive amounts of data collection and analyses that are required by the state for the purposes of accountability. Teachers do indeed work a full day and then some.

Myth #2: “You get summers off.”

Though contracted time may seem to be on par with other professions, most teachers will tell you that completing required work within their contracted time, and doing it well, is close to impossible. This results in teachers coming in earlier, staying later, and taking work home. A study looking at unpaid overtime in 2014 found that teachers were more likely to work more unpaid overtime than any other professionals.

What is more, teaching has become even more demanding in recent years. While some teachers might have a scheduled prep time, it is highly unlikely that the prep time will actually be used for preparing lessons. Instead, grading and planning are responsibilities often completed during evenings and weekends, meaning the amount of overtime is inching upwards. In fact, it is estimated that during the school year, teachers work an average of 53 hours per week. While this is not true of all teachers, those for whom this is true are putting in an extra 39 hours every three weeks. For every 40 weeks of a school year, they are putting in an extra 13 forty-hour weeks. For these teachers, that unpaid summer “vacation” isn’t a vacation at all; it’s comp time.

Myth #3: “Anyone can teach.”

Teaching is an incredibly demanding job. Ryan Fuller, an aerospace engineer-turned-teacher, described teaching as being more difficult than his job designing a NASA spacecraft. According to Fuller, “No one can fully understand how difficult teaching in America’s highest-need communities is until he or she personally experiences it. When I solved engineering problems, I had to use my brain. When I solve teaching problems, I use my entire being—everything I have.” Bob Shepherd, a former publishing executive, said something similar about his return to teaching: “Everything I did before was a vacation by comparison.”

Additionally, for teachers in high poverty schools, the compassion fatigue that accompanies teaching can be overwhelming. Karla, a first grade teacher, and a 14-year veteran, notices that “children are coming with more trauma than ever before, and the pressure to meet standards has increased.” For Karla, and so many other teachers, the emotional exhaustion that has accompanied teaching in a high-poverty school has taken its toll. Anyone who thinks that teaching is an easy job has never taught before. 

Truth: Teachers should be paid more.

Though teachers work a significant amount of overtime in positions that can be emotionally exhausting, teaching salaries are notoriously low, and the gap in pay widens when compared to increases offered in other professional fields over time.  For teachers in high cost-of-living, non-unionized schools, teachers often need more than one job to make ends meet. For all the time and emotional exhaustion that teaching well takes, most teachers carry on because it is highly rewarding work. Still, teachers who remain in the profession ought to be paid competitive salaries that reflect the amount of education required to obtain and keep their positions, and that pay ought to reflect the demands of the job. In short, teachers ought to be paid more, and as demands increase, teacher pay should also increase.

Allison Green
Boston Tutoring Services