Sure, teachers get a lot of time off, Carl Bosch writes, but it’s all well deserved.
Teachers and students have all just returned from a long holiday vacation. Outfitted with new clothes and notebooks, the youngsters appear to be ready to get down to the work of learning. Better yet, there seems to be a re-awakened spirit, a bit more jump in the step and a renewed vigor, and now I’m speaking about the teachers.
I’m not trying to take the role of an apologist for the vacations that teachers receive. Of course, that’s one of the major knocks against us, both individually and collectively: “Hell, you’ve got all summer off!” We hear that refrain often enough. And that’s true. But we need it and deserve it, and so do the kids.
If done right, there’s an emotional tone to teaching that is taxing beyond belief. A teacher is often called to be an educated entertainer, trying to meet the demands of an audience that is eager or disinterested, attentive or half asleep, skilled or lacking, brilliant or less so. It takes an alert energy that is slowly drained by the end of the day, the week, the month, the marking period. One needs to keep his wits about him, be personable, demanding yet supportive, comforting and direct—all at the same time. Throw in the fact that each pupil in your care has their own set of personal situations, problems, and difficulties, and you have a professional that needs to be part priest, part mentor, part diplomat, part general.
Weekends are wonderful but it’s like charging your phone for teachers. It’s a short-term solution, and it only lasts a brief moment. A little fun, a little family, some schoolwork, and you’re back at it on Monday. But week-long vacations, whether at the holidays to close the year, a winter break, or a spring vacation, actually allow teachers to step away for awhile. Days roll out, and teachers don’t even have books, lesson plans, students, or schedules pass through their minds. It’s an elixir that heals. Summer is that to the max.
Sometimes my friends will ask me to go away for a vacation in October or May. I ask them if they’re a little crazy. I’m a teacher. One thing about our vacations: we don’t get to choose when they are. Never. Again, I’m not saying that we need more, and I’m well aware that there are other incredibly stressful and demanding jobs, but don’t doubt that those vacations are necessary balms to tired souls and psyches. I’m sure we could add a couple more weeks of school and still have an extended break during July and August. I also suppose in some future decade we’ll be going to school even more than the average 180 days throughout the U.S. It’s possible we’ll end up like Korea and Japan with over 220 days in school per year. But just remember that those countries send their students and professionals to the U.S. both for advanced study and to find the heart of creativity, something woefully lacking under their systems.
So don’t be too jealous of a teacher’s time off throughout the year. We’re all just back from vacation and ready to work through the long winter ahead with your sons and daughters. If you think it’s easy and teachers don’t have the express need to shut the batteries off, gear down, and get away sometimes … go run a classroom yourself, then come back and see me.
Let’s see if you’ll be hoping for a snow day.
10,043 days down, 112 left.
—Photo bennylin0724/Flickr
About Carl Bosch
If one is a college professor, these aren’t really vacations. I’ve managed to turn out quite a number of articles and a couple of books since 1997, when I got my first tenure-track job.
Even during the holidays, many of us are tweaking syllabi for the spring semester. And those weekends? I just as often spend them slogging through a stack of 5- to 10-page essays that need grading as “recharging.” Throw in the inevitable committee work and a little advising, and you cam begin to see why the long vacations are necessary.
Nice article!
Now I know why my pic wouldn’t come up. I misspelled my name above.
I would always answer those who complained about my teacher vacations etc with :”if it’s so good why don’t you become a teacher”???
What you forgot to mention was that the vacations are not PAID vacations, at least not where I teach. I don’t get paid for the time I’m not working, so my vacations are times that I’m not bringing in money.
You could say teachers have summers off. But, the bills are still due in the summer. The mortgage has to be paid, or the landlord still demands rent. You could just as easily say teachers are out of work during the summer. I’m essentially laid off for three months and then rehired in the fall. That’s the reality, but it doesn’t sound as good as “having the summer off.”
If you’re still envious of teachers’ cushy vacation time, tell the next unemployed man you see that you really envy all the vacation time he’s getting….
Are you kidding me? You actually think you’re “laid off” in the summer? What flavor Kool-Aid are you drinking? Teachers get paid a yearly salary. Some take it in 9 months, others in 12 months. You actually do have summers off…period!! I don’t care one way or the other if you only work one day per week. Not my business. Just don’t try to sell me that you’re all so worn out after a day at school and that you need these vacations to recharge your batteries. That’s BS and you know it. If you can’t manage your money properly and think you’re out of work with no pay in the summers, then maybe school is right where you belong. You wouldn’t make in in the business world for one week. I think teachers are great, by the way. Your job is not easy by any means, I wouldn’t want a job where I am stuck with kids of this generation day after day, with parents who either don’t care at all or are so involved that it’s downright harmful. Just don’t cry the blues to me…or anyone else. You chose this career…and some of you would be lying if you said you didn’t do it for the great work schedule (i.e., summers off!!!). For the record, I have known Mr. Bosch my entire life. We have been best friends since the first grade. If all teachers were like him, this would be one great world!!
Yeah, it’s called a SALARY! Your salary is for an entire year, not just nine months. If a teacher can’t understand that, maybe they shouldn’t be a teacher.
A teacher’s salary is not negotiated on a 12 month basis. Their contract is for 9 months not 12. Some districts choose to stretch that 9 month salary over 12 months so that the teacher has a paycheck bimonthly and also making a teacher not eligible for unemployment, even though according to their contract, they are unemployed. That being said, in my district, our last paycheck for the school year is at the end of the fiscal year, usually the end of June. It is no more than any of my other paydays. The next paycheck I get is not until mid August after the new school year starts, after I have worked two weeks and signed my new 9 month contract. Depending on when the school year starts, sometimes this is not until the end of August. Yes, we do know it’s coming, but like most Americans in today’s economy, some of us, especially those who are the breadwinners or single, live paycheck to paycheck. Just some food for thought.
Thank you for this post. I have been searching the web for reasons NOT to teach… I currently am in HR(for a school system), love it, but something is missing and quite frankly, its getting boring. I have 5 boys, and am drawn to education. I teach our boys youth group at church and enjoy the planning, the research, the time with the kids… so I am considering a career change. Due to my prior Air Force career, and science background I have with that degree, I am qualified for a program here that IF I am selected, they put me through a crash course on ‘teaching’ and license me after some core education requirements are met. IF selected, it would take less than a year to be qualified to teach here. Makes it a more tempting knowing I wouldn’t have to go back to school for another two+ years for yet another degree. HOWEVER, I am nervous, it is such a HUGE responsibility, but I am drawn in. I am lucky enough to have a husband who is able to support us financially, so the pay isn’t an issue, nor is the worry of spending out of pocket for supplies. Dealing with kids and parents – I think I want to aim for elementary, middle school so I can possibly learn more of what I need before tackling high schoolers. I am from a military background, and I hope that would prepare me for ‘running’ a classroom. I am toying with the idea of taking a teacher assistant position we have at our school currently to get my feet wet so to speak. I haven’t decided yet, thus the reason for my searching for information on why I might NOT want to teach.. but your article here lifted my spirits! Thank you.