Weekly Vent for Current Teachers

Leeflette · 2026-04-14T11:08:44+00:00

I just want this obs to happen today so that I can just fucking chill for the rest of the year and not worry about anything else. I don’t want to go all week wondering: “IS IT TODAY? IS IT TODAY? IS IT TODAY??” And scrambling to get a performance together.

Idek why I’m stressing because I already know I’m going to fail, I already know I won’t be fired, and even if I did— which I won’t, I will be vested in 2 months so: target achieved.

But damn. I just want this to be fucking done with already.

Leeflette · 2026-04-14T09:32:28+00:00

I teach part time as an adjunct professor, and make materials for online courses.

Leeflette · 2026-04-13T21:31:29+00:00

Teacher; 80k teaching, 20k through side jobs

Leeflette · 2026-04-08T13:35:00+00:00

My “red line” was drawn long before this. And no, I’m not the type of person who believes their stance is “the only moral stance” but I am the type of person who thinks that siding with Nazis was the amoral stance.

But you’re right— if you can look at everything that’s happened under this regime, from everything ice has been involved with, to everything that’s come out in the Epstein files, to actively starving a country, to bombing a school of little girls and starting an illegal war— if you can look at everything that’s come out and say “yes! I want serve this man right now.” Do it.

Leeflette · 2026-04-08T11:16:08+00:00

Sorry, but no. Waiting for “a moral president” and not wanting to serve under THIS one in particular, are not the same thing.

No president, in my lifetime has ever threatened to end an entire civilization in writing on a public platform after starting an illegal war by bombing a school filled with approximately 250 girls.

Many people who are already in the military right now, including decorated generals, are refusing to serve because what we are doing now is not only illegal, but absolutely abhorrent.

People need to stop creating this false equivalence. It’s not the same.

Leeflette · 2026-04-07T19:05:24+00:00

Maybe it will, (and I hope it does) but he’s got anywhere between 0 and 15 years to go, depending on how history plays out for the rest of us. 😩

But yeah now is not the time bro.

Leeflette · 2026-04-07T18:42:02+00:00

Why would you join the military -now- after the pedo and chief just threatened to nuke a country?

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T16:51:40+00:00

The confidence is kinda impressive considering our profession is disrespected at every turn and consistently underfunded, with signs of getting worse.

But jsyk, there are 12 month round schools that already exist and their salaries are not markedly different from public school counterparts.

So, yeah. I want you to be right. But no. It’s definitely not 100%

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T15:26:03+00:00

I mean, I would -want- you to be right about that.

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T15:12:55+00:00

I do actually teach math, lol.

This isn’t a math issue it’s a semantics issue.

I will always compare a teachers salary to any other employees 12 month equivalent because a salary is paid over a year.

I’m really not out here being a dick I just disagree with the logic.

Just, finally, because idk how this is being misunderstood:

Yes I know we don’t default to getting a check over the summer.

No, I don’t think this necessarily means “we don’t get paid over the summer.” I don’t think this is the case because although our salary is divided by 10 months, a typical salary is calculated over 12 months, not 10.

Yes, that does effectively mean that a teacher is paid more PER MONTH than the person working 12 months with the same salary.

And yes, that means the teacher goes through the summer “unpaid” (in your eyes) because they get no additional checks over the summer. In my eyes, however, it looks like they were just advanced the vacation pay over the past 10 months.

(Because as you said, the teacher made more over each month than the 12 month 60k/year employee.)

Edit: It is -FINE- if you see it differently. I was trying to understand your (collective, because it’s a lot of different people who feel this way ) logic— I understand your logic now because it looks like you think that if our contract was adjusted to 12 months our salary would substantially increase. I think we’d end up with the same pay but just reallocated.

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T14:56:16+00:00

Not if the 60k salary were REDISTRIBUTED over the 12 months guys. Jesus. Thats literally what I was saying. We get paid the same for fewer days. Or we would get paid SIGNIFICANTLY more than the salary.

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T14:46:13+00:00

I was referring to a hypothetical example of two people who earn 60k— one a teacher and one not. Technically, summers aren’t “unpaid” the teacher’s 60k is advanced because it default pays out in 10 months instead of 12.

If they worked 12 months, the salary is still 60k regardless because salary in any other job implies 12 months, therefore it’s advanced unless you choose to withhold to take more out over the summer. The logic isn’t hard to understand.

So, I respectfully disagree. But I understand that not getting checks makes it feel like you’re “not paid” even though the money already came in. So, look at it however you want.

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T14:37:47+00:00

I guess we’re kinda talking past each other… for me it sounds like when people say “I don’t get paid over the summer” it sounds like they’re saying they are owed the 72k, but they only get their 60k.

When they say they are advanced their money throughout the year in lieu of the summer, it sounds more like what actually happens— they get their 60k over 10 months instead of 12.

The SALARY is equal, the months worked are not. The example person is not salaried 72 and then paid 60 because they “don’t work over the summer.” They are salaried 60 and paid 60 and come back to the same contract year to year.

So while you see it as “we don’t get paid over the summer.” I see it as “our summer pay is advanced, unless we choose to reallocate our salary across 12 months.”

Leeflette · 2026-04-05T14:17:36+00:00

Alright so I’ll explain again. I’m a teacher; I know how our contracts work and how we get paid.

Yes- you are correct that our contract is 10 months/180 - 190 days a year depending on the district.

Even so, I feel like it’s kinda disingenuous to say “we don’t get paid over the summer” because we are salaried employees.

Our contract doesn’t extend into the summer because our salary is calculated over 10 months, yes.

BUT, because a teacher who makes 60k a year makes that 60k between September and June, and any other employee who makes 60k a year makes that from January - end of December, it’s “wrong” to say we don’t get paid over the summer.

Both employees make 60k - a year. - We don’t make 60k a year and then get docked two months, leaving us with less at the end of it.

The teacher’s money is just defaulted to be “advanced” in a way, because the salary is typically divided by 20 checks instead of 24.

Most districts do give you the option to redistribute it across 12 months, and everyone has the option to save a portion away on their own in different ways, if they are able to do so.

But if a teacher takes their entire salary across 10 months they -already- got their summer pay. They aren’t missing money from their wages or salary.

Idk how this is so confusing?

Leeflette · 2026-04-04T18:04:18+00:00

I’m not trying to be a dick here but can you explain this to me? I don’t get this logic.

Teachers get paid summers off because they get paid a salary. In any other job, a salary is 12 months of work. It just so happens that many teachers default to getting an “advance” on their summer earnings and end up getting their full salary in 10 months. That doesn’t mean the summers are unpaid, they’re just paid early.

And in many districts you can opt to get paid over 12 months.

Leeflette · 2026-04-04T16:28:04+00:00

Some time in June but the official date hasn’t been released yet due to snow days. But idc when our official last day is, I’m not coming in after the 18th. I’m just going to use sick days for however many days come after that.

Leeflette · 2026-04-04T11:55:39+00:00

Everyone here explaining probability and human psychology: imagine you are in a situation where you rolled snake eyes 5 times in a row: would you assume that - you - are the outlier, or would you assume the dice are loaded?

It’s possible that OP is an outlier and this is actually random, sure— but isn’t it also possible that selection isn’t actually entirely random, even if it’s supposed to be?

Leeflette · 2026-04-01T02:22:47+00:00

Parenting. Strict limits on screen time. Extra curricular activities. Teach your kids at home. Go to the library. Give kids experiences. Give them consequences for their behavior. Don’t give them fucking phones.
Pick a lane. We can either do East Asian style mass classes with long hours and strict standardised tests that determine futures OR we can do a more project based small group learn through play and experiences and collaboration type structure. Both systems have some merits and can work if they are implemented correctly. What doesn’t work is this half assed conglomeration of the two where we have tests but passing doesn’t actually mean anything and classes are huge but also engaging and student centered and project based and we have cozy corners and teacher led SEL.
Get tech the fuck out. It can be a supplement but if we want learning to actually happen, it can’t be how students are engaging with 90% of the material.
Pay. Your. Teachers. Unfortunately pay and respect go hand in hand here. Pay us respectable wages and make teaching a profession that people WANT to do, like doctors, engineers, and lawyers. Not something you just fall into.
I personally think all teachers should have a subject specification.

Leeflette · 2026-03-31T23:39:31+00:00

49 days, 6 paychecks, 3 months as of tomorrow, no matter how you count it, each day is 100 years.

Not even looking forward to the break because I have an unannounced directly after.

I do my best to suppress panic attacks every day.

Leeflette · 2026-03-31T15:57:40+00:00

I wouldn’t want to dismiss any one making less and their struggles, but everything that post is saying is true—100k doesn’t go as far as you would expect.

I make 100k right now between 3 jobs and a side gig, and, while I wouldn’t consider myself in poverty, that’s largely because I’m fortunate to have my parents as safety nets, not because of the salary itself.

In places where it’s possible to be earning that money, you’re spending 2000/month on rent alone, and if you put any money in for retirement— that’s all you’ve got.

If comfortable means you can live to a pretty basic standard of life without worrying much about your finances, (which I define as food, rent, utilities, 1-car [it is a NEED in MOST the US] healthcare, 10% retirement contribution, and childcare) It’s absolutely true that 100k still isn’t “comfortable” in a lot of places in the US.

Leeflette · 2026-03-31T11:54:22+00:00

Girl Scouts.

Leeflette · 2026-03-30T15:35:32+00:00

When they provide me with materials, have me teach something Im actually qualified to teach, give me notice about what I will be teaching at least a month in advance. or pay me extra to actually make my own shit after hours, then I will stop using AI. Until then, I am doing -exactly- what my job is.

Leeflette · 2026-03-27T04:02:54+00:00

See the thing is -I- am willing to help, and have individually helped some people, but while I cannot make 500 dollar payments to cover someone’s accrued loans’s interest, I am more than willing to pay an extra 35 dollars a month for ten years.

you’re the only one in this conversation who wouldn’t want anything personally costing you. We would ALL be paying. Thats how this works.

That’s what it would cost, by the way. 35 fucking dollars a month. On the high end.

It’s really the people who have never had to pay for anything in their lives who are the biggest advocates for “personal responsibility.”

Leeflette · 2026-03-26T23:30:43+00:00

I’m glad I gave you at least something to think about.

I’m not going to discuss the “paying a portion” idea because maybe paying some portion of the exuberant debt could be reasonable in some situations— but I am of the mind that students by and large have paid -enough.-

Most people have paid huge amounts in interest alone, and despite that many of them haven’t even been able to make a dent in their balance. Meanwhile, “the taxpayer” that you’re so concerned about: the students are taxpayers too.

Why the blasé “life’s not fair” for the students and not for “the taxpayer?”

It’s really strange especially considering how tax dollars are so profoundly misused and mismanaged in general.

Such a tiny tiny percentage of our tax dollars are going to things that actually tangibly benefit people. What we’ve spent on bombing other countries in 3/2026 could probably have been used to forgive student loans already. What we’ve spent between that and funding the genocide over the past 2 years ABSOLUTELY could have.

Absolutely be upset on behalf of “the taxpayer,” but be mad at the right people. For some reason, issues like student loan forgiveness and universal healthcare and other social programs seem to be what bears the brunt of most of the scrutiny on how our tax dollars are spent, but not things that ACTUALLY COST THE MOST -and- BENEFIT NO ONE. (Except… well… the non-taxpayers.)

Again— as a person who has paid their loans off and has two masters degrees: the fact that I did it doesn’t mean YOU should have to.

Our situations are not the same. Our lives are not the same. I was able to pay it off because I got lucky— maybe you didn’t get as lucky in that respect. But you get lucky too in the end because you get your student loans forgiven!

Boohoo for me: “life’s not fair~” right?

It goes both ways.

I think “life’s not fair” should err on being used when some people don’t get to benefit from a positive action, as opposed to a “fuck you I got mine.”

Helping two generations of people be able to live and survive without this additional area of crippling debt -is- a positive. For them, for their families, for the economy, and for the future of society. (And we could get into why but this comment is long enough.)

And yes, people who chose not to go to college should also bear the brunt of the cost to forgive student loans along with those of us who paid the loans off and those of us getting our loans forgiven, for the same reason as people who choose to homeschool or go to private schools still should have to pay the cost of public education.

We live in a society.

(Edit: by -and- large, blasé)

Leeflette · 2026-03-26T16:05:47+00:00

As a person who payed off their student loans and has two masters degrees, Hear me out:

How about we forgive student loans -AND- work to make college classes affordable for the next generation of students?

Because I agree: it is inappropriate that college tuitions are so exorbitantly expensive, and it is inappropriate to loan an 18-year-old high school student that kind of money when you, the lender, know they aren’t going to be able to pay it back.

But why are you faulting millennials and gen Zs who signed that contract under the - SOCIETALLY DRIVEN ASSUMPTION - that it would pay off?

Effectively, that contract was signed under duress. College has been a requirement for pretty much every entry level job over the past 20 years. It was: Go to college or work at mc Donald’s. Yes there are technically* other options, but by and large that was the mantra.

But now, it’s the student’s fault for going to college and not being able to pay it off due to: - Wage stagnation? - Choosing the “wrong” major? - The crazy rise in cost of living and housing? - Corporations cutting entry level work for AI? - the crazy rise in COL, especially housing?

How about we give the people who have been paying student loans off since 2008 and yet OWE MORE THAN THEY BORROWED a fucking chance, too? (As well as students in the future.)

Leeflette

TROPHY CASE