It is ironic that I am one week removed from a relaxing Spring Break during which I accomplished a lot of chores, yet I am now as stressed as I have been all school year. I was out late at school both Wednesday and Friday (getting home last night at 11:45 pm after an Asian Club volleyball tournament), and I will have three more late school nights next week (the longest being Monday night’s Target Teach Parsippany monthly workshop which will keep me at school until 8:30 pm).

Is it any wonder that I get really annoyed at those people who don’t understand the workload or stress level of teaching and complain that teachers only work 5 hours a day 10 months a year? Recently I kept a tally of my hours spend doing school-related work for several weeks and it came to an average of 50-55 hours per week. Multiply that by 36 weeks (and I’ll even ignore all the hours I spend during so-called vacations) and the total hours I spend working is 1890 per year. Divide that by 40 hours per week (the supposed norm for non-teachers) and I work 47 weeks per year! That is longer than a non-teaching job which with vacations and holidays averages about 46 weeks per year.

The reality is that most teachers–and I assume my workload is not that abnormal, especially compared to English and History teachers who are inundated with papers to read, or elementary teachers who spend hours each night preparing for their classes–do indeed work 12 months, except that it is compacted into 10 months! And we are responsible for 100 students per day, not only teaching them, but preparing them for life, as well as taking up so many other responsibilities that working Americans have given up in their feverish pursuit of materialism. If you don't believe me, come to my office any day and see how many students I counsel on a regular basis!

It is not surprising that studies have shown teaching is the second most stressful job in America after air traffic controllers.

And the Parsippany Board of Education has the nerve to be undertaking a political campaign designed to turn the community against us because we don’t pay towards our own medical benefits. Slimy politicians!