I have a headache, and I’m tired, which seems to be epidemic around school this week. I wonder if the cause is a general virus running through the building, or an aftereffect of moving the clocks ahead an hour catching up with us? I’m sure I’m going to be very tired Friday night when I have to stay at school forever for a dance.

Did I ever mention here that a few weeks ago there was a letter in the local paper complaining that teachers should work 40 hours per week like everybody else? I would absolutely love to work only forty hours per week. Last year I surveyed the teachers in my district and when the results came back the typical teacher worked about 51 hours per week during the school year. That’s a lot of hours, which explains why I am busy every night and most of the weekend. That comes to a total of 1900 hours per year, the equivalent of working 48 weeks of 40 hour each, which is slightly more than the average person in business works (not including any overtime) with holidays and vacation days.

Considering I earn about half what I could be earning in business with my masters’ degree in mathematics and years of experience, it really angers me when people belittle the teaching profession having absolutely no idea what they are talking about. I know at least 5 people in my building who worked in industry before becoming teachers, and all of them complain that they have never worked this hard their entire career but they are earning considerably less money now than they earned previously.

I love teaching, and don’t mind the long hours, stress, and lesser salary, but dammit don’t belittle me with a pack of ignorant lies.