Blindscience- you are RIGHT ON in all of your comments. The other people can argue all they want, but you have the facts. It's not a matter of teachers complaining about our jobs- I, for one, LOVE my job and wouldn't trade it for the world. It's about people thinking we are asking for more than we deserve and that we have all of this supposed "free time". And also, that we are getting our pensions handed to us, when as you stated, we have been contributing to all along. Someone stated before that we do not need to "start from scratch" with our lessons, that we just reuse them every year. That, my friend, is just false information. Any GOOD teacher knows that you cator to your students. Yes, you may use a skeleton of a former lesson. However, a GOOD teacher constantly gets new ideas from workshops or classes (many of which are spent on Saturdays or done during the summer in this "free time") and changes plans all the time. I don't think I've ever used all of the same lesson plans in one year. I am constantly changing my lessons and making my learning environment better for students. Oh and this "free time" is as a result of families in Pennsylvania. You try to take away the summer vacation and see who throws a fit - I'll bet families will just as much, if not more than teachers.
No other profession, that I know of, makes what (little) we do and has to continuously futher their education. I have several friends who are in the health field that are required to attend classes. Many of them start at $60K +. Doctors continue education and make a whole heck of a lot more (rightfully so, since their liability is much greater). One of my very own family members has a masters, as do I, and makes more than twice what I make. He doesn't have to do anything beyond the work day and gets to constantly travel. Personally, if I'm not physically at my job or doing lesson plans/grading at home, I'm constantly thinking of my job- whether it's worrying about a student, seeing something that I could use for school, or searching the internet for new, exciting ideas. I chose this- but just saying how it is. Teachers can climb the salary scale, but it takes a lot of work through futher education and also years of experience. I think it's very fair as an incentive to give them a raise as they get education to be better at their job.
I think it's such a shame that teachers have become public enemies because of the state's mistakes with this pension crisis. If the state had been accountable all along, this wouldn't have been such an issue. Thanks Rendell. As a tax payer myself, I'd personally rather see my tax dollars go to making our country better by educating our children then paying the political big-wigs. It all starts in education. Whether it's expensive or not, and like it or not, if the money isn't in education, the entire state will eventually suffer from a spiral effect of poorly educated citizens.