RANTING/VENTING MEGATHREAD 3.0

1) My point is that you guys are sorely mistreated and exploited. The contracts I see here are absolutely revoltingly abusive. If that makes my ego seem extraordinarily bloated to you, perhaps yours has been beaten down to a pulp so much that you are willing to defend such institutionalised abuse.

Lol. You get paid a decent wage and are provided housing. Wage enough that you can afford to vacation twice a year.

Institutionalized abuse? You don't even know what abuse is. Just the latest example of stuff that would have been a 2 on the trauma scale 75 years ago is now a 10 for some.

You misunderstand or are completely ignorant of how a school is run in the west.

My mother was a state-certified public school teacher for 30+ years. She was at her desk even when classes had finished and at times during the summer. Now, I don't know whether that was because she chose to balance her time a certain way or whether she was obligated. I was 8 and more concerned about playing Oregon Trail on the school computers than the nuances of teacher working duties, but yes, things like specified hours and days are part of the collective bargaining agreement.

Namely, that people are sinners and ought to be punished severely, lest the rule of law and people's authority is challenged by this or that ominous group.  But this time we are not talking about uncontrollable hapless teenagers with cell phones, this time we are talking about us, TEACHERS. Do you really believe we are not to be trusted because if it were left up to us we would party like it's 1999?

Is it your assertion that EVERY teacher would not engage in inappropriate or potentially illegal conduct if things were left entirely up to them?

The majority would not. However, rules and laws don't exist because of the majority (in some cases, speeding for example, shows that everyone breaks the law and cannot be trusted), they exist because of a minority.  And if they go unpunished, that minority can become a majority quite rapidly.

You simply do not treat teachers with such mistrust. We are teachers for crying out loud, how would you envision the Education dept. instructing us to sit randomly at a desk because we are 'getting paid' for it?

Time sheet. You sign in, you sign out. You work a specified number of hours per year and a specified number of days. How you choose to distribute those is up to you. However, for contracted teachers that are not tenured and part of the teacher's union, you might specify things differently with a different contract.

What you perhaps do not get is that the primary role of a manager is to help and assist the team. Not to tell colleagues how to do their work

It's both. If you believe employees, even new ones, need zero instruction or correction, then you're incredibly naive.

Now coming full circle here: Marty, if you love people and trust them, they will return that favour.

You can't be serious. What a privileged existence you must have led to think that. There are people out there who do not give a f. They will take and steal from you without a second thought. You show them love and trust and all they see is weakness and opportunity.

We should always make that first step in trusting students and helping them. Trying to exert control over people with punishment is counter-productive and quite frankly, shows a limited range of negotiation skills.

Have you ever had to fire an employee for theft? I have. Multiple times. One time for stealing, not from the store, but from another employee who showed trust to other employees by leaving some of his CD collection at the store for employees to use on the store radio.

Not only did I have to fire him, but because we didn't have any direct evidence, I had to manipulate him into confessing, which he did, therefore providing us with a record and cause to terminate him immediately.

So no, this idea that employees and workers can always be trusted and just show them love is utter nonsense. Sure it can work with the right people in the right situation, but that is situation-specific, not systemic. For an entire system, you need oversight and regulation.

Also, you seem to ignore the fact that you are dealing with taxpayer money and government appropriations. People will inspect and audit things and look for ways to cut the budget or transfer money elsewhere. Having zero record of employee's working hours and little oversight would draw auditors to an institution like meat to maggots.

1. yeah, and when they're done with their duties, they can go home. and i bet they don't have to come into school when their aren't any classes (or students) and sit all day

2. you're getting paid to teach. silly to make someone stay if they have done everything required of them. especially during vacation periods

3. again, it was just an idea. i know hagwons sometimes offer this instead of giving a pay rise

Desk warming is pointless. You aren't working, nobody's supervising you to get anything done, you're just existing in a space because some people complained about not being able to go home when others were able to. Making everyone have to stay is kinda dumb considering that, unless you have camp, you're literally doing nothing.

No, you choose to do nothing. You could be doing something, you just choose not to. I agree it's dumb to pay you money to do it.

Discipline for what? You're not being supervised.

Fairness for what? It's only fair because EVERYONE has to do it.

Accountability for what? There's literally nothing to be responsible for.

Organizational discipline. Systemic fairness. Organizational accountability. Again, you're only looking at this through your own narrow, selfish perspective.  You are not thinking of this systemically and from the standpoint of management and oversight.

How would you handle this? What's your alternative system? Let you go home whenever you want, even though you are under contract to work those hours? Restructure the contracts to hourly pay or pay by the class? Those are all reasonable alternatives and might prevent desk-warming, but they also could have unintended consequences, like reduced pay. Obviously you need contracts that specify hours and working days.

It's staggering how much you fail to consider how all of this looks to accountants, auditors, consultants, and other people who look for workplace inefficiencies and ways to trim money. You see "The school is keeping me at work, when they should be letting me go and play. I'm just sitting here wasting my time." They see "This person is getting paid to do nothing. Either we don't need to pay him or we don't need this person. Let's take a closer look during the next round of budgeting."

Raising a stink about deskwarming and getting paid to do nothing is something only the foolishly naive would do.

But hey, it's a part of the contract, so...

Exactly. You signed it, live up to it. You want that contract to work for you when it benefits you, well then you have to follow it even when it's irritating.

1. yeah, and when they're done with their duties, they can go home. and i bet they don't have to come into school when their aren't any classes (or students) and sit all day

As I said, my mom was a public school teacher and she (and other teachers) were definitely at the school during the summer even when there were no students. Now, as I said, I don't know why this was. Some of it was obviously mandated days, but also I think some of it was just her way of pacing out the workload and getting stuff done, and whatnot, so I don't know what was her choice and what was the school's.  Heck, I'm pretty sure some of it was just her taking advantage of the free A/C and higher-speed internet and watering her plants.

So I agree that there can certainly be some flexibility for tenured teachers, but there will still be some minimum number of working hours and days, because you simply need that specified in order to have a workable contract in order to collectively bargain.

you're getting paid to teach. silly to make someone stay if they have done everything required of them. especially during vacation periods

You're also getting paid to prepare content. You might also be getting paid to "facilitate English education" or whatever, which could mean having the English library open for student access, which in turn requires student supervision.

If I was in charge, I'd be sure to have that English library open and air conditioned as a welcome place for students to relax during summer classes. It was at my school and the books actually got some use out of them instead of just gathering dust. Now granted, the kids gravitated to either easy picture books or English-language Slam Dunk, One Piece, and Naruto, but hey, at least it's exposure.

again, it was just an idea. i know hagwons sometimes offer this instead of giving a pay rise

Hey, I'm all for whatever people choose to negotiate. Me personally, I'd take the money for doing nothing. On the other hand, if you have substantial savings or simply are fine with having reduced pay and more free time, more power to you.

1. that's great if you actually have stuff to do. i wasn't allowed to turn the A/C or heater on during vacation desk warming periods - as it was a "waste of electricity" because i was only there by myself. nothing says "we do not respect you" quite like that

2. i'm pretty sure NETs are considered more of a headache than a commodity at most elementary schools. a lot of of complaints on here about their public school jobs is that they're under-utilised

Cheese and f*cking Rice, you guys, start a thread.

I only have 1 week left of 'real' doing-nothing-all-day summer break. 

Desk warming is pointless. You aren't working, nobody's supervising you to get anything done, you're just existing in a space because some people complained about not being able to go home when others were able to. Making everyone have to stay is kinda dumb considering that, unless you have camp, you're literally doing nothing.

No, you choose to do nothing. You could be doing something, you just choose not to. I agree it's dumb to pay you money to do it.

Who says I choose to do nothing? I actually make lessons and prepare for camps. When I finish all that, I work on personal projects. You're hard-assuming my work ethic. Plus, these are all things I could do at home.

Organizational discipline. Systemic fairness. Organizational accountability. Again, you're only looking at this through your own narrow, selfish perspective.  You are not thinking of this systemically and from the standpoint of management and oversight.

I'm selfish for thinking this is pointless?

How would you handle this? What's your alternative system?

Remember how in other school systems, all the teachers get to go home when they're finished?

Raising a stink about deskwarming and getting paid to do nothing is something only the foolishly naive would do.

I'm not complaining about it, my main point was that there are better ways to spend time than at a desk with zero supervision or actual work goals, especially if you're A.) finished with all the work you need to do or B.) are set to leave the country after the current contract.

But hey, it's a part of the contract, so...

Exactly. You signed it, live up to it. You want that contract to work for you when it benefits you, well then you have to follow it even when it's irritating.

Clearly you missed my sarcasm. Should've gone with the /s

The best thing about desk warming is that it's more like desk cooling on account of the free aircon.

Dmart: No, you choose to do nothing. You could be doing something, you just choose not to. I agree it's dumb to pay you money to do it.

I wonder if the irony or hypocrisy of lecturing people on how to wisely use their down time at school is lost on a guy who is using that time to write page after page on here? 

And what is this English library that you've mentioned  a dozen times as this cure-all activity for the deskwarming blues?  I've worked four different public schools here and not a one has had a separate English library. 


Other than that, I'm back in a mostly empty school with nothing to do.  Hopefully Martino will be back on with more "Please notice how awesome I am and how entitled everyone else is" rantings.  Or the fiction about firing the degenerate CD thief was good.  It wasn't just that he had to give this crook his due, but since they had no proof (somehow still knew it was him) he had to use his wile to trick the guy into confessing.  Is there any arena that Martino can't or hasn't already succeeded in? 


Also, you were wondering why your mom chose to go to school when she didn't have to.  I think I might have an inkling as to why. 

I wonder if the irony or hypocrisy of lecturing people on how to wisely use their down time at school is lost on a guy who is using that time to write page after page on here? 

Dude, the amount of time you've convinced yourself I spend on here and the amount of time I ACTUALLY spend on here are two different things. I average, what, 4 posts a day? Lets' say two of those are longer rants at 5-7 minutes each. And two of those are pretty quick replies of 1-2 minutes. That's around 15 minutes per day.

I know in your mind I'm on here 8 hours a day constantly typing, but that just isn't the case. That's why we rely on objective data and reasoning and not on our feels.

And what is this English library that you've mentioned  a dozen times as this cure-all activity for the deskwarming blues?  I've worked four different public schools here and not a one has had a separate English library. 

Sucks for your schools. Both schools I used to teach at had em. I don't know what percentage of schools out there have them, but it's certainly substantial enough that companies have actual design plans and everything for them.

Or the fiction about firing the degenerate CD thief was good.  It wasn't just that he had to give this crook his due, but since they had no proof (somehow still knew it was him) he had to use his wile to trick the guy into confessing.

Not fiction. Dude stole my coworkers CDs. There were only two cooks and two drivers that night. One of the cooks was the dude who stole em and he'd been working there for two weeks and was janky as f. The two drivers were all long-timers and friends. Getting him to confess and put in writing gave us an extra measure of leverage and protection and when it comes to 19 year old stoners, its about as difficult to pull off as half the BS we do when we're messing with our students. Dr. Moriarty this guy was not. This is the equivalent of sinking a free throw. Sure you can miss, but don't be surprised that any able-bodied adult can pull it off.

Also, you were wondering why your mom chose to go to school when she didn't have to.  I think I might have an inkling as to why. 

First- **** off. No reason to bring family into this.
Second- I was low maintenance as a kid. Not the kind she had to constantly look after or deal with.

Um, pretty sure I made the comment about why your mother was at school because you brought it up as an example of teachers in the west on more than one occasion.  So, instead of getting triggered, perhaps you should not use her in your posts if you don't want her referenced.  If you are going to put your family out there you've done that and made it fair to take a crack at.  Be objective and stop leading with your feels. 

Um, pretty sure I made the comment about why your mother was at school because you brought it up as an example of teachers in the west on more than one occasion.  So, instead of getting triggered, perhaps you should not use her in your posts if you don't want her referenced.  If you are going to put your family out there you've done that and made it fair to take a crack at.  Be objective and stop leading with your feels. 

Did you bring her up in the context of discussion regarding teacher's working conditions and hours? That would be fair game and no one would have an issue.

Your comment was just a personal insult that involved the use of a family member. It had nothing to do with the discussion. Therefore, you can **** off for bringing up my family like that.

MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmm mmmmmmmmmilf!

Joking

Calm down

MMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmilf!

Joking

Calm down

Exactly....

'Sticks and stones and all that....'

I thought it quite clever, made me smile when I read it. Like normally there is absolutely nobody at a school during summer, but she was.

Um, pretty sure I made the comment about why your mother was at school because you brought it up as an example of teachers in the west on more than one occasion.  So, instead of getting triggered, perhaps you should not use her in your posts if you don't want her referenced.  If you are going to put your family out there you've done that and made it fair to take a crack at.  Be objective and stop leading with your feels. 

Did you bring her up in the context of discussion regarding teacher's working conditions and hours? That would be fair game and no one would have an issue.

Your comment was just a personal insult that involved the use of a family member. It had nothing to do with the discussion. Therefore, you can **** off for bringing up my family like that.

Ok, enough with the faux offended.  Not buying it.  I did bring it up in the context that you presented it.  With your style on here it segued easily into a joke about you.  Despite your false indignation for show, clearly it was a crack at you.  As you're always citing your reading comprehension skills, there was no other way to take it.  So, drop the "**** off for bringing up my family like that" BS.  It's sophmorically melodramatic. 

It's sophmorically melodramatic.

this guy knows words

Um, pretty sure I made the comment about why your mother was at school because you brought it up as an example of teachers in the west on more than one occasion.  So, instead of getting triggered, perhaps you should not use her in your posts if you don't want her referenced.  If you are going to put your family out there you've done that and made it fair to take a crack at.  Be objective and stop leading with your feels. 

Did you bring her up in the context of discussion regarding teacher's working conditions and hours? That would be fair game and no one would have an issue.

Your comment was just a personal insult that involved the use of a family member. It had nothing to do with the discussion. Therefore, you can **** off for bringing up my family like that.

Ok, enough with the faux offended.  Not buying it.  I did bring it up in the context that you presented it.  With your style on here it segued easily into a joke about you.  Despite your false indignation for show, clearly it was a crack at you.  As you're always citing your reading comprehension skills, there was no other way to take it.  So, drop the "**** off for bringing up my family like that" BS.  It's sophmorically melodramatic. 

Cheers then. You didn't bring it up to make a point about mandated working hours or anything like that. But you're just trying to make a throw away joke.  Fine. Whatever.

Move on and post some "Your momma" jokes on pointless ramblings?

DMArt:Cheers then. You didn't bring it up to make a point about mandated working hours or anything like that. But you're just trying to make a throw away joke.  Fine. Whatever.

Move on and post some "Your momma" jokes on pointless ramblings?

I don't make momma jokes. Anyways, I get the sense you feel my throwaway joke was beneath the highbrow discussion taking place on deskwarming.  One thing was clear as I caught up on my first day back to deskwarming, and that is that not a soul was taking your argument seriously.  So, a throwaway joke was perfectly fitting with the tone and not affecting the sanctity of this thread.