I’m a teacher in PA with 17 years experience. That brings me to the top of the pay scale, making 90k. I think the pay is fair, although I think starting salaries need to increase. I struggled when I first started. Here are the problems in my opinion:

1. There is no portability in pay. I would like to move districts, to be closer to my aging parents. However, that would mean starting over on no higher then step three of a new district’s pay scale. No district is going to higher me and pay me for my experience. Why would a young person want to be locked into that for 30 years?

2. Better support for newer teachers. I have seen too many young teacher come in, get the worst teaching assignments with the most out of control kids and get no support from admin

3. The burden of standardized testing on math and language arts teachers in particular is ridiculous. The level of rigor is legit hard and developmentally inappropriate. I teach 7th grade, the amount of in-depth analysis required requires background knowledge and life experience that my 12 year olds don’t have.

4. finally this is probably the biggest one for me. I don’t get treated like a professional. Teachers are required to obtain their masters degree in order to move to the instructional to certificate in Pennsylvania, but we are treated like professional people that whole college degrees. Everything we do a second-guessed. First and second-guessed by children in our classroom. I have students that argue with me about everything including other students names in the class. I have students to talk about Andrew Tate, and how awesome he is and I have to sit there and listen to it. And that’s a direct product of their parents. They feel comfortable questioning us disobeying us because their parents feel comfortable questioning everything that we do. No one’s child is ever wrong. No one’s child ever lies. No one’s child could ever possibly need discipline from the teacher. And then this carries over into administration. I spent 90 minutes a day with my students and some of them, the ones that I have in homeroom close to three hours. However, I’m not even given the barest information about struggles with that child might be going through. If somethings happening at home, they don’t tell me they keep it on a need to know basis and apparently hi the adults in the building that spends the most time with that child doesn’t need to know. And I’m talking about serious issues like self harm, suicide ideation, drugs, and alcohol. I should at least know about these things so I can look out for that student while they’re in my care, but instead, I’m treated like an untrustworthy person that can’t be given this information because I might go blab it to the rest of the neighborhood. Honestly, teaching is insulting. Next week I get evaluated by my principal, who has never taught a day in his life-he was a guidance counselor.