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Coaching Carosel


Alpha Wolf

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Great answers and explanations. Like I tell all my friends, if you haven’t been in a high school from 4-6A in the past twenty years, and by in a high school , I mean sit in the library or a classroom all day (not feasible for most but more accurate than the five word explanation of school your teenager gives you while focusing on their phone) you’ll be shocked. Again, the school is a reflection of society, so hangout all day at Walmart and watch people and their actions for more shock value. The most disappointing thing is the lack of accountability by students, teachers, administrators, and schools. About ten years or more, schools (where I worked at least) stopped sending kids who would verbally assault teachers to the local judge who would fine the parents ( finally make them be parents by $). The county just said, no, we’re too busy. The really bad ones can really get away with being IDIOTS, yet they’re often untouchable because of their 501 plan.  Kids know exactly what they can get away with ( just like us in the 70’s). There are still great kids, parents, teachers, administrators, and schools, but not as many. But I am excited to get back in it, definitely takes a special (demented maybe😏) to do it.

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I have friend that coached in a Houston area high school.  Married a girl, had a kid... ended up going to work in the industrial field down in South Texas.  He bounced from just under $60k to over $100k instantly.  Fast forward two years and he quit the industrial job and moved the family back to the Houston area and actually snagged his old job back.  Still hitting about $60k and non-stop whining about the salary. 

I get it... It's way more fun to coach up kids and not have to worry about the weather, even longer hours than coaching, job insecurity, safety in the workplace, etc... But stop whining already.  He's doing what he wants to do... there are lots of other options out there.  

An analogy I'd use is this.  There are guys that operate heavy equipment on pipelines.  They usually have to move around and follow the work which means time away from home.   When they actually have jobs they work tons of hours, but the pay rates are phenomenal.  Those guys are subject to layoffs at any minute and production in their workplace is of the highest importance.  Same thing with crane operators in the plants.  Long hours, night shifts, job insecurity, sketchy benefits.... but the pay makes up for that. 

Then you have the guy that maintains streets for the City of Groves.  He works five minutes from the house, works 4 tens and has every weekend off.  He reads the paper in the crapper every morning after he clocks in and is back at the shop by 3 o'clock every day waiting to clock out at 4:30.  He's just checking days off of the calendar until he can retire with benefits.  Everybody knows how completely useless those guys for the 4 hours per day that they're kinda-sorta filling potholes.  

Now imagine the City of Groves guys moaning that he doesn't make as much money as those boys on the pipelines or refineries do.... they're all equipment operators, right?

That pretty much sums up my opinion on the "teachers should make as much as everybody else" hoax. 

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I agree with cardinal backer. As teachers coaches, the group collectively loves to complain about low pay. I can understand being a teacher coach of 33 years. But I actually feel I was compensated fairly. I was the baby from a farming immigrant family of 7 whose parents had a second  grade education before having to work the cotton fields. We grew up poor, but full because of our farm. When I got my first job at Clear Lake intermediate in 84 for about $14,000, i was in hog heaven and rich. I’ve seen hard work in the oil, chemical and construction fields and better salaries. There is good and bad in everything. If you don’t like it get out. We have a problem not with the $ we make but what we spend and how we let others dictate happiness to us. I believe my only argument about the education profession is the benefits, namely insurance. What a ripoff. Like this big raise teachers got from the state last year, funny how every teachers insurance raised an almost identical amount. ✝️👍🐻

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1 hour ago, CardinalBacker said:

I have friend that coached in a Houston area high school.  Married a girl, had a kid... ended up going to work in the industrial field down in South Texas.  He bounced from just under $60k to over $100k instantly.  Fast forward two years and he quit the industrial job and moved the family back to the Houston area and actually snagged his old job back.  Still hitting about $60k and non-stop whining about the salary. 

I get it... It's way more fun to coach up kids and not have to worry about the weather, even longer hours than coaching, job insecurity, safety in the workplace, etc... But stop whining already.  He's doing what he wants to do... there are lots of other options out there.  

An analogy I'd use is this.  There are guys that operate heavy equipment on pipelines.  They usually have to move around and follow the work which means time away from home.   When they actually have jobs they work tons of hours, but the pay rates are phenomenal.  Those guys are subject to layoffs at any minute and production in their workplace is of the highest importance.  Same thing with crane operators in the plants.  Long hours, night shifts, job insecurity, sketchy benefits.... but the pay makes up for that. 

Then you have the guy that maintains streets for the City of Groves.  He works five minutes from the house, works 4 tens and has every weekend off.  He reads the paper in the crapper every morning after he clocks in and is back at the shop by 3 o'clock every day waiting to clock out at 4:30.  He's just checking days off of the calendar until he can retire with benefits.  Everybody knows how completely useless those guys for the 4 hours per day that they're kinda-sorta filling potholes.  

Now imagine the City of Groves guys moaning that he doesn't make as much money as those boys on the pipelines or refineries do.... they're all equipment operators, right?

That pretty much sums up my opinion on the "teachers should make as much as everybody else" hoax. 

Not that I necessarily agree with both sides of the argument, but I do realize that complacency could trigger many "the grass is greener somewhere else" feelings.  Especially considering that most teachers that do a lot of complaining (I'm assuming) can remember a time when conditions were seemingly better.  A time when if a teacher had issues out of a kid all they had to do was walk outside and three on the backside would fix it.  A time when expectations of their job was probably much lower.  So in that regard, I understand why they are making the argument.. ya know.. "we don't get paid enough for this".  Like you say and I agree with, it's not difficult to do something else.  I also think that the teachers' salaries are reflective of the amount they have to deal with in regards to school size.  It's true that you won't get paid the same in a tiny school as you would in a huge school... but you also won't have 40 kids in a room that may or may not include gang members (embellishment).   So yeah.. maybe the grass is greener somewhere else and maybe it's not.  Go find out if it's that hard to deal with.

I think a good number of educators are ok with their job and are perfectly happy with the reward vs. risk.  Just my opinion based on the friends/family I have in the profession. 

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1 hour ago, CardinalBacker said:

I have friend that coached in a Houston area high school.  Married a girl, had a kid... ended up going to work in the industrial field down in South Texas.  He bounced from just under $60k to over $100k instantly.  Fast forward two years and he quit the industrial job and moved the family back to the Houston area and actually snagged his old job back.  Still hitting about $60k and non-stop whining about the salary. 

I get it... It's way more fun to coach up kids and not have to worry about the weather, even longer hours than coaching, job insecurity, safety in the workplace, etc... But stop whining already.  He's doing what he wants to do... there are lots of other options out there.  

An analogy I'd use is this.  There are guys that operate heavy equipment on pipelines.  They usually have to move around and follow the work which means time away from home.   When they actually have jobs they work tons of hours, but the pay rates are phenomenal.  Those guys are subject to layoffs at any minute and production in their workplace is of the highest importance.  Same thing with crane operators in the plants.  Long hours, night shifts, job insecurity, sketchy benefits.... but the pay makes up for that. 

Then you have the guy that maintains streets for the City of Groves.  He works five minutes from the house, works 4 tens and has every weekend off.  He reads the paper in the crapper every morning after he clocks in and is back at the shop by 3 o'clock every day waiting to clock out at 4:30.  He's just checking days off of the calendar until he can retire with benefits.  Everybody knows how completely useless those guys for the 4 hours per day that they're kinda-sorta filling potholes.  

Now imagine the City of Groves guys moaning that he doesn't make as much money as those boys on the pipelines or refineries do.... they're all equipment operators, right?

That pretty much sums up my opinion on the "teachers should make as much as everybody else" hoax. 

i do think teachers are underpaid, but I also got into this because I love teaching and coaching and have thought about switching careers a time or two, but I could never justify switching based solely on salary

i, think your points on the other issues is what is really driving teachers away from the industry. We've never been paid well, but teachers are only starting to have a mass exodus recently. 

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1 hour ago, CardinalBacker said:

I have friend that coached in a Houston area high school.  Married a girl, had a kid... ended up going to work in the industrial field down in South Texas.  He bounced from just under $60k to over $100k instantly.  Fast forward two years and he quit the industrial job and moved the family back to the Houston area and actually snagged his old job back.  Still hitting about $60k and non-stop whining about the salary. 

I get it... It's way more fun to coach up kids and not have to worry about the weather, even longer hours than coaching, job insecurity, safety in the workplace, etc... But stop whining already.  He's doing what he wants to do... there are lots of other options out there.  

An analogy I'd use is this.  There are guys that operate heavy equipment on pipelines.  They usually have to move around and follow the work which means time away from home.   When they actually have jobs they work tons of hours, but the pay rates are phenomenal.  Those guys are subject to layoffs at any minute and production in their workplace is of the highest importance.  Same thing with crane operators in the plants.  Long hours, night shifts, job insecurity, sketchy benefits.... but the pay makes up for that. 

Then you have the guy that maintains streets for the City of Groves.  He works five minutes from the house, works 4 tens and has every weekend off.  He reads the paper in the crapper every morning after he clocks in and is back at the shop by 3 o'clock every day waiting to clock out at 4:30.  He's just checking days off of the calendar until he can retire with benefits.  Everybody knows how completely useless those guys for the 4 hours per day that they're kinda-sorta filling potholes.  

Now imagine the City of Groves guys moaning that he doesn't make as much money as those boys on the pipelines or refineries do.... they're all equipment operators, right?

That pretty much sums up my opinion on the "teachers should make as much as everybody else" hoax. 

As a teacher and coach (not football), I agree with this. I get to do a job I love, be with my family a lot and because my wife, who is a tremendous educator, is great with money, live pretty comfortably. If teachers don't like the job or pay,  they can go find something that makes them happy. Their degrees will afford them countless other opportunities.

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9 minutes ago, waltersobchak said:

i do think teachers are underpaid, but I also got into this because I love teaching and coaching and have thought about switching careers a time or two, but I could never justify switching based solely on salary

i, think your points on the other issues is what is really driving teachers away from the industry. We've never been paid well, but teachers are only starting to have a mass exodus recently. 

I think it also has to do with the fact that kids can go around and pretty much do whatever they want and a parent tell them it is not their fault they are getting in trouble but the teachers. A constant struggle with kids and their technology during class instead of listening to what is being taught they are worried about social media. They fail a test, but it isn't their fault, "the teacher didn't teach them right", or "that's not the way my child learns". When in reality they were on their phone all class period. Then they fail and you are required to allow the students to come in and retake an assignment for a 70 when the student did nothing in class until the last 5 minutes a guess on everything but the parents complain about the student grade so they get to redo it. 

Needless to say, there are a lot of factors that are contributing to teachers leaving the industry. No accountability by parents or administration. And the low pay sucks too lol  

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4 minutes ago, waltersobchak said:

i do think teachers are underpaid, but I also got into this because I love teaching and coaching and have thought about switching careers a time or two, but I could never justify switching based solely on salary

i, think your points on the other issues is what is really driving teachers away from the industry. We've never been paid well, but teachers are only starting to have a mass exodus recently. 

I'm curious how much "the millennial effect" has to do with the exodus we're talking about.  I've always assumed that entry-level teaching was just a place to spend some time on the way up or a place to stop if you didn't have a lot of ambition. A young guy would hire on as an assistant coach (possibly junior high) and teach a few classes and hope to one day (after moving up the ladder at a couple of different schools) become a HC and maybe even an AD.  Or teachers would go back after their Masters, move into admin and possibly grab up a superintendent slot and bump that retirement up where it needed to be.  

One of my cousins married a girl that's a career teacher.  She's safely middle-aged and still teaching elementary kids over in PNGISD.  She's one of those VERY vocal complainers about salary. In my mind I'm always like "hmmmmm.... you could make about $12k a year more if you wanted.... go sign up at PAISD."  On the other hand I've got a young niece that's barely thirty, went back and got her masters, changed ISDs and is now a high school counselor- and she isn't moaning about her salary.  It kinda is what you make of it in a lot of cases.  

The behavioral stuff is what I can't get my head wrapped around.  Kids fighting teachers, etc.... I have a friend that heads up an alternative educational program at a local elementary school.  There aren't many days when she or one of her paras don't get hit by a kid.  She ends up having to physically restrain kids every single day.  She goes to multiple classrooms every day to handle situations with kids who are flipping out, wrecking the classroom, cursing, even hitting other kids, etc... There are a couple dozen kids that don't even go to regular classes because they're such discipline problems.  Forgive me, but I don't recall ANY kids (other than severely retarded-don't judge, I know that's not polite) that couldn't exist in a classroom back in the 80's/90s.... but now this small 4A elementary has dozens?  I don't understand. 

I also don't want to turn this into a political post, but the entire educational system is handled by liberal/progressive mindsets.  College professors and admins are by and large liberal.  When I was in college they were the pinkos that had dodged the draft for Vietnam and ended up with advanced degrees that were pretty much only good for teaching college courses.  They spend four years indoctrinating every single teacher that gets a liberal arts degree.  It's not a big shocker that educators ultimately end up kinda with a whole "something for nothing" "you need to pay your fair share" "you deserve EVERYTHING just because you're here" mindset.  

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15 minutes ago, SherriffReesie said:

I think it also has to do with the fact that kids can go around and pretty much do whatever they want and a parent tell them it is not their fault they are getting in trouble but the teachers. A constant struggle with kids and their technology during class instead of listening to what is being taught they are worried about social media. They fail a test, but it isn't their fault, "the teacher didn't teach them right", or "that's not the way my child learns". When in reality they were on their phone all class period. Then they fail and you are required to allow the students to come in and retake an assignment for a 70 when the student did nothing in class until the last 5 minutes a guess on everything but the parents complain about the student grade so they get to redo it. 

Needless to say, there are a lot of factors that are contributing to teachers leaving the industry. No accountability by parents or administration. And the low pay sucks too lol  

So much right with this.... My kids could always turn in assignments late for 70% credit.  In the old days it was due today or you got a zero.  If you failed, you failed.  There were no "do-overs" for tests for which you didn't prepare.  

It's kinda like I used to say about my second successful marriage... if you take away all of the good, pretty much all that's left is the bad.  Good teachers teach because they care about the kids and want to make a difference in young lives.  Most are willing to accept that they'll never get rich, but feel rewarded nonetheless.  When you take away those positive aspects of the teaching career, it's a whole lot easier for teachers to move on. More money isn't going to fix that, because most of them weren't there for the money in the first place. 

I would have made a horrible teacher, BTW... I wanted to have/do a lot of things that require substantial cash and I don't even like kids. 

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5 minutes ago, CardinalBacker said:

So much right with this.... My kids could always turn in assignments late for 70% credit.  In the old days it was due today or you got a zero.  If you failed, you failed.  There were no "do-overs" for tests for which you didn't prepare.  

It's kinda like I used to say about my second successful marriage... if you take away all of the good, pretty much all that's left is the bad.  Good teachers teach because they care about the kids and want to make a difference in young lives.  Most are willing to accept that they'll never get rich, but feel rewarded nonetheless.  When you take away those positive aspects of the teaching career, it's a whole lot easier for teachers to move on. More money isn't going to fix that, because most of them weren't there for the money in the first place. 

I would have made a horrible teacher, BTW... I wanted to have/do a lot of things that require substantial cash and I don't even like kids. 

Pretty certain the feeling is mutual.

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20 hours ago, AggiesAreWe said:

Pretty certain the feeling is mutual.

I like kids. I just don't agree with how the school system is ran now a days. There is no more backbone. As soon as there is a little conflict with a parent not liking how something is done or somebody was a little hard on their kid, the school system caves and does what the parent wants. I'm not saying this is the case for all schools though.  

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I appreciate the discussion of the state of our schools immensely. I thought about teaching when I started college in the early 90's in Colorado, but I was already seeing gang presence in the high schools in Denver and decided that accounting was a better way to go. Looks like I made the right call, at least for me. 

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