I received an email today from a good mate, who just happens to be a teacher... I had to share it. The red comments are what I sent back.

Here we go...

From a teacher that knows what he's talking about...! <Bugger me - That's one for the trade descriptions> Now I know you haven't sent me this one!<You've only just dared>

<name removed to protect the gullible>

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Subject: Teachers

Aren't you sick of those highly paid teachers? <YES>Their hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work nine or ten months of the year!<That's heavily exagerated !>

It's time we put things into perspective and pay them for what they do<Bugger all!>... babysit! <That infers a degree of intelligence!> We can get babysitters for less than the minimum wage. That’s right.<Babysitters normally do periods of 4 hours for £30 which shows they are more intelligent than teachers and deserve the £7.50/hour rate>

We would give them £3 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly planning time.<They go to house, they listen to music or watch TV and they use the householders food and drink - Paid for by the householder or (let's call them, the employer)>

That would be one day (7:45am to 4:00pm, with 45 minutes off for lunch).<Correction - that would be about 3 or 4 hours in front of the child, 3 hours sitting drinking coffee and over an hour plus for lunch> Each parent should pay £19.50 a day for these teachers to babysit their children.<That actually is £2.36 per hour for 8.25 hours. Babysitters normally work from 19:00-11:00 for at least £30 or £7.50 per hour>

Now, how many do they teach at any one time… maybe 30? <How many families do you know that have 30 kids in the family? The average is now only 1.8 children per household.>
So that’s £19.50 x 30 = £585 a day.<So what you're really saying is £2.36 x 1.8= £4.25 per day>

However, remember they only work 180 days a year! <Which is a direct contradiction to the 9 or 10 month estimate you gave earlier>We're not going to pay them for any vacations!<It's cheaper to pay them for the work they do>
Lets see… that’s £585 x 180 = £105,300 a year. (Hold on… my calculator must need new batteries!!)<Maybe your batteries need a new calculator - I make it £4.25 x 180=£765>

What about those special teachers and the ones with Masters degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage just to be fair, £5.52 an hour.<So there's different levels of watching a sleeping child?>
That would be £5.52 x 6.5 hours x 30 children x 180 days = £193,752 per year.<Or as it really is... £2.36 x 1.8 children x 4 hours x 180 days= £3058.56> <Feckin' Socialists>

Wait a minute, there’s something wrong here! <There sure is... someone has a higher than normal opinion of the job they do> Make a teacher smile. Send this to someone who appreciates teachers!<I already have - several bulletin boards including one where we are both members - LAUGH THAT ONE OFF!>

(Average teacher salary £21,000/180 day = £116.66 per day/30 students = £3.88/6.5 hours = 59p per hour per student.
A very inexpensive babysitter, and they even educate your kids!<Despite a 33% chance in exams with multiple choice questions - 70% still fail>

Now we know what we should be doing ..... hehehe ) <Yeah.... Babysitting!>



Right class.... discuss the problem



Just for the record I am also a qualified teacher.

I want to die peacefully in my sleep, just like grandpa. Not screaming and panicking like his passengers.
Don't drink and drive from The Lancre Tavern

Not getting entirely wether this started out as sarcasm, or if only the comments in red are meant to be. But I wonder why techers having a bad image seems to be such a global thing, unless you take a look at those areas where going to school is a luxury for many kids... people with unfond memories of their own school time, a few decades before the current debate? I've been partaking in debate processes about education for many years now, I've actually been along those people who were all for improving the education for the job (with hardly any practical value just up until the end and a lot of exploitation of people who haven't even finished their job training) and the salary. But those are, in detail, very specific, local issues.

"Hoher Sinn liegt oft im kindischen Spiel." (Friedrich Schiller)