1) If you’re in it for the “summers off,” you’re in the wrong profession.

2) Most teachers spend their “summers off” doing required professional development courses, planning for the next year, and/or catching up on all the personal business that they couldn’t do when they were working overtime during the school year.

3) During the school year, I used to work 50-60 hour work weeks. I did the math and figured out that I was working about the same hours per year as a person who works a 40-hour work week with a two week annual vacation. Nevertheless, I did not make the same annual salary as most people in business because it was presumed that I was not working a full year. The “summers off” argument only continues to justify this payment inequity.

4) Saying that teachers get “summers off” contributes to the stereotype that teaching is an “easy” profession and that teachers are not true professionals deserving of respect.

That said, there are many good reasons to be a teacher besides the misleading “summers off” claim. Teaching is rewarding, interesting, challenging, and humbling. Teachers get to be lifelong learners themselves. In an age of corporatization, teachers still (at least for now) have an opportunity to develop creative units and lesson plans. Teachers get the stimulation of interacting with, and learning from, all different kinds of students and their parents. More importantly, teachers get the satisfaction of knowing that sometimes their actions really do make a difference. And they can look themselves in the mirror every morning knowing that their profession isn’t damaging the environment, further contributing to global injustices, or taking advantage of other people. All of this is far more valuable than “summers off.”

Please research the profession better before posting career information like this. The “job security” claim is also outdated and misleading, as any teacher in California would tell you.

Teaching is definitely one of those professions that’s constantly giving. It’s the personal rewards that’s valuable to teachers. And I’ll have to compliment that with the stability of the industry ever since before.