On Friday night, a co-worker brought his wife to “cake and cheer”. I’ve met her before and knowing that she’s a fairly new public school teacher, I asked her how that was going. She is indeed enjoying being a teacher, which was good to hear.
Hearing about her experiences as a public school teacher cemented a conclusion I came to about a year ago. I don’t think I could be a public school teacher. I certainly like the teaching part. When I was a TA in grad school, it was one of the most positive and enjoyable things I did while I was there. In fact, I’ve always thought I’d try my luck at being a college instructor if I ever got out of the game industry.
The reason why I don’t think I can be a public (or I guess private too) school teacher is the strict schedule they keep. Teachers have a rigid schedule that they must follow five days a week. Teachers can’t be late for their own class, nor can they skip out early from teaching a class. I couldn’t do that. I get to work at varying times: 9:55am, 10:07am, 10:16am, etc. No matter what time I start, I just leave eight or nine hours later. I’m allowed to be flexible like that. Sometimes, I’ll take my lunch at noon or 11:45am or maybe later like 1:30pm. Teachers can’t do that. They have to take lunch whenever their kids do and they have to be back on time, no matter what. Once in a while, I’ll take an hour or two from my day to go to the dentist, doctor, or whatever errand I have to run. How can teachers do that? I don’t think they can, they have kids to look after.
I am totally accustomed to a flexible working schedule. Seeing the constraints that teachers must work within, makes me additionally value their desire to provide a solid education to kids. They do get that awesome two months free in the summer but the rest of the year isn’t that way. So no teaching for me.
“two months free in the summer” works both ways. Free to do what they want, and free to not get paid. (Although I believe you can spread your income out over the 12 months if you choose to do so.)