2014 Off Topic Thread

[MMA_scientist]

Nurses actually make about the same as teachers around here. They start out at a higher rate of pay, but top out at less. I know a lot of teachers and they top out at 65k where the nurses top out around 55-57k. Its definitely the best degree to get if you want to make a good living in a short amount of time. You only need to do two years of schooling to be a nurse that pays the same as 5 years for a teacher.

I can't see wanting to work 12 hour shifts and nights, but I'm lazy. I'd also have problems dealing with any bodily fluids or giving a shit if someone lived or died.......I have issues.


Nurses are in high demand, though

Teaching is easy imo, but there are times you'd just like to grab the kids by the neck and shaken baby syndrome them. I didn't have to deal with parents, but I'm sure that would be horrible


I want to end up with a job where I have to exert the least amount of physical and mental energy. Basically, I just want to sit and be awake (barely) all day

Nurses usually start around that same pay here, maybe $50-60K. But there are a lot of opportunies for advancement in nursing. With teaching, you can go into administration I guess, but I don't think you can become an admin via merit. I know a FNP who runs a clinic and makes a doctor's income. She does have a master's degree though, but I think her hospital paid for it.

I almost became a teacher. I was coaching wrestling and I didn't like that all that much so I couldn't imagine being stuck in a room with a bunch of kids that didn't want to be there. Also, a teacher talked me out of it. He said he just felt like it was a dead end and there was no where to go. I am also lazy, but I do aspire to dominate the world, so it would be hard for me to just sit and be content with my job and accepting the union pay scale. That said, I have a few good friends that are teachers, and at least one of them says that it is an awesome job- for all the same reasons you said. I guess it just depends on your quirks. My specific quirks would make teaching a horrible fit. But it is stable and easy work, which seems good. Also summers off to build your empire. I think elementary school would be better than HS or MS.

I actually had a job teaching 7th grade english and swimming, I bailed on it right before the school year to go to law school. I didn't major in education, but I met a principal at a hotel where I worked and he asked me what I was going to do. He said in Houston, I could teach without a degree and they would get me one while I taught (can't recall all the details). It paid $40k in 1999, so it probably pays at least $50k now.

[Luke]

Robbier Lawler vs Matt Brown UFC on FOX 12 main event...DAMN!!

Matt Brown is finally going to get the ass beaten he deserves. No where is he better than Lawler

[Luke]

Teaching seems like a shit job to me.

+1 for nursing. You can go to school for 2 years and make $80k. If you decide to further your education, you can end up as a NP and make $150k. Also, as a male, you will always be in demand (they need someone who can actually life a dying fat man).

Nurses actually make about the same as teachers around here. They start out at a higher rate of pay, but top out at less. I know a lot of teachers and they top out at 65k where the nurses top out around 55-57k. Its definitely the best degree to get if you want to make a good living in a short amount of time. You only need to do two years of schooling to be a nurse that pays the same as 5 years for a teacher.

I can't see wanting to work 12 hour shifts and nights, but I'm lazy. I'd also have problems dealing with any bodily fluids or giving a shit if someone lived or died.......I have issues.


Nurses are in high demand, though

Teaching is easy imo, but there are times you'd just like to grab the kids by the neck and shaken baby syndrome them. I didn't have to deal with parents, but I'm sure that would be horrible


I want to end up with a job where I have to exert the least amount of physical and mental energy. Basically, I just want to sit and be awake (barely) all day

[poopoo333]

Robbier Lawler vs Matt Brown UFC on FOX 12 main event...DAMN!!

[poopoo333]

^^yeah, I didn't realize my Dad didn't even have a Bachelors degree (yet) until my Mom told me. When they sold their restaurant/ended up getting a divorce, he is a RN making around $80k after 2 years of schooling. Crazy shit.

[MMA_scientist]

Teaching seems like a shit job to me. Its not the pay, which is about average I think, but it is the lack of flexibility and autonomy. You are stuck there at school and there is a lot of oversight. I don't like answering to other people, so it would be a really hard job for me. Plus I would hit a kid.

+1 for nursing. You can go to school for 2 years and get an associates, become an RN and make $80k. If you decide to further your education, you can end up as a NP and make $150k. Also, as a male, you will always be in demand (they need someone who can actually life a dying fat man). I don't think there is a better payoff for time invested than nursing. The only downside is that you have to actually be a nurse, which means other people's bodily fluid and what not. Also, I deal with a lot of former nurses who become "disabled" due to their mental and emotional problems. There seems to be a lot of crazy bitches in the nursing world. But the upside to that is that if they can get a job, that means anyone can.

[MMA_scientist]

Teaching seems like a shit job to me.

+1 for nursing. You can go to school for 2 years and make $80k. If you decide to further your education, you can end up as a NP and make $150k. Also, as a male, you will always be in demand (they need someone who can actually life a dying fat man).

[Vandelay]

The only thing different between your schedule and mine was an hour of meetings each day. We didn't have those meetings. If teachers needed to get together they'd do it during planning periods.

We also didn't have to worry about special needs students because we had an intervention specialist in every classroom to take care of that for us. I had no problem looking over all the papers/group activities and planning for the next day during my planning period. Sometimes I'd have to print things off at home or glue/tape something together, but I don't consider that work.

I was in an urban school, so I'm sure the inner city was 10x what I had to deal with on a daily basis. There were no fights, cussing, etc.

The teachers at the schools I student taught at used inquiry-based learning rather than lectures, so the students did a lot group activities rather than worksheets. They gave tests over a standard at the end of a week(or two) and that was the only grade they received. The group activities always had checkpoints to see how they were doing(or what needed retaught), but it was to give the students feedback rather than a grade. That made grading papers easier.

It honestly sounds like you got the shaft, Vandelay. I actually enjoyed my student teaching. Like I said, the day flew by and it wasn't bad at all.

I had approx 75 students per day( 3 classrooms of 25). How many did you have?

About 30 students or so each day. Way better than my practicum experience which had about 40 students. 4 special needs students in the class and 1 Emotionally Disturbed student who should have been expelled within the first week I was there. Student sexually harassed others, fought constantly with other students, mentally handicapped students and medically fragile ones, threatened teachers, and the list goes on. We had a group of students from another school come to our school and start a huge fight at dismissal (Unfortunately I missed that one). Parent's weren't anywhere to be found for about 90 percent of the students.

I enjoyed the experience for the most part. My mentor teacher was awesome and so were the intervention specialist and the 4th grade teacher. I would never be able to teach at an inner city school though, mainly because of the administration and superintendent. Completely fucked up school system from the top on down.

[poopoo333]

I plan on starting law school in January, unless I get a really bad LSAT score and don't get in.

[Mr. IWS]

So Vandalay is at an all back school.....

[Luke]

The only thing different between your schedule and mine was an hour of meetings each day. We didn't have those meetings. If teachers needed to get together they'd do it during planning periods.

We also didn't have to worry about special needs students because we had an intervention specialist in every classroom to take care of that for us. I had no problem looking over all the papers/group activities and planning for the next day during my planning period. Sometimes I'd have to print things off at home or glue/tape something together, but I don't consider that work.

I was in an urban school, so I'm sure the inner city was 10x what I had to deal with on a daily basis. There were no fights, cussing, etc.

The teachers at the schools I student taught at used inquiry-based learning rather than lectures, so the students did a lot group activities rather than worksheets. They gave tests over a standard at the end of a week(or two) and that was the only grade they received. The group activities always had checkpoints to see how they were doing(or what needed retaught), but it was to give the students feedback rather than a grade. That made grading papers easier.

It honestly sounds like you got the shaft, Vandelay. I actually enjoyed my student teaching. Like I said, the day flew by and it wasn't bad at all.

I had approx 75 students per day( 3 classrooms of 25). How many did you have?

[Vandelay]

I completely disagree Luke. I just finished up my student teaching as well. 8:30 to 4 was the scheduled time each day for teachers, but we were almost required to be there 8:15 to 4:30ish each day.

8:15 to 8:30 - prep for the day (getting classroom ready, materials/supplies organized or printed off, etc.)
8:30 to 9:30 - Meetings
9:30 to 10:20 - Planning Period
10:20 to 12:50 - Teaching
12:50 to 1:30 - Lunch
1:30 to 3:45 Teaching
3:45 to 4:00 - Dismissal

Guess your right about the actual time spent teaching. Where I differ was the amount of time outside the classroom. I could basically count on one day a week spent entirely on planning (usually Sunday). So much extracurricular shit after schools was expected as well. Then factor in grading papers, writing comments, preparing for the next day, conversing with other staff, etc.

Also, I completed my student teaching in an inner city school. By far the worst/hardest aspect of teaching there, or any classroom, is classroom management. Our school had fights daily, students blatantly disrespected each other and staff, administration was a joke, teachers were all pussies (even our security officer was soft), and as a result of all these things, their was very little we could do about any issues.

The 90 hour thing is either a result of exaggeration or incompetence, but in no way would I call my experience easy. Another aspect that took up a lot of time was trying to supplement teaching with extra shit like including teaching methods that reached the various types of learners in the classroom, accommodating special needs students, recreating a lesson when the students inevitably can't comprehend something.

Not sure how similar this was to your experience Luke, but I thought I'd share. (I taught in a 5th grade classroom)

[edman5555]

Edmann, you have to figure out what you're good at before you decide what you want to go into.

Are you good at Math, Writing, or Sciences?

Its been a while since I have done any of those. I think I could handle the coursework for nursing, though I have not been in a class room in a long time. I think you can train your mind to do any of those things to the degree necessary to graduate.

[Luke]

Edmann, you have to figure out what you're good at before you decide what you want to go into.

Are you good at Math, Writing, or Sciences?

[Luke]

I always tell my kid he should be a teacher for those same reasons. Decent pay for not a lot of work, and summers off.

Hes going to med school and will be working his balls off for a decade just to get his degree lol. At least Ill have a nice retirement home to go to when Im an old man.

Med school was something I for about two seconds, but I'm too old now. I'd have to go three more years of school, then intern for 4 more before ever making any money. Plus, it's all bio and chem classes that I hate.

If I had it to do all over again I might try being a doctor. My parents didn't care if I went to college or not so when I got out of High School I had no intention of going.