9 Facts Parents Should Know About Teachers
Have you ever wondered about what’s going on inside the minds of teachers? Why would anyone ever want to dedicate their lives to educating other people’s kids? And for that pay?
If you’re curious about the fascinating world of teachers and would like to learn some interesting facts about them, you’ve come to the right place!
Keep reading to discover why you should know more about teachers, who benefits from this knowledge, and the nine most inspiring facts about teachers that every parent should know.
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Why You Should Know These Fun Facts About Teachers
Learning more about the enigmatic world of teachers is always a good investment of your time.
By knowing more about them, you’ll be able to build a stronger relationship with your child’s teacher, which will immensely benefit your kid’s education.
Both teachers and parents are in this for the children.
I can tell you that teachers spend a lot of time trying to engage with parents and learning more about the difficult job of parenting.
They do it because it will help the children. For that same reason, I think it’s a great idea to learn more about teachers, their daily struggles, and their passion for their jobs.
Full disclosure: I’m both a father and a teacher, so I’m uniquely positioned to discuss these inspiring facts about teachers and how they benefit children’s education.
9 Interesting Facts About Teachers
In the following list, you’ll find some fun things and a few shocking facts about teachers.
1. Most of Them Are Women
This is a simple fact supported by statistics and corroborated by my own experience.
Of the more than 3 million teachers in the U.S. public schools, nearly 77% are women. However, the number of women principals is smaller.
But also a solid majority: 54% of female principals.
In every school and university in Mexico, Spain, and Portugal where I have worked, female teachers were the norm, and male teachers were a minority.
In some places, the percentage is undoubtedly larger than that 77%. Often I’ve found myself in situations where, besides the PE teacher and the handyman, I’m the only other man on the staff.
2. They Work A Lot!
I know you may have heard some crazy stories about the power of the teachers’ union and how good is a day of work for teachers. But I can assure you that those are nothing more than myths. Teachers are hard workers, and they never stop.
If they aren’t in the classroom teaching, inspiring, guiding, or developing skills for your children, they’re planning new units, grading tests, organizing field trips, or talking with parents.
Teaching is just one of the job’s many responsibilities.
3. They Also Have a Lot of Vacations
Yes, teachers aren’t saints. However, they also enjoy some cool benefits due to their jobs, and none are as good as the amount of paid vacations they have.
Think about it, teachers have the full Summer and Winter breaks, plus the Spring Break/Holy Week, plus the half-terms. Additionally, they rest during other major holidays such as Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Labour Day, etc.
This is one of the unexpected benefits of being a teacher.
When I first started teaching, I hadn’t thought about it. But once I realized how many paid off days a year a teacher has, I was thrilled with the career path I had chosen.
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4. They Don’t Do It for the Money
This is so true. Teachers aren’t in it for the great salaries paid in the education sector.
Most do it because they’re passionate about their jobs and actually care.
In a survey of 10,000 teachers, teachers put money as the 11th most important factor for working as teachers. 11th!
Can you think of another profession where the pay isn’t in the Top-10?
That’s what I thought. I rest my case.
5. They Buy Materials for Your Kids With Their Own Money
I haven’t met a single teacher in over a decade of teaching that hasn’t bought some resource or material for the classroom out of their own pocket. They all do it.
When you have an idea for a class and need specific materials that aren’t available at the school, you just go and get it. It may cost you 5 or 10 bucks. But then you don’t go with your $5 receipt to ask for a reimbursement.
That’s just lame and too much of a hassle.
The problem is that you may find yourself in that situation 10 or 15 times during the year, and at the end of the year, the receipts add up.
However, that doesn’t stop them. If they see something that would help their students better understand a concept or improve their development in any other way, they just go get it.
It’s been estimated that school teachers spend up to $1,000 on classroom supplies.
Many have paid for clothes and food or even covered the cost of field trips for their students.
6. They Hate Planning
Guilty as charged! This is the part of the job that no teacher likes. If you’re a teacher and like planning, you must be unpopular among your peers.
I mean, we all like to plan our classes, think about how the lessons will unfold and have some strategies prepared for them.
Every teacher hates the pre-scripted planners designed by non-teachers who think they have an idea about what teaching implies.
I’m looking at you, psychologists and pedagogists!
Jokes aside, filling pre-scripted planning is boring, unnecessary, and useless.
At the end of the day, teachers do as they see fit, so those planners are usually no more than a bureaucratic hassle that takes teachers away from what they do better than anybody: teaching!
7. They Don’t (Necessarily) Hate Field Trips
I write these lines from a Youth Hostel in Lisbon, where I’m taking care of 15 middle school teenagers whose mission in this field trip seems to drive me crazy.
However, we also had a great time!
We beat our hosts in a fiercely disputed basketball game, laughed a lot during our first ever surf lesson, and danced in the rain through the streets of this beautiful city.
Teachers have a love-hate relationship with field trips. We love the good memories but hate the day-to-day babysitting part of the job. There, I said it!
8. They All Love When an Old Student Comes To Say Hi
This is a part of the job that I never thought about before becoming a teacher.
Now it’s one of its main benefits.
It just feels so good when an old student or their family takes the time to come and say hello and show appreciation.
That’s what it’s all about.
Seeing your once young and restless kid become a successful university student or an impactful man or woman in their community.
When they come and say “thank you for this” or “I always remember what you used to say about that,” it is one of the most gratifying experiences in life and one that no amount of money can buy.
9. They Are Very Proud of Their Profession
If you haven’t noticed by now, we teachers are very proud of our job and our role in society.
I haven’t met a single teacher who doesn’t share this pride with me. Perhaps after doctors, teachers are among the most socially conscious professionals out there.
We take pride in teaching to read and write, sparking scientific curiosity, helping kids, and more than anything, contributing to raising good citizens for our communities.
Some societies, such as the Finnish one, share this vision about teachers, and their society dramatically benefits from it.
Maybe it’s time to change how we value teachers in our own societies and see how that tiny change can impact our communities.
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Appreciate Your Child’s Teachers and Help Them to Do Their Work
Yesterday I had to help put a wetsuit on a child with special needs who took a big step and took a horrifying surf lesson.
Later that same day, a stinky teenager fell asleep on my shoulder and filled my shirt with saliva while going back to the hostel.
That’s the life of a teacher, even thousands of miles away from the classroom.
I hope that these inspiring facts about teachers help you appreciate your child’s teacher and recognize the importance of what they do.
By doing that, the great beneficiary will be no other than your own child.
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