Every time I hear another student who has chosen to pursue a teaching degree because their arts/fashion/general science/kinesiology/communications/languages/whatever won’t get them immediate employment, a little part of me dies. The CBC, Canadian press and various other media outlets have tried to warn people over the years that there is a critical teacher surplus, as in there are NO jobs. There are critical surpluses of grads all over the country, and getting your foot in the door has become a cut-throat endeavour.
There haven’t been available jobs for years, and in Nova Scotia, they are cutting positions (lack of funding, declining student populations), making an attempt to become a teacher not unlike attempting to become a famous actor (read: it ain’t gonna happen). Currently, Halifax has about 1400 substitute teachers, and more come from teacher colleges every year, trying to get into the system. The crooked teacher colleges whistle and look away when the dismal statistics appear in national media and colleges all over Canada continue to recruit and pump out grads, knowing well that their graduates will have no job prospects and massive debts that they will never be able to pay, facing 3-5 years or more of unemployment and struggle.
I was one of those folks who was lied to, back in 2004. I was told about these magical “shortages” and that “there will be retirements.” I finished my degree in 2006, and I still don’t have a permanent job. In my years of struggle, I’ve seen idealistic friends ignore the stats and go into teaching because fuck it. I warn them how bad it is and they call me cynical. Within a year or so, they are bitching and moaning that they can’t find work, stuck with debts and frustrations, having ignored the warnings.
When the hell is the government going to stop the crooked practice of reeling in education students and taking their cash, training them for a career with no future? Oh, and added bonus: Now that there are 100s of people applying for each position on offer, and ten people to take your job if you ever complain, guess what’s happening to our ability to negotiate our rights?
Don’t be a teacher because you want job security. It’s not going to happen. And piss off, education faculties, for your goddamn lies to recruit us. —An Unemployed Chalkboard Idealist
This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2012.
Y U no do job market research before applying to school? Google industry growth rates & unemployment rates before choosing career or else get suckered in like the rest of the fools.
So move or immigrate. There’s probably shortages somewhere with kids who need you, unless you were just looking to suck the educational tit.
there are a ton of teaching jobs. Go to korea and teach english, go north and teach they are DESPERATE. I know 6 different people who got jobs up north within 2 months of graduating a teaching program at 85k a year. Just because you are not willing to do what it takes to get a job does not mean the jobs are not there.
I know a junior high principal who’d laugh in your face for that attitude.
I’m with Brandon, go North young padawan or, go teach in Detroit, not quite so recommended.
“Don’t become a teacher because you want job security. It’s not going to happen.”
(Chalkboard Idealist)
Well, the only rational response to an assertion like this is, so what? You see, Chalkboard, you’re not really an idealist at all. If you were, you wouldn’t even ask that question. Do you know why? Let me tell you.
Teaching has nothing to do with job security. In fact teaching has nothing to do with any extrinsic motivation of any kind, whether security, money, holidays, status, or anything else. Do you understand the phrase “extrinsic motivation,” Chalkboard? Do you understand what it means? Let me tell you.
An extrinsic motivation for doing anything is doing it for reasons that are not intrinsic to the activity itself. If you do not understand that sentence, Chalkboard, repeat it silently to yourself. (Try not to move your lips.) You see, Chalkboard, teaching is not like loading bananas on a banana boat. People don’t do that because they are dedicated to loading bananas on banana boats. Do you understand that, Chalkboard? They do it because they get paid for it. “Getting paid for it,” Chalkboard, is called an “extrinsic motivation.” It is something external to the activity itself. Are you still with me, Chalkboard?
So, teaching is an activity which derives its value from its “intrinsic motivation,” from the worth of the activity iself. Do you understand the concept of intrinsic motivation, Chalkboard? Read the phrase over to yourself. (Try not to move your lips.) You see, Chalknoard, teaching is not like loading babanas on a banana boat because while the later is something one does for money, for extrinsic reasons, the former is a VOCATION, something one does for reasons intinsic to the activity itself.
Once you have understood that Chalkboard, you will understand why your assertion is incoherent. It has nothing to do with teaching. Will you get a job teachng? Who cares? That has nothing to do with the activity, the VOCATION of teaching. Do you understand that, Chalkboard? If not, try reading the sentence over again to yourself. (Try not to move your lips.)
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
Don’t listen to Monsieur, Chalkboard. I think being a good teacher takes the attitude of a True Believer rather than just being paid for it.
A little off topic but I load Banana Boat and I pay to do it. I load it on my skin because I burn easily. Ahahahaha. Once again IKM.
i really pity some teachers, you know the ones that have a classroom full of fucking idiots. that don’t even know if they are alive or dead. most of them would be better off as soylent green.
I pity the teachers who had to read all Moman’s longwinded filosoffi papers.
Become a philosopher, ridicule everyone because you’re better than them and sit on your ass all day and think. Seems pretty sweet. But I went out and got a real career.
Thank you OB, it’s too bad there’s another round of B.ED rubes all excited this week about heading off to the big school(s). It is a crime how so many post secondary schools churn out these B.ED’s when every indication is that we don’t actually need them. You can kind of fault the teacher’s union for a good chunk of the problem, but you already know that, I’m sure.
I’m going to laugh my ass off when my three extended relatives graduate from their BEd and spend a decade whoring themselves out as subs.
I heard enough gossip about how OMG PK DIDN’T FIND A JOB RIGHT AWAY AFTER SHE GRADUATED SO SHE MUST OBVIOUSLY BE A LOSER to entitle me to do so quite freely. Especially since said relatives who bitched think the sun rises and sets on the arses of the idiots doing the BEds because OMG THEY GOT INTO THE B.ED PROGRAM AND ARE GOING TO BE TEACHERS!!!!
I agree with this bitch 110%. BEd programs should be shut down for at least 5 years. Get some of the backlog accounted for.
Also: teaching up north can make a very sane person lose their marbles. I have friends who have done so and one actually had a nervous breakdown.
It may have taken me a year after grad to find a job, but the asshats I’m related to who decided to do BEds will spend many many more scrambling for work wondering why there are no jobs.
RSVPs
: troondon formosus (08/27, 7:43PM)
“I think being a good teacher takes the attitude of a True Believer rather than being paid for it.” TF
Two blatant mistakes TF: (1) Being a good teacher involves the demand for REASONS and is therefore to be sharply distinguished from the doctrinaire True Believer. While the one is DOGMATIC, the other is RATIONAL. Read that sentence over again to yourself for full comprehension, TF. (Try not to move your lips.) (2) I thought I had been clear that “being paid for it” was an EXTRINSIC motivation and therefore had nothing to do with the act of teaching. Clearly, you have failed to grasp the INTRINSIC/EXTRINSIC distinction I was at pains to point out. Read that last sentence again to yourself TF. (Try not to move your lips.)
: no_fool (8:42PM)
You must always remember NF, that one’s philosophy is always IMPLICIT in the act of teaching. In other words, one never EXPLICITLY teaches one’s philosophy as you seem to mistakenly suppose. As the old saying goes, in respect to the student, “It is caught rather than taught.” You must try to remember that, NF. Read over what I have just said silently to yourself. (Try not to move your lips.)
: Senor Campana (08/28, 7:04AM)
No Campana, I don’t ridicule anyone who doesn’t deserve it. (See my next comment.) What I do, rather, is to simply request that they support their assertions with reasons. It’s really quite Socratic when you think of it. Well, maybe not for you, Campana. Anyway, for full comprehension you must read my comment over again silently, Campana. (Try not to move your lips.) I was, however, wondering what you meant by a “real career.” Not loading bananas, I hope.
: Cranky (8:28AM)
Your reference to “BEd. rubes” gives instant understanding where your mind, or more properly, your lack of one, is coming from. This is confirmed in your next sentence where you write that, “You can kind of fault the teacher’s (sic) union for a good chunk of the problem.” I don’t suppose you would be able to suppprt that charge, would you Cranky? No, I didn’t think so.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
MM, breaking with a longstanding policy of not responding to a post of yours, or even reading one for that matter: Yes I can support that charge and no I will not respond with it.
RSVP
: Pretty Kitty (08/28, 10:02AM)
I agree partially with your assertion to the effect that the BEd program should be shut down for 5 years to harmonize the market forces supply and demand. However, I see this rather as a “teachable moment.”
Instead of bull-dozing the entire program, why not make a Master’s degree in a legitimate academic subject a MINIMUM MANDATORY REQUIREMENT for admission, at least for teaching at the secondary level? Then watch the supply side of the equation shrink and the demand side skyrocket.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
Why such big influxes of BEd students? Did they all really dream their whole lives of being teachers? HELLO paid summer vacations – that’s 3 months a year PLUS christmas, spring break, snow days & inservices. Serves them lazy arses right, now get back to work and drone on like the rest of us here in hell.
re: “crooked teacher colleges”
I’m not going to take offense at this, but I will provide another perspective.
I’m an instructor in a local BEd program and I’ve told my students for 5+ years there are almost no jobs…darned few in Halifax, darned few in NS, darned few elsewhere, telling them they’ll spend a long time on a sub list…..and I tell them this on their first day of class when they can still get a tuition refund. The reaction of most of them is to get mad at me….more recently to complain to my supervisor about my being “negative” (altho’ I’ve not told them a thing that hadn’t been in the local papers or on the radio). In 6 years I’ve had exactly one student go “Huh, really that bad?” and then go and switch to a different profession. Most tell me I’m cynical or negative. Only a handful from the last decade now have jobs….most are struggling to get on sub lists or have moved elsewhere to find work. Quite a number have told me in the past 12 months that they’d wished they’d listened to me…..
One reality is that if we don’t accept them to a Fac of Ed here in NS then they’ll go to Fort Kent or Presquile in Maine and then come back here and get NS certification anyways.
RSVPs
: Cranky (08/28, 10:11AM)
Well Cranky, I can see that if you haven’t read a post of mine then it is unlikely that you would respond to one. I can see that, Cranky. But the question is, why haven’t you read a post of mine? The impression you want to give, of course, is that you are superior to such matters but we both know that the reverse is the case, don’t we Cranky. I used to get a few comments from people like you which read “TLDR” (Too Long, Didn’t Read) but we both know that it should have read “TSDR” (Too Stupid, Didn’t Read), don’t we Cranky.
But Cranky, if you can support your charge about the teacher unions why dont you do so? Of course empirical evidence and not just your unsupported assertions are required, but you know that don’t you Cranky. Don’t be shy, Cranky. Here’s your chance.
: no_fool (11:15AM)
The usual teacher bashing from NF. But now take the next step and DEMONSTRATE EXACTLY WHY teachers must not receive these benefits. Not just your unsupported opinions, NF. We both know that’s just hot blow, don’t we. You must DEMONSTRATE your claims, NF, not just assert them. So go ahead, NF. I’ll be waiting.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
“make a Master’s degree in a legitimate academic subject a MINIMUM MANDATORY REQUIREMENT for admission” – Great idea Smeagol, adding another certification requirement to produce a better balanced work force. Fewer numbers doesn’t mean better or even equal quality you dumb shit.
Look where all your certifications and accreditations got you. Did your freshly prited PhDuh get you a job? Nope 😉
I don’t have any non-military teaching certification, but I was/am a very good teacher. MM, I taught a subject, at a level that you couldn’t even comprehend, let alone participate.
So what good is that piece of paper anyway? It doesn’t make you a teacher, does it even mean that you have the training to teach?
Heres a suggestion from Joe
http://www.sjaplumbing.com.au/images640/cr…
MM. The “likes” don’t count if you’re pressing the “like” on your own comments? That’s cheating.
RSVP
: Senor Campana (08/29, 12:53PM)
You mean I don’t count? You must be joking!
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!
Welcome to unionized monopolized Nova Scotia. They aren’t looking out for you, after all
RSVP
: Mouthy (08/31, 5:57AM)
No chance of any hard evidence to support your mouth when you refer to “unionized monopolized Nova Scotia” is there, Mouthy? No, I didn’t think so.
A pleasure as always.
Cheerio!