NQR--Venting for my daughter

[lyonden]

Just talked to my daughter and she is sooo sad and upset. She is graduating with honors (3.9) next month with a Masters degree in of all things "TEACHING" She worked full time and took a full course in school as well to get her degree. She was told yesterday that there is no way she will be able to work in her chosen profession because of the layoffs. The bad thing is, she was working full time at the school but HAD to quit because she had to do her internship (for free) working at the school. Now with the lay-offs, she can't even apply for a job because she "quit" her job. This sure doesn't seem fair to me, since it was not her idea to "quit". Other people that haven't yet reached the part of working for "free" (and not as much time and effort put in yet) are still able to apply for a job.:o:mad: What the heck is that????? A temporary teaching credential is good for 5 years and if you haven't worked in the system by then, you have to do the credential all over again. She is crushed, it has taken her years to get this far. Sorry, had to rant somewhere.

[Quilting Heidi]

Carol so sorry for your daughter and that just doesn't sound right. Can she petition anybody?

[blair8904]

Carol, I am so sorry this has happened to her. My daughter graduated a year ago, with honors, with a double major in teaching and secondary education. She was unable to get a teaching job in the USA and is now at a private school in Thailand. Hope she finds something that is good for her.

[Sharond]

Carol,

You must be so proud of your daughter for graduating with honors. I understand your worries and frustrations about your daughter finding a job. We have 3 kids, our oldest daughter is a teacher and our second daughter is a teacher.

Nicole student taught in New Zealand, came back in Dec. '07 and found a job as an teachers aide till her teaching certificate came through. Then she got a long term subbing job to finish out the school year. Went to a job fair for teachers and ended up in Phoenix. She is just finishing out her 2nd year there, but thinking she wants to come back to Minnesota. She did come back for a job fair a week ago, but that is not looking promising. However, she was just offered a contract for next year in Phoenix.

Natalie, graduated in May '09, landed a job teaching orchestra just 3 days before she had to report for new teacher orientation. She has her fingers crossed for a contract for next year.

What is so incredibly sad, is that the cuts being made to the states for education. This is where our tax dollars need to be spent, these kids are the future of our country. One news report I heard on Sunday said that they wanted to close quite a few schools in one district which would put the ratio at 50 kids to 1 teacher. Really, that is not even allowed in daycare facilities.

Tell your daughter to hang in there, I know it looks bleak now. But something will show up for her.

[Mary Beth]

Carol,

I am so sorry to hear of these problems for your daughter. To graduate with honors must have made her proud, but then to be shot down like that just stinks.

Most people have heard of the problems with the Kansas City, Missouri school district. What a mess! They were showing teachers, on the news this morning, from a board meeting last night, where they were dismissing teachers because the school district cannon afford to pay them.

Hopefully, for our kids sake, things will turn around and the economy will pick up. We need good teachers. Prayers for your daughter.

[JustSewSimple]

Ok, this system I know about. Tell your daughter not all is lost. (1) Teaching Certificate: She can speak to her local district (where she was formally employed) and ask to be added to their continuing educations lists. Most times they will allow a certified teacher to take the summer sessions to keep their certificate current. I have been retired since '03 and my district has allowed me to take the sessions to keep my certificate up to date. They do this because many times they need an additional "hand" during testing time when only a certified teacher can administer the test. If she has just graduated she must wait a year to take these classes as her certificate is just issued. Also (2) She may not be able to have a full-time job teaching but she can still make money doing several things: (a) Colleges and Junior Colleges hire adjunct to teach classes because it is cheaper than full time faculty. She may could pick up a couple of classes to teach. ( those same colleges hire teachers to teach "online" classes also. © Tutoring pays big bucks in several areas. Math is a big one but also when students need help with research papers. Now both of these are assuming she is a high school teacher. I know one lady who works from 8-12 each day at a private school just tutoring various subjects for students who fall behind due to various problems. (d) If she is a SPED teacher she can many times find employment through the mental health departments working with children who are in day treatment or full time treatment facitilies. There are also home-bound positions where teachers travel to student's homes to teach sick children. Good luck!

[lyonden]

Sylvia, thank you sooooo much. I am forwarding your post to my daughter. Any ray of sunshine is much needed now. She had applied 2 times to do the courses for special needs children but was turned down because of all the layoffs. Like I said, because she had to "quit" she is not eligible to apply, only the ones still working. This is California I'm talking about. The land of fruit and nuts. She can't even apply to work in the offices. Those spots are going to the laid off teachers.

[meg]

carol -

also do not forget about sylvan learning centers, huntington learning centers - all those tutor related companies.

also, there is test administrators for tests like the sat, act, gmat's and government work related testing.

i dont know how good the pay is, but it could be something field related until something opens up.

[quiltmonkey]

Carol, I don't know who told your daughter all of this stuff about not finding a job (it's all BS if you ask me!!) So, she needs to toss that opinion out the door along with the person who said it!

Tell her not to listen to Debbie Downers. There are jobs out there!!!

[JustSewSimple]

Well she may or may not want to get certified in SPED. I have all the course work and have taught the parallel probrams but I would never get certified because then if you are hired by a school district that may MAKE her teach in the SPED program even if there are job openings in her field. Another thing I forgot to mention is for her to do a bit of research and see if there is a "depressed" area in your state. Many economically depressed areas (especially those that have been taken over by the state because of failing test scores) are searching for teachers. Sometimes they will even forgive a year of student loans for every two years of service. Tell her to also look into private schools or Catholic schools. They are in pretty good shape as they are parent funded and not state funded. If she gets really bad off, tell her to check with the local after-school programs (tutoring again) and early-child-care centers. They always search for certified staff. My daughter-in-law teaches at a Catholic school and just loves it. Many vet. teachers here have transfered over to that school as the classes are a manageable size and the kids are wll behaved. If she is willing to re-locate, she may can fine a job in a depressed rural area. But remember, sometimes you get what you ask for. English as a second language is popular right now as we have so many crossing the border. Ugg! I was lucky. I started teaching at 20 (yes I graduated high school at 17 and went through college in 3 years) I got my masters (4.0 sorta like your daughter) while I was still teaching. It was hard but I couldn't afford to give up my job to go back to school. Anyway, I was able to retire at age 50 with full benefits. Again, good luck.

[LauraJ]

Right on Shana,

She needs to put her application in anywhere that she can - no matter what. Your daughter has a leg up in that she has her Master's. Many don't have that. Congratulations to her and to you - you must be proud.

Our district is proposing closing two more elementary schools (two were already closed a couple years ago) and ALL CLASSES from K-12 will have 32 or more students per class. Petition your local and D.C. congress-persons to get their acts together and put education FIRST. Our California prisoners have sports of all types, team, intramural, etc., but many of our high schools are dropping sports - uh - a bit unfair?

[JustSewSimple]

One other thing, here in our County (and we are a STRONG Educational County) the Super. of Education for the county is taking a 60 day cut in pay and each Principal is taking a 30 day cut in pay and each teacher is taking a 10 day cut in pay. They are not replacing anyone who retires and are not hiring any new staff (including secretaries and such). I didn't get a call this year to teach home-bound as I do every year (I do their "overflow") so I know times are bad. I understand the K-3 classes will be the largest in history because they will not replace teachers who retire. Bad times. Bad times.

[witha'K'quilting]

Carol, tell your daughter a huge congratulations from me on graduating with honors with a Master's degree. That is defintely something to be proud of!

As far as jobs are concerned...there are many school districts around the country that I am sure are looking for teachers. As long as there are students in school, we need qualified teachers to teach them!

[Kueser]

Here's hoping she can find a job. Things are really tight here in Kansas also. All our schools in the state are facing huge reductions due to the balanced budget the state is forced to adhere to. No foreign countries to bail out the state. The president of the school board (my nephew) is in an even tighter place. He has to reduce the number of teachers and his mother and his wife are both para-professionals in the district. Don't you wish you had that to face?

Sorry about another sad tale. Just wanted to add some levity to a depressing situation.

[Gator]

I don't know where your daughter lives but Tidewater Community College in Hampton Roads, VA (they have campuses in all the cities, VA Beach, Chesapeake, Portsmouth,etc) hire teachers for night classes, online, etc. They're expanding like crazy, so I would think that they are looking for teachers. Oh, almost forgot they also run a "Child Development Program". CONGRATs to your daughter and you, we need more quality teachers for our kids. We also need to pay our teachers decent wages, some need hazardous duty pay also. Good luck and keep your chin up.

[Guest Linda S]

This is really sad. We need good teachers. Too many school budgets being cut. I hope that as the economy begins to turn around (I work with Economists, and they say it is happening) that funding will come back and your daughter and many other teachers will have good jobs.

Linda

[quiltmonkey]

Carol, when I posted earlier, I was rushing out the door to get to work and didn't get a chance to really reply. Anyway, you have recieved some great feedback and options from folks "in the system" who have BTDT etc... I am not a teacher, but I do understand the budget issues that not only schools are facing; everyone is facing. Well anyway, give your daughter a hug. I think in these days and times, we all need to think out of the box at all options out there --- even including relocating if necessary. I know that moving to a new location is not the desired goal, but it is an option and 'IT IS ONLY TEMPORARY' so have her step back and look at the big picture and consider ALL OF THE OPTIONS - NO MATTER HOW BIZARRE THEY SEEM TO BE Sure, she may not have the dream job she wants right out of the starting gates, but she will have it -- some day --- down the road. It's all part of life and being flexible and taking opportunities (challenges) that we might not normally want to take. Sometime that "leap of faith" is necessary. Everyone has to take chances, risks... she might be one of those! If you are given lemons, make lemonade. God gives us challenges in our lives and we take those forks in the road. If we never took that left fork, versus the right fork in the road, who knows what wonderful things might become our future!! She needs to look at it this way.

Give her a hug and tell her she's smart and she has the support of friends and family. Obviously she has determination. So she needs to plan the work and work the plan. I just know with the right attitude, she will find something wonderful. What seems to be a dead end wall right now is merely a fork in the road. Be the river and roll with the flow. Follow the path of destiny. It's all in the plan. Power of positive thinking (and open-mindedness) is everything. It might not seem like it now but her future is bright and some day she will look back on this dead end wall and be glad she took the left fork (or right)

Sorry this was so long... I just finished a 20 oz latte...

[lyonden]

Shana - I understand the 20 oz. latte. Too funny. Thank you all for the input. As for my daughter, she is 44 yrs old. She has worked in the school system for 20 yrs. She was in great demand at the schools and she knows most of the teachers and principals. It was a while before she could afford to take the time to go to school. As an aside, she was the librarian for many years. When a child mis-behaved, they were sent to the library for quiet time. The school finally realized that her library was the busiest place on campus and kids acted up just to get into her class. Kids love her even tho she makes them behave. I have forwarded your comments to her. I'm sure it will cheer her up and give her more ideas. You guys are great.

[quiltmonkey]

Oh!! OK! LOL! For some reason I thought she was like in her early 20's or something...

Hey, I think she has a lot of ammo to use with her experience. She is a big girl and will figure it out.

[meg_marsh]

The teaching profession is so crazy. Years ago, I went through something similar. Graduated with a 4.0 and couldn't get a job teaching due to politics. Pure and simple, I was white and married. I ended up getting a job in a department store. I was totally bummed since I had been teaching in various capacities since I was 15. I didn't know anything else. The hiring practices for hiring teachers is not the best in our country and our school system shows it!!! There are many out there who would love to teach, and are well qualified, but they don't always get the jobs. Give your daughter a hug and tell her not to give up. We need more good teachers!!!

[JustSewSimple]

I hate to say this but it is going to happen and you might as well know.....Having a Master's degree or higher is not a plus in getting a job in a bad economy. They have to pay a teacher more for more degrees and for more experience. It is not a positive but a negative in the hiring process during hard times.

[MarieBrewer]

This post is not a good sign for my son. He will be in his last year of school (private) next year. His goal is teaching English to troubled youth. I think I'll tell him to keep his job at Cignatel drug co. He's also an honor student (non-trad at 31). Wonder if he'll ever get those student loans paid off. Kinda like paying off a Millie!!

[Calicoquilter]

OK, I need to put my 2 cents worth in here. My older daughter, Katie, graduated with honors in December 2008 and was able to substitute teach for a while but ended up going to Korea in August of 2009 to teach. Her boyfriend who graduated at the same time is teaching in Kazakstan. My younger daughter, who is graduating next month with honors in Restaurant Management, has been offered a $10 an hour job at a fast food restaurant. I guess I should be grateful that they have jobs, because my husband was laid off and all of the engineering jobs were sent to India. Then the company hired him back to help the Indians who were doing the work, but he was hired back without benefits. What is wrong with this country? I see a giant brain drain coming and all of the politicians will be scratching thier heads wondering how this happened.

[lyonden]

Colleen - I started a reply about giving non- americans a "free" education but we have to pay, we can give more "free" stuff to illegals but just don't have the money to educate our own people. For the first time in my life, I am afraid for America. I could go on and on but am not going to upset myself again today. Kims student loans start coming due as soon as she graduates, her husband got laid off 2 months ago, and there is no hope for her either. Her husband is doing odd jobs for money right now. They live in California and it's the pitts out there. Her husband is more than willing to take jobs at min. wage but thei Illegals get the jobs because the employers don't have to pay taxes etc. OK, I'll shut up now. Sorry! These are hard times for everyone. Back to quilting that makes me happy

[victoriasews]

Don't you get tired of the word, economy? My daughter graduated with her Master's with honors last May in Library Sciences. Guess what? The government cut funding for libraries. She has applied to every job that comes up, which are very few and can't even get an interview, even with glowing recommendations from the library where she interned. That library said they would call her if an opening ever comes up. Meanwhile, she's mucking stalls at a horse barn. How's that for a slap in the face? A $30,000 education to scoop poop!