[jimmemac]

Originally Posted by jbdlfan

WOW! Quite a bit of bologna being sliced here. Some of these comments are obviously from those that never stepped foot into a classroom. But hey, that's alright. First wrong statement......a teacher with 7 years experience in Marion County makes $36,000 a year, not anywhere near even $50,000, let alone $100,000. Next.....I've NEVER had a summer or Christmas vacation off.....EVER. Um...I had NO idea what I was getting into. Never imagined I would have a 13 year old student tell me the fourth day of school she was pregnant from a 7th grader. Never imagined a student telling me that he couldn't read his book last night because he is living in the bed of his grandparents pickup truck. Never imagined I would have a student with a cigarette burn in the middle of his forehead from a dad that he watched murder his mother in their kitchen right in front of him at the age of 6. Never imagined having a student that had been prostituted with her sister by her mother since the age of 5. Some of you have no idea of what you speak and really show your ignorance when you do. But hey, I'll defend your right to be ignorant to my death.....

After having taught middle school for 37 years it is too scary to think how similar my stories are to yours-all hard for non teachers to believe but all too familiar to me! I wonder how much the average good teacher pays out of his or her pockets to supply their students with the pens, and pencils and notebooks that they need but cannot afford and the list goes on and on!!