Why are more public school educators than ever before leaving the field after only a few years in the classroom? Seven teachers take us to school. Anyone who thinks, "Those who can't do, teach" hasn't been taking very good notes: Teachers' work is hard, and getting harder. But don't just take our word..
Why are more public school educators than ever before leaving the field after only a few years in the classroom? Seven teachers take us to school.
Anyone who thinks,
Kelley Watson, 27
Years taught in public school: 3Classes taught: 10th-grade biology in Miami and Oakland, CaliforniaCurrent status: Teacher, still in OaklandLuckily for me, I don't have a husband, I don't have a boyfriend, and I don't have kids. I can't imagine how other teachers that have these things, or even a dog, can do it. It's a 24-hour-a-day job. This year at my school, half of the teachers are not returning, and we have a staff of about 23. Teachers keep leaving, and you can't blame them. It can be really stressful, and I feel really unsupported by my administration, the district, sometimes even by other teachers, and that can be really isolating and destructive to your morale. You try to make a difference and you're blocked at every step, and that can be very disheartening. Honestly, if it wasn't for coaching track and field and having those kids that really want to be out there, and not much preventing me from doing what I want with it, I wouldn't be all that into teaching, either.
Denise Santos, 29
Years taught in public school: 3Classes taught: Hearing-impaired students in preschool and kindergarten, and 2nd and 6th grade, in Arlington, TexasCurrent status: Speech language pathologist in San FranciscoI loved teaching more and more every year, but I knew that a lot of people get burned out. Paperwork and planning definitely play a factor in that-especially in special education. The class groups you get can also affect your desire to continue teaching. You can end up with a great one or a really difficult one. Testing rules everything now. In Texas, teachers are always frantically preparing for the next set of tri-annual benchmark exams and the standard state test at the end of the year.
Freeden Oeur, 27
Years taught in public school: 2Classes taught: 6th grade in PhiladelphiaCurrent status: Graduate student in sociology at University of California, BerkeleyI had a really difficult time, especially my first year. I just felt paralyzed by a lot of things I saw. Sometimes, I would be overwhelmed emotionally and psychologically and that hampered my ability to do things in the classroom. I tried to make a separation between my home life and my work life, and even that was impossible. I had a lot of conversations with parents and students at night and there was always a lot of grading. I think that many young or new teachers in disadvantaged schools exert a great deal of energy dealing with loneliness, bureaucratic stuff, a lack of resources, and classroom management, feeling like there's little support within the school, that they aren't able to just concentrate on instruction.
Steve Thrush, 29
Years taught in public school: 4Classes taught: High school math, all levels, in Brooklyn, New YorkCurrent status: Graduate student in business at Columbia UniversityAfter business school, I want to connect investors to private and charter high schools that have the latitude to do things that are successful with their students. Hopefully that will influence and inspire public policy. I think that what I've learned as a teacher will make me a good person to be looking at these types of things. I think I might be best serving the people that I care the most about by doing [education] policy. And I won't lie to you: There's also a financial element to it. While I don't think that money is the only factor, we need to pay teachers better so that it's clearer to people that education is valuable and the status of teachers is raised-and so those people who are giving this education are able to make some money.
Jacob Mnookin, 28
Years taught in public school: 3Classes taught: 9th- and 10th-grade English in Newark, New JerseyCurrent status: Founder, Coney Island Preparatory Public Charter SchoolBy the end of three years, I was totally spent emotionally and physically; I felt like I'd been teaching for 30 years. I was really struggling at first and I wanted more support than the school was able to give. We had five principals in the time I was there, and I was observed only twice. For the 42 minutes a day that I had my students, I could make a difference and do wonderful things, but that's just a drop in a bucket. So I'm opening a charter school in Brooklyn. I want to create a place where teachers look forward to getting feedback and use that to grow professionally. Every week, we'll have observations and three hours of built-in professional development. I hope those things will create an exciting atmosphere where everybody wants to get better at teaching.
Jimena Gomez-Lobo, 35
Years taught in public school: 8Classes taught: 3rd-, 4th-, and 5th-grade in San FranciscoCurrent status: Teacher, 7th- and 8th-grade math at an independent private schoolThe first year that I taught, I would come home and cry almost every Wednesday; I can't believe I stuck through it. Teachers really want to connect with the kids but you end up more of a disciplinarian and don't have much one-on-one time with them. Teachers I knew took jobs in lower grades just to have more of that; their sanity was worth the pay cut. Now I'm at an independent, private school and it's a 180-degree change. I'm given a lot of freedom over the curriculum and I have more support. There's a resource specialist who's not overbooked, and my school has a separate fund for teachers' professional development. Now I feel the opposite of burned out. If I'd known that a job like the one I have now existed, I would have left teaching in the urban public setting long before.
Kris Swett, 30
Years taught in public school: 3Classes taught: 11th-grade U.S. history in Ukiah, CaliforniaCurrent status: Graduate student in education at California State University, ChicoBecause of the budget crisis, I was given a pink slip this year, even though I was voted Teacher of the Year last year. Whenever they make layoffs, they go strictly by the years taught. The governor proposed a new budget, which might have saved my job, but I didn't want to stick around and wait to find out. I have two kids and a family, and I'm bringing home almost nothing anyway. I think most public school teachers leave because of the low pay. I developed a teaching system in my first year that some teachers are now using and I want to go back to school and work on it. I want to publish it, maybe make a bit of money and be able to go back to teaching. It's just such a shame that I'm even considering giving up something that I love so, so dearly.
Between the bras, makeup, periods, catcalling, sexism, impossible-to-attain beauty standards, and heels, most men wouldn't survive being a woman for a day without having a complete mental breakdown. So here's a slideshow of some of the funniest Tumblr posts about the everyday struggles that women face that men would never understand.
In some states, women are put through humiliating and dangerous pre-abortion medical consultations and waiting periods before being allowed to undergo the procedure. In four states, women are even forced to bury or cremate the fetal remains after the procedure.
These government-mandated roadblocks and punitive shaming serve no purpose but to make it more difficult, emotionally damaging, and expensive for women to have an abortion.
Eighteen states currently have laws that force women to delay their abortions unnecessarily: Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, and Wisconsin. In a number of other states, mandatory-delay laws have been enacted but are enjoined or otherwise unenforced.
To help women get around these burdensome regulations, The Satanic Temple is promoting a religious ritual it believes provides an exemption from restrictions. According to the Temple, the ritual is supported by the federal Religious Freedoms Restoration Act.
The Temple is a religious organization that claims it doesn't believe "in the existence of Satan or the supernatural" but that "religion can, and should, be divorced from superstition."
The Temple says its exemption is made possible by a precedent set by the Supreme Court's 2014 Hobby Lobby decision. According to the Temple, it prevents the government from putting a "burden on free exercise of religion without a compelling reason."
Ironically, Hobby Lobby's case claimed that providing insurance coverage for birth control conflicted with the employer's Christian faith. The Satanic Temple argues that unnecessary roadblocks to abortion conflict with theirs.
The Temple is promoting the ritual on I-95 billboards in Florida where women must endure an ultrasound and go through pre-procedure, anti-choice counseling before having an abortion.
The Temple's billboards inform women that they can circumvent the restrictions by simply citing a Satanic ritual.
"Susan, you're telling me I do not have to endure a waiting period when I have an abortion?" one of the women on the billboard says.
"That's true if you're a SATANIST!" the other replies.
Next to the ladies is a symbol of a goat head in a pentagram and a message about the ritual.
The Temple also provides a letter that women seeking abortions can provide to medical staff. It explains the ritual and why it exempts them from obligations that are an undue burden to their religious practice.
The Temple believes that some medical practitioners may reject its requests. However, it believes that doing so is a violation of religious freedom and it will take legal action if necessary.
"It would be unconstitutional to require a waiting period before receiving holy communion," the temple says in a video. "It would be illegal to demand Muslims receive counseling prior to Ramadan. It would be ridiculous to demand that Christians affirm in writing the unscientific assertion that baptism can cause brain cancers."
"So we expect the same rights as any other religious organization," the video says.
To perform the ritual, a woman looks into a mirror to affirm their personhood and responsibility to herself. Once the woman is focused and comfortable, they are to recite two of the Temple's Seven Tenets.
Tenet III: One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone. One's body is inviolable, subject to one's own will alone.
Tenet V. Beliefs should conform to one's best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one's beliefs.
Then they are to recite a personal affirmation: "By my body, my blood. Then by my will, it is done."
The ritual affirms The Temple's belief in personal responsibility and liberty that, coincidentally, mirror that of the U.S. Constitution.
"Satan is a symbol of the Eternal Rebel in opposition to arbitrary authority, forever defending personal sovereignty even in the face of insurmountable odds," the Temple's website reads.
There are two types of people in this world – those who panic and fill up their cars with gas when the needle hits 25% or so, and people like me who wait until the gas light comes on, then check the odometer so you can drive the entire 30 miles to absolute empty before coasting into a gas station on fumes.
I mean…it's not empty until it's empty, right?
But just how far can you drive your car once that gas light comes on? Should you trust your manual?
Now, thanks to Your Mechanic sharing this information in a recent post, you can know for sure. Of course, they also want to warn you that driving on a low fuel level or running out of gas can actually damage your car.
Now, thanks to Your Mechanic sharing this information in a recent post, you can know for sure. Of course, they also want to warn you that driving on a low fuel level or running out of gas can actually damage your car.
Proceed at your own risk.
These are, of course, approximations that depend on several factors, including how you drive, your car's condition, etc. So don't automatically blame your mechanic if you find yourself stranded on the side of the road.
If you ask people what they think the “perfect" body looks like, you're sure to get a range of answers, depending on where the person is from. Last year, Superdrug Online Doctor created a project, “Perceptions of Perfection" that showed what people in 18 countries think the “perfect" woman looks like. The project was a viral hit.
This time, they asked graphic designers—11 women and eight men—in 19 countries to photoshop the same image to highlight the male beauty standards for their country.
Some of the images are certainly amusing, but the collective result is an interesting look at what people find attractive around the world.
It's not revolutionary news that smoking wreaks havoc on your body in different ways. More often than not, however, the focus of anti-smoking campaigns is on your internal health, citing emphysema, heart disease, and lung cancer, to name just a few consequences.
While the superficial effects may not be as lethal, appealing to people's sense of vanity can have a powerful effect as this clever gallery below shows. Twins, only one of whom smokes, sit side by side, showing the profound damage smoking can cause to your face, hair, and teeth.
The twins' circumstances vary in each set of pictures, but the differences and effects are undeniable. In some instances, one of the twins never smoked. In others, the “smoking" twin had smoked for at least five years longer than the other “non-smoking" twin.
Though they're not common knowledge, the effects of smoking on your appearance are predictable and consistent. You can identify a smoker with ease if you know what you're looking for. Harmful smoke, dehydration, and even the heat from a burning cigarette can damage your complexion, hair, and eyes. The photos below helpfully point out the symptoms and effects on the smoking twin.
The photos here were taken from those of 79 pairs of identical twins at the Twins Days Festival in Twinsburg, Ohio. Though they weren't taken with this use in mind, that allows them to serve as an even more powerful testament to the effects as perceived by casual observers.
1. The eyes are a strong “tell" if someone's a smoker or not. In this photo, the smoker is the man on the right. He has smaller, more sunken eyes and carries more wrinkles throughout his face than his twin on the left. You'll also notice his hairline has receded further than his brother's. That's a little-known though hardly surprising effect of smoking habitually.
2. Here, the difference is profound. Though they're the same age, they look almost like they represent different generations. The smoking twin on the right has done so for 16 years, and it's manifested in a number of ways. Most noticeable is the pervasive discoloration of her skin compared to her twin on the left. Less noticeable, but still apparent, is the damage done to her lips, eyes, and even her hair. It's difficult to believe they're even related, let alone twins.
3. This comparison is less glaring but still apparent. The twin on the left is the smoker. You can see many more pronounced wrinkles on her forehead, under her eyes, and around her nose. There are also pronounced bags under her eyes.
4. In this comparison, the smoking twin only smokes about two cigarettes per day, so the difference will be less profound. The twin on the right is the smoker. The differences are on the subtle side, mostly the more damaged hair and the squintier eyes.
5. Based on what you've read in the earlier side by side pics, you might be able to ID the right twin as the smoker due to the discolored and receding hair as well as the aged skin.
6. These two twins are both elderly, so the differences are slightly less pronounced. Though the left twin has more graying hair, it's the right twin that's the smoker. She's got a droopier face, especially on the outside of the eyes. The wrinkles are also more pronounced in the brow and upper lip.
7. Though the two sisters here are also older, it's easier to distinguish the smoker. The left sister bears the hallmarks all over her skin. Her cheek, outer eye, and neck all look weathered from her habit. Not only is she more wrinkled, but the skin has begun to discolor from the fair tone her sister has.
8. Here it's pretty difficult to tell. The woman on the left is the smoker. She sports slightly discolored lips that are upon inspection, more wrinkled than her sister's. Since the lips are the most proximate to the smoke, they are a pretty telling feature when it comes to identifying smokers.
The pics above show a lot of singular traits that can call out a smoker, but it can be a lot more simple than that. Speaking to the NY Daily News, dermatologist Elizabeth Tanzi from George Washington Medical Center dispenses with the jargon, stating, “Smoking makes you look old. That's all there is to it."
Body autonomy means a person has the right to whatever they want with their own body.
We live in a world where people are constantly telling women what they can or can't do with their bodies. Women get it form all sides — Washington, their churches, family members, and even doctors.
A woman on Twitter who goes by the name Salome Strangelove recently went viral for discussing the importance of female body autonomy.
Here's how it started.
She continued talking about how her mother had a difficult pregnancy.
Her mother asked her doctor about the possibility of sterilization.
As was typical of the times, she was chastised by her male, Catholic doctor.
Her mother was made to feel guilty about simply exploring the medical options about her own body. But later on, a new doctor made her feel more comfortable about her situation.
None
Once her mother had the courage to speak up, her own family members supported her.
A mystery teacher has become an internet scholar after imgur user SharkyTheSharkDog shared photos of the extra credit questions on their exams.
While the first six are really fun—you should see if you can get them all correct—the last one is pure torture in the form of public humiliation.
Don't read too quickly, students.
1. How many seasons was “Full House" on the air?
2. Complete the verse... “I been in the game for ten years makin' rap tunes..."
3. What color pants does Jake from State Farm wear?
4. Okay, this one's going to be tough for you.
“Yesterday, during my lecture, I quickly mentioned that only a pink pen will save you tomorrow. Draw a stick figure below in that pink pen."
5. Describe the dumbest conversation you overheard recently.
Guy: Do you like Bon Jovi? Girl: No thanks, I don't eat Italian Food.
6. Including “The Revenant," how many times has Leo DiCaprio been nominated for an Academy Award?
7. And this one's a true test of your reading strategy.
First person to read this, stand up proudly on your chair, and yell at the top of your lungs, “Oh Captain, My Captain!" will receive a 95% on this exam. … ... ... *Just kidding. Name the drummer for The Beatles.
