Posted: 10/12/2005 9:07:35 PM EDT
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Yahoo!!! I'm officially RETIRED today. (The first retirement deposit came in, so now it really IS true.) 18 years of 'trying' to teach high school science. Trying, because the vast majority of each class does not want to be there, does not want to learn, does not want to know the things they are required to know and actively fights against knowing. And, when they don't know...guess whose fault it is? A: never the 'students' fault. Some won't learn. Some can't learn no matter how hard they try and that is heartbreaking. Five or six (or one or two) (or none) in a class of 32 actually try to learn. But, you can't devote any time to them because of the six or 16 in a class who go out of their way to ruin the learning environment. No more pregnant fifteen year olds with pierced tongues and five years of sex experience! No more lies, deceit, stealing, vandalism, and attempts to hurt me. No more 36 students and 26 seats. No more witnessing human tragedy on a grand scale...daily. No more constant, mindless babbling. No more insane arguing. No more insane parents. No more SAT scores that show a bell curve shifted to the left by 23 IQ points and getting worse every year. No more trying to teach chemistry or physics to people who can't divide...WITH A CALCULATOR. No more watching a near heroic expenditure of resources on the very worst behaved, the bottom of the barrel, while almost nothing is expended on the best and brightest. So, do I miss it? Ha, haa, haaa, haaaaa, hhhaaaaaaaaaaa. Not in the slightest. Lets see, what will I do tomorrow, ahhhh, oh, I know, go shooting, or diving, or play on the computer, or ride the motorcycle, or ride the bike, or .................................................................. Yippee! |
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Congrats.! Keep busy or you'll go nuts. My father retired two years ago and had a full time job taking care of his grandson. He spent 10 hours a day for 2 years with his grandson teaching him to fish, ride bike, plant tomatoes, etc. Now he works half day as a volunteer teacher's aid at the elem. school. |
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Congratulations on your retirement. While I hope your post is not the entirety of your reflections of your career (if it, that is quite sad), there must have been some rewarding and satisfying moments. Teachers have the hardest jobs, imo. Teaching the young people of this nation is no easy task with the diversity in culture, ethnicity, and the ever changing world we live in. My teachers were not all good, some were jaded and I remember one tried to get me to go to the beach with him alone (I didn't go). Teachers need more support, both resources and from parents. I applaud all the people who are going into teaching, yours is largely an individually thankless job, but it's the gratitude of society that you have. I would like to hear teacher's out there and their positive reflections. I think focusing on the positive as well as the negative is a bit more helpful. |
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 You are a jackass, and also ignorant. Teachers in Texas do not get SS benefits EVER, even though they've paid into it just like everyone else. They get their retirement through the Teachers Retirement System (TRS), which sucks. You could make more putting the money into a plain vanilla 401k and just leaving it there. As to the OP, Happy Retiremnt, I sure know my mom is looking forward to hers in a couple of years. |
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Be careful! Retirement is not all it's cracked up to be. For one thing, you won't observe weekends because everyday is Saturday. You don't get holidays, sometimes you just have to give yourself a holiday. No one is going to plan your day, you're going to have to take over that task yourself. But in order to maintain human contact you can go to McDonalds and drink coffee. Be sure to get the senior discount. Also you can interact with the young lions by going for a slow drive in the left lane on the interstate. Be sure to leave your turn signals on, this catches their eye. They are so friendly they nearly always wave.he All things being equal, I highly reccomend retirement, even with all the problems I've mentioned. Your's, wundudnee I'm going to live so long that the Social Security office is going to put a contract out on me. |
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Congrats, Retirement is a real bitch. I have nothing better to do than build knives, fish and play with guns. It's tough but you get used to it. I remember many people telling me I would tire of it quickly and want to go back to work (I didn't know this many people did drugs) it's been a year now and I can't remember a morning that I woke up wishing I could go back to work. 
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