[vacation1]

Wrong--my school district started laying off/cutting budgets 11 years ago. My salary has been going DOWN due to the increasing cost of health insurance (shocker!--teachers contribute to their health care coverage). We also are required to contribute approx. nine percent of our salary for retirement. Finally, we don't get "three months paid vacation"--we simply aren't paid for those months (nine-month contract). Oh, and as prices go up due to the "wider economy," we have to pay those higher prices just like everyone else. The "automatic" pay increases we receive (if they aren't frozen because of budget reductions) are based on gaining experience and education.(

I hope you don't teach logic. Okay, your particular district had layoffs 11 years ago. What does that even mean in the context of discussing a depression that's 4 years old? Of course government workers have been fired or laid off before in human history. The rest of it is just funny - or would be, if it wasn't so clueless. Why are teachers always so adamant that everyone pretend their perks don't exist? Yes, honey, you do get paid for those 3 months. Unless you're paid hourly, you do in fact get paid your salary for working a teacher's year, which is different than a lawyer's year or a deli clerk's year. It's shorter. From what I'd been told, teachers either get paid their salary for 9 months - meaning they basically save up their paychecks to get through the checkless summer - or they are paid a slightly lesser amount each month, including the summer. Either way, they're getting that $35k or $55K or $87K a year. It's just disbursed differently. The healthcare benefits? They differ from state to state, district to district, but a lot of teachers have been paying far less or zero into their benefits for a long time. And the defense that automatic pay raises are linked to increases in education or experience? That's only true in government jobs. Everywhere else, it has the same cause/effect rationale as saying that volunteering at a soup kitchen will help you win the lottery.

[thistleswamp]

It sounds like you're interested in science as well. If you want a well paying, rewarding, flexible job, try pharmacy! If I worked full time I'd make about 112000$/year. It's moderately stressful as is any job where your decision making directly influences people's lives, but you get a lot out of helping people.

I only work three days a week by choice. I prefer to spend more time with my family and horses (I've got two currently). I can do that though because of the career I chose!

My husband and I traveled a lot for a while for his training and people where fighting tooth and nail to have me work for them. I can only imagine that pharmacists are in demand like this in the states as well.

That's my two cents!