Comments on: WANTED: NEW JERSEY SCIENCE TEACHERS

By: Teacher Career

Teacher Career — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 06:35:12 +0000

The post is really very good and informative. Is this job still available. A friend of mine in New Jersey is looking for a Teacher Career.

By: Chemist

Chemist — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 20:28:45 +0000

Hi ‘Dissappointed’

The person in question teaches in a different area. She is actually glad to go to work, because she earns money in doing so. She is a single mom, too. So shopping around is not a strong option for her. But her salary sucks in addition to it only being for nine months. As well, the “Donghong Sun” story does not reveal whether she is a single income single mom.

Isn’t it odd that the people who posted this blog are so strangely quiet? They are the ones who need to get the feedback – or are they expecting to just get away with another advertisement? By name, I mean:
(1) “Mary Ellen Clark is Executive Director of the Central New Jersey WIRED Bio-1 initiative” and
(2) “Darlene Yoseloff, Director of School Relations, Middlesex County College”.

Otherwise this is just more “good times” propaganda a la C&E News (yawn).

By: Dissappointed

Dissappointed — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 23:45:24 +0000

Thanks Chemist, but there are always extras the teachers are able to do.
Is your teacher-friend a chemistry teacher? Do they have industry experience?
Does she complain when she doesn’t have to go scrape ice & snow off her car because class was cancelled because of the weather (something that has happened a TOTAL of 3 times in my 17 years of industry experience).
Does she complain when she has off the same days her children do so she doesn’t have to find a sitter to cover (yet another scramble on a cancelled school day).

And if she doesn’t feel she is getting paid enough, shop around. If there are so many math & science teachers in need, I would guess the higher paying school districts would be the place to start.

My comments were in reference to the others who seem to have forgotten that teaching is more about the kids, and not about raking in the big bucks.

By: Chemist

Chemist — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:34:45 +0000

Hey, “Disappointed”, please get your head out of the clouds – it seldom works like that. I know a teacher who seriously struggles to make ends meet over the summer (e.g. driving a car with bad brakes that she can not afford to let be repaired until Fall). Another one I noticed can not afford his own apartment, so he rents as a lodger. There is a basic level of compensation that has to be achieved.

I can teach very well, but there is more to that in being a chemist. Or do you look forward to working 60 hours a week, jumping through the hoops of “no child left behind” or possibly being forced to teach “creation science”. Do you relish being de-fault disqualified as a chemist? It’s a one-way road.

By: Disappointed

Disappointed — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 20:12:03 +0000

I tried this “alternate route” after being laid-off for over a year. Even with having over 12 years experience in the R&D industry, my B.S. gpa of 2.3 was not the required 2.5 that the state demands, and I was not eligible to become a teacher (despite all the reccommendations I was getting that I would be a great teacher).
To have to start all over again is just not something that is feasible for me right now.
Pay cut to me would not be the issue. If you are going into teaching for the money, you are missing what the real payback is.
To inspire someone to look at the world and take it to the next level, to unock the belief they have that Math and Science are something that isn’t for everyone, to watch when they have that “ah-ha” moment. That is priceless.

By: Chemist

Chemist — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 04:14:34 +0000

On the subject of pay, I noticed the following text from the propaganda spiel:

>she decided to leave industry after her first child was born. Following a discussion about Rider
>University’s Graduate-Level Teacher Certification Program (GLTP) with the mother of one of her
>daughter’s classmates, Sun decided to pursue a teaching career.

In other words, the PhD teacher in question was assumedly married. If her husband is employed, then that means that her income from teaching did not have to suffice to support herself and her child. So much for a decent salary.

By: They don't get it...

They don't get it... — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:52:44 +0000

Science teachers, math teachers…

How about pay them at market price? Compete with other industries. Pick the best. Stop crying that you can’t get what you want because you don’t pay enough.

By: Chemist

Chemist — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:23:47 +0000

Yes, who can not have seen the repetitive adds for NJ teachers on Craigslist?If it were possible to
(a) have teaching obligations that cover 3 days/week,
(b) the State of New Jersey would give me the space, time and modest budget for a small independent research program for 2 days each week and
(c) a salary for 12 months instead of 9, then I would consider becoming a teacher, too.

That would partial compensation for teaching in either Camden, Newark or Trenton! I would even buy my own bullet-proof vest!