Attention Schoolteachers
 

Many hotel chains offer their "government rates" to schoolteachers who have a state-issued I.D. When calling their 800 reservation numbers, simply ask if a schoolteacher with state govt issued i.d. qualifies for a govt rate. (Some hotels might tell you you only qualify while you are traveling on business/ to a teachers convention etc)

A teacher friend of ours was recently offered the $79 rate for an Embassy Suites where the AAA rate was $119.

Good luck! Teachers deserve a break!

My dad, a high school teacher, has been doing this for as long as I can remember. We have had the opportunity to stay at some really nice hotels because of this discount. It is a great break and I intend to take full advantate of it when I travel!!

Lets give this cut rate to hard working farmers who put food on the table for school children and teachers. My father worked harder as a farmer than any school teacher. "Government workers" already get too many perks and too many government holidays off.

gee jor, nobody's knocking the farmer, why knock the teacher?

And in the spirit of the day, why not argue for Veterans, as well, jor? Where's your head?

I'm wishing I could resist making this post, but jor, I've done both. Farming and teaching... teaching is a hell of a lot harder... On the other hand, I've got nothing against farmers. I'm just annoyed by your uninformed rant.

Yeah, teachers really get too many perks. Crappy pay, dilapidated facilities, extremely long hours, and cranky parents and community members who think they don't work very hard - all while being expected to teach students who have been raised with poor behavior and social skills and students that have no appreication for a free education. I won't even go into the "No child left behind" ignorance they have to deal with.

My mother, grandmother, and many of my aunts and uncles are teachers, and they work as hard as any farmer I know - and I grew up in a farm community, so I DO know just how hard farm work is. I've even mucked a few stalls and milked a few cows myself.

jor, my guess is you don't personally know any teachers. Otherwise, you wouldn't be so quick to put them down. There are too many people out there that think "teachers have the summer off" - no they don't. They have to take continuing educaton classes to maintain certification, and many take up a summer job to make ends meet. No wonder the good teachers are all leaving our schools - who wants to be treated like that? I'm not saying farmers don't deserve a break too, but don't take it out on the teachers. Take it out on the pro athletes, or the ceo's, or the doctors and lawyers - just not the teachers.

jor is somewhat right...farmers get so much government subsidies that they should qualify as government employees! And jor, if you're speaking for the the big corporate farmers you can thank them for torturing farm animals and polluting our land, air and water.

Whoa, Jor! Down Boy!! I'm a special ed. teacher and though I've never worked as a farmer, lived in a farming community does NOT mean that I don't work hard. How in the heck do you know difficult MY job is? Have you been in my classroom to know? How easy do you think it is for my coworkers?

Beckers made many of the same points I was going to, so I won't be redundant; however, I am personally offended. How dare you make a blanket statement saying that your dad, the farmer, worked harder than ANY teacher. Do you mean to tell me, Jor, that there is not one single teacher that worked harder than him? I am not downplaying your father's hard work but to put down a whole profession's dedication is not only insulting but it also makes for a false argument.

As for the gov't rate, I was told so frequently that I don't qualify that I no longer ask about it. I have an ID but it is not issued by the state; it's issued by my school district...My certifications are of course all issued by the state but that's not recognized by those offering gov't. discounts. So maybe that little tidbit should make you happy, Jor...

Farmers are the historic core of American free enterprise which America is famous for. They do not get holidays off. They served in the military and do not get Verterans Day off from milking the cows or harvesting corn and soy beans like most of the rest of us do.

As of this hour farmers milked cows and shoveled manure Twice today. It is hard and messy work which very few people would ever consider doing. They do not get the summer off to go to career training seminars as teachers do and they don't get cut rates on airlines. Their sons and daughters work in the fields and clean out milking barn manure during their "summer vacation".

Muffin Eater, I am a veteran, My father is a WW11 veteran, and my grandfather was a WW1 veteran. We just don't run around on veteran's day at the local parade. Farmers have work to do.

Giro, if you don't like "torturing farm animals and polluting our land, air and water" farmers don't either and they don't enjoy eating beef and pork any more than you do. Maybe you should consider not having another baby who will consume thousands of pounds of beef and pork over its life time and polluting your water.

i'm a federal government employee. i work my butt off. i do a good job. my boss and the management treats us like crap. they have taken away many of our benefits. but at work we still work hard and do a good job. most of the time i get better discount with aarp or aaa rates. i like farmers and school teachers. i am not a sour puss like somebody here.

Aren't we all working hard? Why should anyone get special benefits? I think that may have been what Jor was trying to say?

Alisa, Exactly. No "government rates".

My Mom was a teacher and she worked her butt off. I am a nurse and I work my butt off. One of the differences between the two is I know of no teacher that is required to work weekends, nights, or holidays. They close schools, they don't ever close hospitals. If a teacher screws up my kid may not learn math. If I screw up, you die.

The point being I chose my job. I fact, I love my job. I respect and admire teachers (and farmers). But it is our choice what we do in life, as difficult as it can be. So I proudly ask for my discount. And will continue to do so.

By the way, if you think teachers make little money, check out what a nurse makes. And we don't get summers off.

Jersey, I fully believe being a nurse OR a teacher is a "Calling". Neither is for the faint of heart! And IMO both are grossly underpaid and underappreciated.

However, all teachers work evenings at home, grading papers, doing lessonplans and a myriad of paperwork now required.

In addition, many middle and high school teachers go much further working nights and weekends - any coach of any sport spends copious hours after normal school hours. Any band or choir director, or theatre teacher also spend countless additional hours both before and after school. These hours are often unpaid, and if they are given a 'supplemental', it amounts to pennies per hour - no time & a half for them.

Again, anyone working in either the teaching OR nursing profession has to feel 'called' to it. They are a hero in my book, and to our society and deserve our thanks and gratitude.

jor, seriously, if you're going to talk about this, get a clue first.

1. Farmers are not the only ones who served in the military. And I've got news for you - teachers didn't get Veteran's Day off either, at least not in any school district I know of. They still had to get up and go to work, too.

2. TEACHERS DO NOT HAVE THE SUMMER OFF. They work like the rest of us. Career training seminars? Ha. Try taking a full semester's worth of classes in three months. That is not funtime, that's work.

3. As of the same hour you were talking about last night, teachers had probably seen about 200 students. They had created lesson plans. The had gone out of their way to help at least one student. They had dealt with cranky parents who don't appreciate them and don't understand why their son or daughter is getting a failing grade - hmm, could it be because the parents don't make them do their homework? They had been blamed with the stupidity and poor behavior problems from children whose parents haven't taken any initiative in their children's lives. They had been public speakers, problem solvers, mathemeticians, sociologists, career advisors, and all too often, the only rational adult who cares about a child and his or her well-being. Then they went home and spent their evening grading papers and making more lesson plans, getting ready for the next day. All while getting paid less than what they could make at McDonald's.

3. Teachers' kids work, too. I'm sorry if you feel like you were the only one. You weren't. So you helped out to make the family farm run? I worked fast food to help our single-parent family pay the rent and put food on the table. And I worked my ass off, all while appreciating and taking advantage of the free education I was receiving.

jor, if you have children, I feel very sorry for their teachers. Like I said, I'm sorry if you feel slighted having been the child of a farmer. But please try to open your mind to the possibility that you and your family are not the only ones who work hard to support themselves. And at the end of the day, remember this - at some point, your father made the decision to be a farmer. I honestly don't think anyone put a gun to his head and said "Milk these cows or I'll kill you." We all have to make choices, and we have to live with the consequences that come with them.

As I said before, I know farmers work hard. I'm not discounting that. But you need to take a reality pill and understand that they're not the only ones who work hard for minimal pay.

Jor, honey, you don't have a clue what you are talking about until you have personally worked in a school system. Therefore, as a hard-working teacher who has spent MANY weekends (AND summers, mind you) working, I won't even acknowledge your uninformed arguements. I'll just be glad I nenver had you in my classroom. And I'll remind myself how thankful I am that you don't know what you are talking about firsthand--you'd make a lousy teacher if that's the way you like to generalize. Even the farmers should be offended by you telling everyone what their dietary habits are.

Why are you on a travel board whining about this anyway?

I think the spirit of Jersey's comment is correct: we CHOOSE our professions. Jor, if you are so bitter about gov't employees getting discounts, you have the choice to go be one adn get the discounts yourself. And if anyone chooses to be a government employee (or teacher) simply for the discounts, well, that's a strange reason to be underpaid and overworked, but hey, okay. Either way, we choose our destiny--even the farmers have a choice to become professionals if they don't want to do physical labor. If you are not happy with the choices you or others have made, you are not accomplishing anything by projecting that bitterness onto others.

Meanwhile, thanks clarkgriswold for the tip. I'll start asking for my discount when I travel. Even better, I'll do it shamelessly, remembering the unbelieveable amount of personal funds I pour into my making my classroom more effective each year.

Thanks, Jor! Now that I have analyzed the situation I feel better than ever asking for my discount! :)

I just want to clarify that in no way do I disparage teaching. It is a different bit of "poison", then nursing. But if you don't love it you are not only making yourself miserable but everyone around you.

I also have to attend conferences where I get little reimbursement. And I don't get to go home if my replacement doesn't show up. It's called abandonment and I would not only lose my job but might face legal ramifications. And if you are sick on Christmas, guess who's not at home but at work to care for you?

So no comments on who works harder, longer, or under worse conditions. We all work hard and sometimes under appalling conditions. I am as proud of my family members who are teachers as I am of my family members who work in the medical community.

And ask for the discounts. We work hard and should be rewarded.

Hey! I'm special! Doesn't everyone else realize that?

:-D

Yes you are, dear. Yes you are. LOL

jersey: Thank you. VERY well stated. Represents teachers, nurses, farmers and all. I love my job and I would not trade it for any other, regardless of the downsides. But I always know I have a choice if ever I change my mind. This world is full of opportunity; why knock others for the opportunities we have not taken ourselves?

My parents were both teachers and worked like crazy! And, jor, my father grew up on a farm, so should he get a double-discount??

My mother was the type of teacher who was at school an hour before the kids, and didn't get home until at least 7 p.m. I think we once figured out her hourly rate to be about $1.10. After 25 years as a music teacher, retiring 3 years ago, who was recognized once as teacher of the year in the state, her top salary was less than $40k--my little brother's starting salary as an engineer was more than that. So if she can get a discount at a hotel, so be it!

Teachers are still underpaid and underappreciated. It's such a difficult job--I certainly could never do it.

Darn you, griswold! Always starting such controversial threads on Fodors!

Having had some association with the farming community, I can tell you that most farmers and their families have a chip on their shoulder (an even bigger one than teachers).

Farmers see themselves as a special group that's underappreciated by everyone, especially the government (which really isn't true, if you look at the USDA subsidies).

Operators of small farms are a particularly whiney bunch who complain that the government isn't doing anything to perpetuate their way of life -- even though most are politically conservative and insist that the government stay out of every other aspect of our lives.

There's a long history behind jor's post.

Perhaps the reason Jor under-appreciates teachers is that it is apparent by his post that he has never attended school and has no idea what teachers actually do & have to put up with.

My daughter is a teacher, and I bet my daughter can beat up your father!

Sorry, Clark, I forgot to say "thank you" for posting this helpful bit of information. Never heard of it, but it's a great perk, almost as good as getting paid NOT to grow certain foods!

I've been a teacher for 15 years. I am well paid, I don't deserve any special discounts.

I don't particularly care who does or doesn't get a discount, but as a point of clarification - for Federal employees the government rate at hotels is not intended to be some sort of perk, but rather is intended to keep the cost to taxpayers down. Officially, you're supposed to be traveling on government business and be able to prove it by showing your TA (travel authorization). In practice, most hotels don't bother to enforce the rules, but that doesn't change the fact.

jor : knowing your background in farming - I now understand why you write the way you do.

From now on, I will use the word "joron" instead of "moron".

Leona, I have not put down teachers or education. Yet you and others see fit to knock me down and insult me. BTW I have two University degrees. One in Agricultural Science and one in Architecture. Also, I was once employed as a University teacher's assistant. I no longer farm and I have worked in the architecture profession for many years. I have been involved in the education system longer than the vast majority of Americans.

My father was forced to quit school in the 8th grade in order to work on the family farm. He had no education in life to be anything other than what he grew up learning on the farm. When he got back from the war he had no other choice but to stay on the farm.

Muffin Eater, the insults that farmers have had to endure over the generations such as yours are terrible. Dirty farmers, Plow boys, Smelly farmers coming into town. And you, Leona - you would like your daughter to beat up my 80 year old father? To suggest something like that is so pathetic. He is the hardest working and the most loyal man I have ever known. In his day he spent countless days working in neighbor's barns when they were sick, in addition to tending to his own herd. Sometimes 20 hours of hard labor per day.

So go ahead and keep attacking me, my father and the farming community if that's what you have been taught. My points were posted only to air that farmers work every single day of the year and they don't get travel perks and holidays off.

wahhhhhhh. have another baby bottle of goat's milk, joron.

I live in the "burbs" now but I lived in a farming area small town until I was 22. I heard all of these sort of put downs and jokes about farmers, believe me. While I do not agree with 'some' things Jor has said I believe some of you are adding to the negative stereotypes and myths which you have held in your lives. I hope people realize that American farmers are the most educated and successful of any on earth. That comment was right out of child's mouth, Muffin.

The problem you failed to recognize is that joron has derailed a genuine goodwill gesture by clarkgriswold.

Why don't we all just agree that every hard-working person in every industry deserves some perks.

And if some hotel chains choose to bestow a perk upon teachers, how nice of them to do it.

BTW, jor, I worked on Veteran's Day, as did my husband & my daughter. (And we are in 3 different professions.)

Wow, you guys really got on a tear last night!

Teachers, please clarify. You guys don't get the summer off? I am shocked. I always knew that many teachers worked to earn extra cash as you guys are way way underpaid but I thought summers off where at least an option. I know you guys work hard sometimes without support from community and parents.

Farmers as well work freakishly hard. Dairy farmers especially. As we distance ourselves from the land farmers and their lifestyles are more misunderstood. So many people involved with farming are now just farm workers working for a corporation. I suspect many of these people would love to see the end of the factory farm and a return to more traditional farming.(animals actually seeing the outdoors and maybe even green grass)

To the people who bitch about corporate farming- do your homework, buy local organic, try and trace your food source and support your LOCAL farmer. Todays small farms are tomorrows strip malls, especially around current sprawl. Meet the people who grow and produce your food but get ready- good food costs more, so pay up or shut up.

Jor, I am suprised by your post but I understand your frustration. Just don't take it out on teachers. We need teachers for strong communities just as much as society needs farmers. I will not starve if ALL of you guys shut down tomorrow but I might have to resort to eating more venison.

I would love to see an end to many aspects of modern farming and many farmers I know are extremely conservative until they apply for government subsidy. Other than that they do not want to be told what to do or how to farm - remember when no one used waterways when planting a field? It took the government to make them and we all benefit.

I live in the Shenendoah Valley- some of the most furtile land in the world. What do we grow?- Housing Developments. When we try to control this runaway development in rural areas the farmers scream and vote for rightwingers. Take your chip off your shoulder. Look to the people and politicians who support the SMALL farmer and stay away from the real estate man.

"Farmland lost is farmland lost forever"- Piedmont Environmental Council

"These are the hills that your daddies died for, how could they know we would have treated them so?"- Gengis Angus

Farmers in my area of the burbs sell out to real estate developers because they have no other choice. They can not make a living on their small (by today's reality) 160 acres with the small profit/cost ratio and the skyrocketing real estate tax burden caused by residential development surrounding them. They are choked to death until they submit.

When they spend two months every summer at their "cabin" in the San Juan's, anyone will have a hard time convincing me that my two teacher (married couple) friends either don't have the summer off, or are underpaid. I don't begrudge it to them, but facts are facts.

And don't get me started on days off for teachers here in Oregon. My two teenagers are off today, were off yesterday, and will be off the Friday AND Monday following Thanksgiving. That's not to mention the four days of parent/teacher conferences and/or "in-service" in the last two months.

Okay, beachbum, but if you call or email any of your kids' teachers, I will bet that they are working on something related to their jobs - or have put in some amount of hours. Try it. I have.

Don't you believe parent/teacher conferences are important? Are they too inconvenient for parents to attend? If I held my conferences on a Saturday or Sunday, would you come and would you consider that fair?

Ya, all of that time off is just one big party for teachers.

People believe that because teachers have the "summers off" that they are overpaid. I get paid for the time I work. As far as my summers are concerned, in order to maintain my certifications (and I have multiple certifications in order to better serve the children I work with) I must continually participate in professional development. Those in-service days are part of a school districts effort to be sure teachers get a start on the hours necessary to meet state requirements (it is the school's responsibility as well as the individual teacher). It is also the most economical way to offer staff development. If a school does not offer in-service development, I would be very, very concerned about the school's educational philosophy.

In addition to in-service development, teachers must attend classes and additional workshops during the summer (there is rarely any time for it during the school year other than in-service). When I take a 3 credit course it will cost ME $3,000 as well as the hours necessary to complete the work. I'm not complaining - I love the teaching profession.

Jor, I give thanks everyday for the food that I eat because I know full well many are not as fortunate. Many believe that hunger only occurs in third world countries but plenty go to bed hungry in our very own country - that is simply unacceptable.

I am also appalled by some of the immature responses and insults (but not surprised).

I support local farmers by purchasing their produce at our local farmers' market. I have great respect for the difficult work they endure. My grandparents were farmers, my mother grew up on a farm. Good people.

Please give teachers the respect they deserve. It's just not about having summers off. They are a dedicated group of professionals who are trying to make a difference in the lives of children.

I think we can all agree that we only want the best for each and every child.

Thanks, clarkgriswold, for the tip. I have tried to get the discount and sometimes it even works!
As to jor and others, teaching is a not just a job; it is a lifestyle. In exchange for working incredibly hard for limited pay, you do get more time off than many professions. As to the pay, in my large school district, most make about $30-35K with the highest topping out at $44K for 15+ years experience plus a masters or doctorate. School days themselves are exhausting but highly rewarding (just not monetarily). In the summer, most teachers do manage to take a few weeks just for themselves, while spending some weeks on graduate courses or classroom prep. If we didn't have more time off than the typical job, burnout would be even more prevalent than it is. Over half of new teachers quit within 5 years as it is.
No reason to "dis" anyone's choice of profession; they are all necessary!