Speech therapist paycheck rant!!!!

amother

Cyan

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 8:45 am

amother [ Caramel ] wrote:

It’s a lot more nuanced than that.

I wouldn’t say I was brainwashed, however I was in a “system,” in which you follow a certain path. You aren’t informed about the financial realities of life, you are pressured to choose a career without actually understanding what it’s all about, and you have about 5 career choices. You are trained to follow the “system,” and wouldn’t think of being different. Thinking independently often doesn’t “kick in” until later on and at that point it’s often too late.

I’m not sure how you can be dismissive of other people’s experiences when you haven’t actually lived it yourself.

You can see my post up thread for why I am being “dismissive” of using the term “brainwashed”. You are not saying you are brainwashed. You seem to have a better understanding of what the word brainwashed means. I would like to point out that this is not a frum problem. Thousands of people are unsatisfied with their choices of education and career options. This is why burnout and midlife crises exist.
If you are a frum girl who expects to work part time, make enough money to support a family singlehandedly, while doing minimal paperwork, then you are going to be in for a rude surprise. Brainwashed? I don’t think so. Maybe naïveté. And it’s easy for a girl to convince herself that she will be different, whether by going private or specializing in a sought-after area. Especially when she is under a time crunch to have her degree finished as soon as possible.

amother

Candycane

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 9:03 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

most babysitters in my area still charge for YT months even if there are like 4 days of work. Its crazy

True, but if you worked a regular 9-5 job, you'd be paying double some days since you'd likely have more then 4 days of work (for example you'd pay by the month for your 2 yr old, and they'll give off a day or two before yom tov or a few days for chanukah, and you'd still need to work your regular job (since with a regular job your not on a school schedule), so would have to also pay a babysitter for those days in addition to having paid the regular for the month)

amother

Mintcream

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 9:22 am

amother [ Cyan ] wrote:

The term "brainwashed" may not fit this exactly, but the truth is that there are real differences between the frum girl and the girl who is more exposed to the outside world.

I was pressured by my father to go into a career that he thought would work for me. I did not want to do it. I saw that it was a very full time career and I did not think I would be able to handle it while raising a family. I didn't particularly enjoy what the career entails either. Even so, I found myself in the program.... like someone above said, parents may not be aware of current market conditions, and while I was in the program I was told that there are no jobs available in the field. Even so, I followed what my father told me to do... I was 19, and I was conditioned to following what my parents told me to do all my life.

Another issue I see in frum circles is that girls are pressured to "figure it out" by 19. Some girls are very mature and know what they want to do from when they are 10 or so, but many do need a year or two, try out different fields, see what works for them. We don't give our girls this time.

As for a job that you can work part time and make decent money - surprise! Therapies such as speech therapy do fit the bill. Support a family? How is it realistic to support a family on a part time salary, no matter how good it is?

I do think, though, that speech therapy is an excellent choice for a woman, as she won't always be a newlywed trying to support a family, and this career works very well as a side income for a woman is juggling work/family. How realistic is it for a woman with a decent size family to work full time anyway? The problem of course, is that these degrees are very expensive and require a tremendous amount of work and time. Each person has to evaluate whether the cost/benefit ratio works for them, but all in all, therapy career choices are popular in our community for a reason - they really do work with the frum lifestyle.

amother

Lawngreen

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 9:45 am

I didn't read the whole thread ...

I'm a speech therapist and make 70 an hr. I'm extremely happy with that. I make my own hours, take off whenever I need. I also come home with 3000 a month but work very few hours.

I think a bigger issue is expecting one salary to work. My husband is in yeshiva but works on the side. Otherwise I would have to work like an dog to make it.
I think the salary/job IS good for a mom. However it is NOT good to be a one salary income. For that, you need to do real estate or something like that

amother

Royalblue

Sun, Jun 20 2021, 10:02 am

Op- as someone in the therapy field I do agree with you that this is not a money making field. I would consider this a supplementary income but when you have a family down the line you will not want to work 9-330 m-th and commute. Those are long hours to be working with direct care back to back. This is a decent field if you need 2-3k a month to supplement your husbands income. You certainly cannot support a husband in kollel on it. Maybe if you want to make serious money or have a more serious career look into a special ed school that can provide a salary. Or try to get into the board of ed, the salary is great.