High school teacher
% who say their job is stressful: 65%
Anyone who passed notes in chemistry class may understand why high school teachers often end up frustrated when trying to reach out to their students. Preparing lesson plans, setting up early, and fielding calls from concerned parents add to the stress level of teaching grades 9-12.
But dealing with meddling parents can be even more stressful than keeping rowdy teens in line. One social studies teacher, from East Bay, Calif., says she not only has to manage over-involved parents but has also had to grade them -- specifically when one mother of a freshman in her class does her son's homework assignments herself. "The essays that he turns in are a hilarious read as the 'mistakes' that the mother makes in the writing are obviously a ploy to make it appear like a 9th grader wrote the essays."
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Last updated October 29 2009: 4:28 PM ET
How Payscale.com defined high stress and low pay jobs: Starting from a database of over 2000 jobs, Payscale used data from over 36,000 respondents who ranked their jobs for quality of life factors, and chose those requiring a bachelor's degree or higher where the national median pay is less than $65,000. The survey was conducted between Aug 10, 2009 and Oct. 1, 2009.
