Are teachers underpaid?

Do you really believe a person who works 9 months/year should be paid the same as a person who works 11 months/year? I challenge you to open a business and pay the part timer working 20 hours a week the same as the manager working 60 hours/week.

 

That's an issue.
Masters requirement have become state supported windfalls for bankers and universities, creating a sea of debt slaves.

 

Yes that is a major problem.

 

Teachers work fewer days a year and fewer hours a day than most people. Working outside of their normal work days is an option some choose. The teachers in my local district work 189 days a year and have an 8 hour day that includes an hour of "prep" and a lunch hour, which means they're actually teaching for less than 6 hours a day. Adjusting for that, teachers wages are as good or better than many comparable professions.

There is no such thing as "underpaid" for a job you accept voluntarily and continue to perform voluntarily. As with any product, the cost of the product is determined by the demand vs. the supply. The districts in my area don't have any difficulty hiring teachers to meet demand at the current rate of about 45k per year for a new graduate with a bachelors degree. Teachers also get additional pay for any extra curricular activities, such as coaching, bilingual, special ed, department chair of their campus, etc..

There is pretty good evidence that teaching in a normal American public school environment isn't useful or productive. In many cases its counter productive. How many people do you know that haven't read a book or participated in a sport since they got out of school? I know quite a few people who considered reading and exercising to be punishment because it was used that way in school. There are alternative schooling systems in existence today that don't follow the 19th century Prussian model that public schools emulate. For starters about 1.7 million children are home schooled every year and statistically these kids are better prepared for college than public or private school students. Another alternative is "Sudbury Schools". The original Sudbury school is in Massachusetts and is a place you can send your child instead of a traditional school. Sudbury schools leave the responsibility for what the student learns with the student so there is no formal curriculum, teachers or classes. This model has been operating successfully for over 45 years. There are variations of this type of "School" across the United States. The Sudbury Schools and home schooling are illustrations that a child's education doesn't require or necessarily benefit from standardized curricula or trained teachers.

 

Teachers are severely underpaid for the work they have to do. In fact, most people who would make the best teachers choose to not become teachers because of the fact that they can get better jobs.

 

Here are a few idea I have had to lessen the burden on teachers.....

1; Raise pay. For the level of work they do, teachers are among the worse paid workers in the United States by comparison.

2; Stop overcrowding classrooms. One person can not effective teach 50 students. This is a major issue that has received very little actual attention from policymakers.

3; Manditory student teacher work for college students. If in order to get their degree, a college student has to work for one year as a assistant teacher in the field they are studying, it would help lessen the burden on the teachers.

4; Minimum funding for schools. To me,this is a given. A nation is only as strong as it's people are educated. A fully educated, informed people are necessary to make the US the superpower it once was again. We need to have a certain level of manditory spending for all schools.

5; Stop treating college as the be all end all. The fact is that not all students are qualified for college. We need to take a page out of Japan's book and put funding into vocational schools that serve as a alternative to normal high schools. These schools would have minimum focus on academics, while providing hands on training in a trade. Japan has both normal high schools for college prep and vocational schools for trade prep.

 

I suppose it depends on whether you consider them educators or baby sitters.

 

I hear this a lot recently. The "not everyone is designed to go to college" meme, seems to have traction. But why? Does going to college, for some, create the credential that ensures their elitism? Too much competition for what those who are so amusingly entitled feel?

I know, when you're running a plantation... you need some of this, or some of that, all of which is premised on the idea that folks don't actually choose their outcomes for themselves.... Just something to think about.

 

The Case Against Education

 

Yes, I did that. But as a teacher I put in nearly as many hours working after school & at home grading papers & planning lessons, as I officially got paid for. My new job was actually an 8 hour workday. Within a year, my new job increased my pay to more than I earned as a teacher, and within a few years actually doubled it.

 

Are teachers underpaid?
In the state where I taught for six years, they were badly underpaid and overworked. Most of my fellow teachers--including me--spent from their own pockets to provide needed teaching supplies for their classrooms. I think we're currently experiencing some of the many bad ramifications resulting from the disintegrating support for education in America. American society today reflects the decline in education thru the decline in civility and compromise so crucial in any successful government or society.

 

Are you really insinuating that teachers are working 60 to 70 hours every week?

They aren't. Im not buying it.

How about we evaluate teachers pay against non-union private sector teachers? They are not underpaid,

First, those days are included. It is a national average of 171.5 days a year including ALL work days.

There are actually 260 days in a work year.

That means they are working literally 66% of the time most other full-time professions work. Or 2/3rds.

 

Teachers should not have to purchase their own supplies, but this issue isn't related to salary, in any way.

 

It's called putting in the time.

I now own my own firm, and im in the hated top 5% of income earners.

I didn't come right out of college with a bachelors and expect to be making $75K only working 2/3rds of the year. That position is held almost exclusively by teachers.

They also aren't putting in the time!

So you expectation is that teachers get 2/3rds of the year off, yet still make the same money as other white collar professionals that work 260?

Come on now, you can't be serious.

 

Nope, not at all. We spend the most per pupil than any other place in the world.

 

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I am getting pretty tired of the "we work so many hours," canard.

More holidays than any private sector employees
plus

5-day Thanksgiving break
17-day Christmas break
10-day Spring break
70-day summer break

I counted weekends, yes, because every weekend is a two-day break. Having 17 in a row for Christmas is something I'll never get. I get Christmas & New Year's. Not even a half day on the "eves." I also work a minimum of 50 hours/week and my husband's minimum is 60. He is gone 11 hours/day and still works 2-4 hours most evenings.

Bitch bitch moan moan.... I just :eyeroll:

*Not to mention all the "teacher" days where there is no teaching nor student interaction. Or all the half days where nothing gets done. Or all the "day before holiday," days where nothing gets done.

 

When I purchased supplies for my classroom out of my pocket when I was grossing less than $20,000 per year, I felt pretty strongly it was related to salary.

 

I get your point, but the school not giving teachers the supplies they need is a different issue entirely. I would vote for every teacher having a supply budget. It's shameful they don't, but this is why we donate supplies to schools every year.

 

Just looked at my son's school calendar.

Of the 40 weeks he's in school, 20 of them have at least 1/2 day off, with 16 of those being at least a day off. Only 20 weeks are a full five days. Every other week there is time off.

Edit - bad counting on my part.

 

You really believe our public school systems "educates" our populace? that's laughable. The public school system = day care indoctrination centers for the "have not's". The powers to be want the mass population continue to be degenerates.

What advances technology is innovation and pursue of profit. You can't teach someone who has no desire to learn. FYI my taxes going to public schools is not making my pot holes disappear.

That's why I support tax vouchers to give parents opportunities else where to private schools of their choice. Than the govt choice, because obviously if the govt school system was so great. We wouldn't be having this discussion going on 14 pages.

 

In 14 years I've taught the Christmas break was two weeks or 10 working days.

And Spring Break has always been one week. 5 working days.

Summer Break? Don't get me started.

Most of the "breaks" are "breaks" only in terms of not having students in class. That doesn't mean you don't have to work or show up at school.

 

When I get a Friday off, I don't say "woo hoo, 1 day weekend," I say "woo hoo, THREE day weekend."

Christmas break starts at noon on Friday, Dec 21 and students don't return until Tuesday, January 8. That's 17 1/2 days off for a holiday. Compare that to most Americans, who get the 25th and the 1st, and nothing else. Boo hoo for teachers.

 

It is mind boggling that you do not see the benefits of insuring that all citizens have at least a basic education. In some way you have missed how certain basic functions of society directly impact your life every day. I literally cannot understand where you are coming from.