[2to4seasons]

by the way,

i think the homeschooling movement is awesome! what a way to really be in touch with your kids. those parents are completely involved and responsible for those their children's education. i wish parents were more involved in their kids' learning in all schooling situations. what's neat about homeschool, too, is there are a lot of resources out there to help parents, because teaching can be difficult if it doesn't come naturally to you, or you haven't learned how best to do it. some homeschool co-ops have professional educators helping them along the way.

[Bridgett]

Until you have "taught in my shoes" you can't possibly understand what it is all about. You want to help a teacher? Keep your mouth shut, raise your child to be polite, considerate, and LISTEN. If all parents did that the teachers could be all you want them to be.

[2to4seasons]

keeping their mouths shut is exactly what i DON'T like about some student's parents... parents are the #1 teacher of kids and should have a say. education should be an open dialog. i like to involve my parents as much as i can in the classroom. they are a huge resource. sorry, but i feel like your attitude is exactly what makes the public not like teachers. parents are entrusting us with their children... that is no small task and should not be taken lightly.

[TaxBait]

Originally Posted by HighlandsGal

Well, I have to be at work at 7 am, and stay by contract until 2.45. IF I don't want to take home work, I usually stay until 4...That is 9 hours, ...

You were the one to compare teaching salaries to babysitting money. I simply pointed out that teachers don't provide 9 continous hours of babysitting for 30 students. It would take 2 teachers/bus drivers for that. And at an average salary of $56K per year (per article) plus benefits that comes out to way over $100K.

[Br1234]

Where I went to high school teachers only tought (if you want to call it that) 5 out of the 6 hour school day. They were givin one for "planning".

Some teachers would show up to class, take attendance, say: read chapter X and leave for the rest of the class. One would play Solitaire on his computer ALL DAY.

John Stossel did a whole 20/20 on public education about a year ago. It was great. Eye opening to some but for me it was old news.

I seen a couple posts where people (certified teachers) complained that there were not enough teaching jobs, SUPPLY AND DEMAND BABY. Seems to me they could be paid less. A masters or extra cert. does not a good teacher make.

Some teachers make way more than originally posted, science, I.A. and spec. ed. come to mind at about $80K/9 months to over $90K/9 months.

I agree with the poster who brought up bene's, teachers have the best and they have 3 months vacation.

Teachers conference, please, you guys get a day and a half off to cover that. Cry me a river.

Not all my teachers were bad but there were a lot of them and I would add that every one of them should have been paid less

I would also add that money doesn't attract the best teachers. It attracts people that want more money, nothing else. If its true that you guys don't do it for the money, why are you asking for $100K, or more? If you want to make a lot of money go into business.

[allbusiness]

Teachers here are paid more than elsewhere also due to the fact that no one ever seems to retire and there is no growth in student population in the state.

My daughter had to move to a southern state when she graduated last year to get a teaching job since there are "no" teaching jobs available in Michigan. We lose thousands of graduating teachers every year to NC, FL, CO and CA alone. GVSU holds a teacher job fair every spring and ALL of the recruiters are from out of state. It's a mess.

[joedekock]

Originally Posted by allbusiness

GVSU holds a teacher job fair every spring and ALL of the recruiters are from out of state. It's a mess.

That is not true. My wife is a GVSU grad from three years ago, and she still goes to the job fair to get her name in other districts. According to what she has seen with her own eyes, students are lined up out the door and will wait for over an hour just to sit down for 2 minuets with a rep from a high paying school in West Michigan such as West Ottawa, or Grand Haven. Detroit, Traverse City, Flint, and even Lansing have reps at this job fair, and you can literally walk up to a rep with out waiting. This is also true for the out of school states.

Someone at GVSU should be telling these education graduates to be willing to look elsewhere for a job, and not at the high paying schools in West Michigan that the graduates are familiar with.

It amazes me that a School in the Holland and Zeeland area's will get thousands of resumes from new teachers alone for one open position, but you can't get enough resumes in Lansing, Detroit, or even Traverse City to cover all the open positions put together.

[Milabs]

Originally Posted by bls5555

$56,000 to be a teacher

Try being a family living off of that....no thanks.

[TaxBait]

Originally Posted by Milabs

Try being a family living off of that....no thanks.

State median income for a household with one wage earner is only $42K. Median for 4 person families is $73K and I'd bet the majority of those are 2 income.

[nadmonk]

People keep throwing around this $56,000/yr salary. I think we need to put that into perspective.

True, a teacher can make that, but that is the top end of the teacher salary range (depending on district some may be higher or lower). You can only make that after obtaining your Masters and completing the required number of additional credit hours. Most schools in Michigan start teachers with a salary of between $28,000-32,000. That isn't to say there aren't some that start higher, but most fall within that range. Most schools have the top pay scale for teachers at between $58,000-60,000

Also, people always use the babysitter pay for comparison, I don't think this leads to an accurate comparison.

I think a better example would be a software engineer. Both a teacher and a software engineer need to go to college and get at least a B.S. to get a position. Both need to continue their education (either through professional development courses, college classes, etc) throughout their career to stay competitive. Both jobs can be taxing and competitive with deadlines and "project" requirements.

The teacher salary range is: $28,000-58,000

Teach software engineer salary range is: $48,000-106,000

Taking into account that a teacher gets 10 weeks off for summer, the teachers make between $666-1380/wk. That isn't per week over the whole year, only those 42 weeks school is actually in session.

A software engineer makes between $923-2038. This is per week over the course of the entire year.

If we stretch that teachers salary over the entire year since most teachers opt to get paid throughout the year, their salary comes out to $538-1077 per week.

So if a teacher were to get paid at the same weekly rate as a software engineer for those 42 weeks school is in session, they would make between $38,766-85,596 per year.

And yes, as in any profession, there can be, and are, mediocre or bad teachers. Usually they are the ones that get the press, unfortunately. However, ANY profession has people like that.

So no, I don't think teachers are overpaid. I think they are skilled professionals who make less than most other professions requiring similar amounts of education and time dedication, and most people don't think twice about it.