Why do Physical Education teachers get paid the equivalent of Academic Teachers? (careers, graduate)
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I'm not sure I agree with your list. English teachers should get paid as much as the highest-paid teachers, in my opinion, because we do many of the same jobs; it's not just a 90 minute book club. We help children with reading comprehension skills, for instance, and, without those, the kid wouldn't be able to complete any of the work for other classes (it isn't easy to learn new academic vocabulary if you don't know how to use context clues, for instance, and good luck learning a foreign language if you don't know the basic parts of speech). Plus, where do ESL teachers fit in this? They're part special education teachers (because they teach the language aspect of remedial skills) and they sort of teach a foreign language (because they teach English to people who don't speak it as their first language.) Also, many ELA teachers do some of the jobs of the ESL and SPED teachers, because the ESL and SPED teachers are often busy with other students and paperwork.
Math and Science teachers in this area don't even need a bachelor's degree to get hired and can start working WHILE they're in college (because of the high need). There's no need to earn a master's or PhD in the subject if you just want to teach. I may agree that SPED and foreign language teachers deserve to make more than they do, though, because a master's degree is often required for foreign language teachers, and working with disabled children is very hard work.
I would put English alongside math as subjects everyone needs that require a specialty. I couldn't teach an English class to save my soul. Being able to communicate is critical. English teachers also have a lot of grading. I also think Art should be up there as well as it teaches creativity. We need creativity for innovation.
ETA: I just checked teacher wages in Alabama. Now I understand why you have a shortage. While I'm ready to bail on Michigan (we have a glut of STEM teachers here), I'm not going somewhere where teachers are paid so little. I can stay here and make peanuts.
I would put English alongside math as subjects everyone needs that require a specialty. I couldn't teach an English class to save my soul. Being able to communicate is critical. English teachers also have a lot of grading. I also think Art should be up there as well as it teaches creativity. We need creativity for innovation.
ETA: I just checked teacher wages in Alabama. Now I understand why you have a shortage. While I'm ready to bail on Michigan (we have a glut of STEM teachers here), I'm not going somewhere where teachers are paid so little. I can stay here and make peanuts.
Yeah, I only gross about $2,500 per month, and my take-home pay is about $1,800. Combined with my other job, my monthly salary is about $2,000, and I have a master's in Education. The real kicker, though, is that some of the other teachers, who are older and more experienced, make even less than that.
Yeah, I only gross about $2,500 per month, and my take-home pay is about $1,800. Combined with my other job, my monthly salary is about $2,000, and I have a master's in Education. The real kicker, though, is that some of the other teachers, who are older and more experienced, make even less than that.
That is insane. We're not getting any kind of step increases here. I have 8 years experience and still make the wage of a first year teacher. Unfortunately, we're not going to get any step increases any time soon. The district has basically said don't ask for 7 more years. It stinks but they have the upper hand because Michigan has a glut of all teachers including STEM so they can basically tell us to be glad we have a job. The union no longer carries any weight so the schools can do what they want. What irritates me is that they STILL tell new hires that they're going to get steps when they know they're not giving them.
Shortly I predict there will be a serious shortage of teachers and then they'll hire anyone who breathes and pay them whatever they have to to get them. Sad that competent people are leaving the field because they can't pay their bills. For now there are 12 teachers in line for every job that vacates so districts don't care.
That is insane. We're not getting any kind of step increases here. I have 8 years experience and still make the wage of a first year teacher. Unfortunately, we're not going to get any step increases any time soon. The district has basically said don't ask for 7 more years. It stinks but they have the upper hand because Michigan has a glut of all teachers including STEM so they can basically tell us to be glad we have a job. The union no longer carries any weight so the schools can do what they want. What irritates me is that they STILL tell new hires that they're going to get steps when they know they're not giving them.
Shortly I predict there will be a serious shortage of teachers and then they'll hire anyone who breathes and pay them whatever they have to to get them. Sad that competent people are leaving the field because they can't pay their bills. For now there are 12 teachers in line for every job that vacates so districts don't care.
I've been advised against it, but I've thought about going back and getting a degree in STEM that I could use for other fields if teaching turned out to be a bad fit. I'm not great at math I can't conceptualize, but I love science and technology. Unfortunately, though, on my salary it would be very hard to go back to school. Classes cost about what I make in a month around here.
I've been advised against it, but I've thought about going back and getting a degree in STEM that I could use for other fields if teaching turned out to be a bad fit. I'm not great at math I can't conceptualize, but I love science and technology. Unfortunately, though, on my salary it would be very hard to go back to school. Classes cost about what I make in a month around here.
If I were younger I'd head back to school and get a PhD in chemical engineering. I'm 57. I'm finding it difficult to find another job with only 10 years left to work. 30 years ago teachers got step increases every year. If I'd gone into teaching when I went into engineering I'd be making close to six figures. Instead I can't manage half of that. It's frustrating to be so undervalued by society.
I would say figure out a way to go back to school. You're never going to make a decent living in this field. Money spent on an education to get out of teaching is money well spent if you're young. I'll stay where I am unless I find something better. I wouldn't mind staying in teaching but I just can't afford it. They pulled a bait and switch. I accepted the low incoming wage because I though it was going to go up every year. That's what they told me when they hired me. That's what they still tell the new hires. They lie and there is nothing we can do about it.
I'm going to an engineering job fair next week and I've been applying to anything and everything that looks like a fit. I'll just keep plugging away. They SAY there's an engineering shortage. I'm not sure I believe that because I know too many older engineers who can't find work. If there really were a shortage they wouldn't care that we're older. Engineering isn't normally a physically stressful job. It just requires the brain and mine still works.
I would put English alongside math as subjects everyone needs that require a specialty. I couldn't teach an English class to save my soul. Being able to communicate is critical. English teachers also have a lot of grading. I also think Art should be up there as well as it teaches creativity. We need creativity for innovation.
ETA: I just checked teacher wages in Alabama. Now I understand why you have a shortage. While I'm ready to bail on Michigan (we have a glut of STEM teachers here), I'm not going somewhere where teachers are paid so little. I can stay here and make peanuts.
When comparing salaries, you should also compare cost of living. While a high salary in one state/city may be attractive, the cost of living as well as the taxes in that area may lead you to have less spending cash once the necessities (utilities, rent/home payment, etc) have been paid.
When comparing salaries, you should also compare cost of living. While a high salary in one state/city may be attractive, the cost of living as well as the taxes in that area may lead you to have less spending cash once the necessities (utilities, rent/home payment, etc) have been paid.
You can check City Data to verify, but rent here ranges from $500-$800 per month in most places. Utilities are included in that estimate, as well. Home rental is a bit more expensive if you want to live in a nicer suburb, but the city is relatively safe, so there isn't really a need. Transportation costs can be low, because we have lax insurance requirements and no inspections. I wouldn't recommend the bus at all. Since housing costs are so low, though, I guess I should be able to save more money.
I seriously want to go back to school for something, though. I was not a great math student in high school, and when I got to college, I tried to major in it and failed miserably. There was just too much to keep up with. I'm hopelessly disorganized and have trouble completing really involved homework. Science was a bit easier because it kept my interest, but it was difficult to keep up with lecture notes and understand everything the teacher was telling me. I also had a bad habit of not actually reading my textbook but just relying on lecture notes. I guess that's why I eventually settled on English and Education; the professors in those departments knew how to get people interested in their subject, for the most part, so they were easy classes.
I've been advised against it, but I've thought about going back and getting a degree in STEM that I could use for other fields if teaching turned out to be a bad fit. I'm not great at math I can't conceptualize, but I love science and technology. Unfortunately, though, on my salary it would be very hard to go back to school. Classes cost about what I make in a month around here.
If you are not good at math, you will not be able to get a decent STEM degree. Math is the language of science and technology.
You can check City Data to verify, but rent here ranges from $500-$800 per month in most places. Utilities are included in that estimate, as well. Home rental is a bit more expensive if you want to live in a nicer suburb, but the city is relatively safe, so there isn't really a need. Transportation costs can be low, because we have lax insurance requirements and no inspections. I wouldn't recommend the bus at all. Since housing costs are so low, though, I guess I should be able to save more money.
I seriously want to go back to school for something, though. I was not a great math student in high school, and when I got to college, I tried to major in it and failed miserably. There was just too much to keep up with. I'm hopelessly disorganized and have trouble completing really involved homework. Science was a bit easier because it kept my interest, but it was difficult to keep up with lecture notes and understand everything the teacher was telling me. I also had a bad habit of not actually reading my textbook but just relying on lecture notes. I guess that's why I eventually settled on English and Education; the professors in those departments knew how to get people interested in their subject, for the most part, so they were easy classes.
If you are not good at math, you will not be able to get a decent STEM degree. Math is the language of science and technology.
I said that I'm not great at math I can't conceptualize. Science is conceptualized math, so most of the work of understanding it is kind of already done for me. See, it's not easy to understand most math problems as real-life situations without some serious "mental calisthenics" for most people, me included, but plug those numbers and letters into a formula with tangible concepts, like chemistry and physics, and it becomes much easier to understand, at least the lower-level stuff I studied in high school and undergraduate college.
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