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Ahahahahaha, if you've never spent time in a classroom observing, you haven't lived! Herding cats for a living is harder work than most people realize.
Paid per hour? Divide it by 25-40 students and see how well they're paid. You couldn't get me into a classroom like that for ANY amount of money.
Don't forget having to grade papers and making teaching plans after school and on weekends. And in many cases paying for basic school supplies out of pocket.
in my experience:
bad teachers tend to be overpaid and not 'culled from the herd'
university professors and administrators tend to be overpaid, especially in the liberal arts fields.
preschool and kindergarten teachers tend to be underpaid
If there are "bad teachers" getting overpaid, then that's their principle's issue, if there are bad teachers, they need to be fired. thats not a overpayment issue, IMO, thats an employment issue
Salaries vary by state and within state by district.
I do not begrudge any teacher's salary. Inner city teachers deserve combat pay.
I do have serious issues with the tenure system and pension plans in my state/district which are beyond substantially better than anything going on in the private sector.
Don't forget having to grade papers and making teaching plans after school and on weekends. And in many cases paying for basic school supplies out of pocket.
But ... but ... SUMMERS! AFTERNOONS OFF!
So what if you spend six hours per day trying desperately to force some knowledge into hundreds of juvenile heads, the afternoons dealing with even more argumentative, insulting or just plain stupid parents, evenings grading papers, weekends writing lesson plans, and several weeks every summer attending mandatory training? Who wouldn't want to live like that for $40,000?
The only profession that is overpaid are the money manipulators on Wall Street. Not long term investors and people that actually create capital for business but the manipulators-derivitive specialist, speculators buying and selling repeatedly in nanoseconds.
They add no benefit to society and it is becoming more and more apparent.
Paid per hour? Divide it by 25-40 students and see how well they're paid. You couldn't get me into a classroom like that for ANY amount of money.
People only count the hours that the teacher is actually in the classroom, but in reality it's much more than that. I taught 1st grade for ONE year before I realized it wasn't something I wanted to do full-time.
Aside from the time I spent at school working, I would come home and try to find projects and things I could do with my class. I had my lesson plans but I always trying to find a way to get something to "click" for that one student who didn't quite get it. So I'd be online looking at Youtube videos, trying to find games I could make or buy real cheap, going to the library, etc. I probably spent an extra 10 hours a week working on school stuff because I wanted my students to be more successful. And I liked to have fun. I had some great teachers when I was growing up. The way they teach now has taken all the fun out of learning. I still remember the Fifty Nifty United States my 3rd grade teacher taught me. And how I learned how to multiply because we had "math races"
Yes, I could have done that during my "planning time" but that time was usually spent answering emails, returning phone calls, writing notes to parents, sometimes holding conferences, or filling out the endless stack of paperwork the school board required.
That's what really did me in. All the paperwork. It took sooooo much time and most of it was useless because I didn't feel it really represented my students. Just a bunch of numbers and facts for the school board to use to justify needing more money that wasn't going to benefit me or my classroom.
Oh and the money. I fell in love with Lakeshore Learning because they had sooo many great things but I was just spending too much money.
I'll still take sub assignments but I'll never return to the classroom full-time. It's hard work with little appreciation...hence this thread.
If there are "bad teachers" getting overpaid, then that's their principle's issue
No actually it's an issue for many people; the students of the bad teacher, the parents of the students of the bad teacher, the taxpayers having to pay the salary of someone inept.
Quote:
if there are bad teachers, they need to be fired.
To say that bad teachers are overpaid does not mean they shouldn't be fired.
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Are Teachers Overpaid?
