Why do people say teachers make so little? (masters degree, masters, salary)
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Since when is the ability to run, catch, throw a ball, and swat a ball with a glorified tree branch 50 times more valuable than the ability to turn today's developing children into tomorrow's successful adults?
Because very few can be qualified athletes and almost anybody who gets through college can get a teaching job somewhere?
....and everyone else is underpaid......the truck drivers, steelworkers, salespeople, fast food workers, farm pickers, politicians, upper management, middle management, the neighborhood kid who cuts grass, welfare recipients, On and on and on. Nobody feels they get paid enough for their work.
You take the gig, you take the pay and deal with it. If you think your training and education is worth more, take it somewhere where you think you'll make more.
Yes, there are many jobs that should pay more. Wouldn't we all love that? Maybe the difference is that there aren't people out there creating threads about how fast food workers or truck drivers are overpaid. I don't know how many times, on various message boards, that I've seen posts from someone complaining that teachers need to stop complaining. They make claims about how little we work and that the pay fits, but they have never seen or truly listened to what we have to deal with.
Honestly, I wouldn't want to do another job. I would just like to have a little more respect for what I do, even if that respect doesn't come with more pay.
Yes, there are many jobs that should pay more. Wouldn't we all love that? Maybe the difference is that there aren't people out there creating threads about how fast food workers or truck drivers are overpaid. I don't know how many times, on various message boards, that I've seen posts from someone complaining that teachers need to stop complaining. They make claims about how little we work and that the pay fits, but they have never seen or truly listened to what we have to deal with.
Honestly, I wouldn't want to do another job. I would just like to have a little more respect for what I do, even if that respect doesn't come with more pay.
Honestly, I wouldn't want to do another job. I would just like to have a little more respect for what I do, even if that respect doesn't come with more pay.
You have my respect for a tough job. In fact, anyone who works any field has my respect since I have zero sympathy for those who work the "where's my free money" path in life.
I'll try the respect angle the next time there's a teacher's strike. Think of the tax dollars we'd have saved if we all would have simply stood up and applauded.
Yes, there are many jobs that should pay more. Wouldn't we all love that? Maybe the difference is that there aren't people out there creating threads about how fast food workers or truck drivers are overpaid. I don't know how many times, on various message boards, that I've seen posts from someone complaining that teachers need to stop complaining. They make claims about how little we work and that the pay fits, but they have never seen or truly listened to what we have to deal with.
Honestly, I wouldn't want to do another job. I would just like to have a little more respect for what I do, even if that respect doesn't come with more pay.
Nor are there a million threads from nurses, for example, complaining about how underpaid they are!
I don't buy the comparison with sports stars' salaries. No group of professionals, not even doctors or lawyers, makes what they make. Perhaps a few individuals in those professions do, but not the average doc or attorney.
The teachers in our district get professional conference days (paid), also paid parent-teacher conference exchange time. Most professionals don't "leave the work at work". It's a professional job.
As a teacher, I don't even try to compare what I make to pro athletes. Let's be realistic, teams bring in millions in profits from people paying $ for tickets, concessions, clothing and souvenirs, tv contracts. The players are the product that brings in the $.
When I first started teaching 17 years ago, my starting salary was $18,000. I qualified for food stamps and I had a Master's degree. The next year, I made $20,000 in a different district and I subsisted for one month on beans because I couldn't afford meat. When I had been working for 10 years, I was making $25,000 and my brother entered the work force from college making $38,000 as an industrial designer. He now makes over $120,000 a year and, after 17 years of teaching, I'm making $47,000 before taxes. Yes, that salary is fine now, but I would have made a bigger salary straight out of college if I wasn't a teacher (and I probably wouldn't have been working the 60 hours a week I do now). I love my job, but I am definitely NOT overpaid.
Just a comparison: I started in the '93/'94 school year making $25,500, which was livable even in an area with a high cost of living. Now, with my Masters, I will be around $72,000.
Last edited by tgbwc; 07-22-2008 at 01:04 PM..
Reason: edited detail
I think one reason that some people aren't more sympathetic to teacher pay issues is the difference in the amount of days worked per year. No matter how busy teachers are during the school year, they still have 13 weeks a year where they aren't at work.
I know that teachers have continuing education requirements that they must meet, but even that is just 150 clock hours over 5 years In my state) and there are tons of conferences and meetings that teachers can go to for that. It seems like it wouldn't be that difficult to find 30 clock hours a year in meetings and conferences and workshops when you have 13 weeks a year off. All you need is 5 day-long conferences. And there are also a lot of online courses that teachers can take. It also doesn't seem like it would be that tough to attend classes at local colleges and universities during the summer quarter, especially for people that love learning and are curious about things. I'd love to be able to do that, but with my 260 day work schedule I just don't have time.
Nurses, doctors, psychologists and just about every other kind of healthcare worker also have to fulfill CEU requirements on top of the work they do, but they usually only have two or three weeks a year off.
There are not too many four year degreed careers out there where the workers make only $30,000.
I can think of about a dozen careers that require a four-year degree but often don't pay well out of the gate: accounting, public administration, journalism, social work, art or music therapy ... Why should teaching be different from any other profession, where you pay your dues and watch your salary rise with experience?
Quote:
Originally Posted by charz
but I would have made a bigger salary straight out of college if I wasn't a teacher
And I would have made a bigger salary straight out of college if I'd chosen to major in engineering instead of journalism. You chose your career knowing the pay scale. I did, too. That doesn't mean we can't complain about it, certainly. But why expect anyone to do anything about it?
$30K right out of college isn't too bad for a job with 13 weeks a year off. A lot of college grads are lucky to make $30K for working jobs with only a week or two off.
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