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1. It depends a lot on location -- urban/suburban and northern teachers are generally paid more than rural and southern teachers, the lattermost of which are a lot more likely to be non-union. It annoys me to hear people unequivocally say teachers are underpaid when there are teachers in my school district -- not administrators, teachers -- that make over $100K a year.
2. As a general principle, teachers are neither overpaid nor underpaid. Good teachers are underpaid. Bad teachers are overpaid. That's what happens when you have a system that rewards genius and mediocrity with the exact same pay; and unfortunately, that system incentivizes mediocrity and disincentivizes competence.
I guess that about says it...quite well, actually!
MBG
I think a big mistake that people make when discussing teachers pay vs. the amount of work they do is to assume that teachers only work during school hours, or thereabouts. I believe that many parents think that the teacher arrives right before the students do and follow the students out the door, and that is just not the case. I, along with most other teachers I know, arrive at school about 45 minutes before classes start, and leave an hour or so after school is dismissed. And no, there are no aides to grade my papers, create lesson plans, or reduce my workload in any way. Most of it comes home with me. I typically spend 1-2 hours in the evening grading papers and preparing lessons. Also, I don't know of any teacher who gets 3 months off during the summer. Not even close. While I do realize there are some bad teachers out there as in any profession, as a whole, teachers are very much underpaid AND under appreciated.
I challenge you to spend a week with a teacher and see how inaccurate your assumptions are. Yes, a teacher may be in the CLASSROOM from 8-4 but when do you think all the papers get graded, prep for classes happens, tests get made up, etc? Most teachers are NOT paid for holidays. They are paid for days worked. Very few districts even give teachers vacation days so their vacations are only when school is out.
Now, add the cost of continuing education, which is REQUIRED and there is NO tuition reimbursement like most companies offer. A masters degree costs in the neighborhood of $30,000-40,000, all at the expense of the teacher--puts a big dent in the pay scale there. Most teachers do NOT have aids and having students grade papers is not normal nor is it acceptable in any reputable school district.
Aunt 1 - home economics Teacher
Aunt 2 Elem. Ed
Aunt 3 Elem. Ed
Aunt 4 Elem Ed
Uncle - Principal
Uncle - Elem Ed
Uncle- Principal
Just to name a few - So I am not just speaking out my rump and not knowing what I am talking about,.
I did not say the job was easy or the job was not challenging!
I believe different areas of the country have different values and different circumstances.
I also think we are dishing out many teachers by name only they are not in this field because they want to teach... I do not believe a true teacher works 9 months ..she / he is always looking for new development / new ideas / new curriculum!! Always something to keep the child busy and brain in full function mode!
I have the hours I have to meet each year. I work 6 am - 6pm + I clean my own area no janitor here! When mine puke I clean it up nobody comes in for back up or to clean it up for me!
On weekends I search the net for ideas for something more .. If I am not doing this I am searching for trainings - I go beyond state requirements!
I have worked in traditional and non traditional. I have worked with severely profound - to gifted.... rich and the poor ...........
How do we set a pay scale? How do we say what we are worth? by the hour? performance? Education? ... many things factor in!
I think one thing we are also forgetting is that teachers get to retire much earlier than your average private-sector bloke, and then they collect a taxpayer-guaranteed pension for life. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me -- if you can put up with babysitting 150 reprobates a day for 35 years.
I think one thing we are also forgetting is that teachers get to retire much earlier than your average private-sector bloke, and then they collect a taxpayer-guaranteed pension for life. Pretty sweet deal if you ask me -- if you can put up with babysitting 150 reprobates a day for 35 years.
I would rather babysit than work with a bunch of big people who know everything!
I didn't read all the pages of this post, so someone may have already said this but I think teachers are definately underpaid! I mean they are educating our children; our future leaders! They have a very important, often tiring job!
Are teachers really underpaid or overpaid or paid accordingly?????Lets hear from the teachers and non-teachers???
Public service never pays well, yet these are the people who have a dramatic effect on our lives. How do you put a price on your childs education? For my child, mediocore or average does not cut it. In the KC metro teachers make a decent living, but we lose alot of the good ones to better paying jobs. When my wife left teaching and went into finance, she received a 25% pay increase. She is now a court administrator and makes about 40% more than she would teaching. Somewhere society's prioritys are wrong.
For the first time since the 1999-2000 school year, the average teacher salary failed to keep up with inflation, according to the AFT's latest salary survey. The AFT teacher salary survey found that the average teacher salary in the 2003-04 school year was $46,597, a 2.2 percent increase from the year before. This falls short of the rate of inflation for 2004, which was 2.7 percent. In addition, many states are attempting to drastically reduce or eliminate pension and healthcare benefits, which were negotiated as part of their compensation.
Connecticut had the highest average teacher salary, at $57,760, while South Dakota posted the lowest, at $34,039.
The average beginning teacher salary in the 2004-05 school year was $31,753, up 3.1 percent from the previous year.
In 37 states, teacher salaries did not keep pace with the 3.4 percent increase in the Consumer Price Index.
The average starting salary for teachers is $26,639, about 30 percent less than the $37,194 average starting pay for all other college graduates in 1999.
College graduates entering engineering, computer science, and math or statistics professions not only earn more than beginning teachers but also make more than veteran teachers, the report found/
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