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Are you happy now? I wasn't exactly concerned about paragraphs as much as I was making my point since my eight year old DD was waiting for me to take her to the library and to meet a friend. I was in a hurry. So I thought I should take some extra time now to prove to you that yes, I do understand paragraphs and grammar in general. It's pretty obvious you were just looking for a "come back" comment to make.
Nancy
Nancy, I'm always lookin to make a smart ass remark. But c'mon, you know as well as I do that you can't get your point across unless it's well written. When I see something like your first version of the post I don't even read it.
nancy, i'm always lookin to make a smart ass remark. But c'mon, you know as well as i do that you can't get your point across unless it's well written. When i see something like your first version of the post i don't even read it.
Location: Concrete jungle where dreams are made of.
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I wonder that too. When I tell people I'm a teacher, they compliment me on it and make it seem like I have all the money in the world. Where I teach (NYC) we start at 47k, so our starting salary is a lot higher than most jobs here start out at. So for that reason, teaching is especially looked high upon here in our area.
But in general, people probably think we're underpaid for the jobs we do. It's difficult and pressuring, with all the pressure to raise test scores nationwide.
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.
lets say they start at 30k but they only work 180 days thats half the year so really teachers start off making 60k. Experienced teachers make 50k thats six figures. Am I missing something?
Most people in year-long jobs work 50 weeks at 5 days per week (assuming two weeks of vacation per year) and that's 250 days. Using your math, $30,000 at 180 days would equate to $41,667 for anyone else working 250 days.
As a future teacher who'll be starting out in the high $40s, I guess I'm doing better than most. However, it is still very low pay for such an important position. Teaching is the most important job in the world and I don't care what anyone else thinks. NO person could ever become successful in life, or even sociable, without teachers of some sort... parents, school teachers, more capable peers / acquaintances / adults, etc. I agree with the assertion that it is terribly ironic that teachers don't make six figures but yet baseball players can make eight. 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?
When it comes to the mathematics factor, you have other things to consider. Teachers don't just work 180 days from 8 to 3. They have to spend time developing lessons, grading papers, setting up their classrooms, orchestrating conferences, attending professional development classes, etc. A teacher can never "leave the work at work".
Most people in year-long jobs work 50 weeks at 5 days per week (assuming two weeks of vacation per year) and that's 250 days. Using your math, $30,000 at 180 days would equate to $41,667 for anyone else working 250 days.
As a future teacher who'll be starting out in the high $40s, I guess I'm doing better than most. However, it is still very low pay for such an important position. Teaching is the most important job in the world and I don't care what anyone else thinks. NO person could ever become successful in life, or even sociable, without teachers of some sort... parents, school teachers, more capable peers / acquaintances / adults, etc. I agree with the assertion that it is terribly ironic that teachers don't make six figures but yet baseball players can make eight. 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?
When it comes to the mathematics factor, you have other things to consider. Teachers don't just work 180 days from 8 to 3. They have to spend time developing lessons, grading papers, setting up their classrooms, orchestrating conferences, attending professional development classes, etc. A teacher can never "leave the work at work".
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.
Last edited by Katarina Witt; 07-21-2008 at 09:57 PM..
Reason: typo
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