are teachers overpaid?

Answer 1

NO they are not. I think that they are underpaid. They do not get the respect or the credit that they deserve. I also think that if a teachers salary would be higher for all the time and effort they put in to their job then more people would want to become teachers. I wanted to be one until I found out what a yearly salary would be then I decided to become an accountant to make just about 30k more a year. Of course that's not right away but a lot sooner than I can reach even 40k being a teacher (at least around here). I have had some teachers that seem to not care if they teach you or not but the ones who care about you are the ones that take extra time to help with your problems and they deserve the credit in situations like that which most of them don't get. I vote to give them raises for helping most of us become who we are and will be in the future.

Answer 2

I think the question has been answered but I had to respond to "Conservative Texan's Q&A's" comment about teachers only working 9 months a year.

While it's true teachers are officially on the clock 9 months a year (and only technically get paid for those 9 months), the number of hours worked during those 9 months is at least equal to or greater than a regular 40 hour/week worker that works 50 weeks a year. For instance, I work about 60 hours a week for 40 weeks a year (I am not counting the time I bring work home). This comes to about 2400 hours a year. Someone working 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year will work about 2000 hours a year. I actually work 400 hours (or 10 extra 40 hour work weeks) more than a full time worker. Simply put, a teacher's work year is just compressed into 9 months. Please do not be fooled into thinking that teachers are part time workers. If anything, it's just the opposite.

Answer 3

After reading this over I did a little research and complied data from the treasury department. The average salary for a teacher in my district was $68,353/yr with 88/328 teachers earning over $80,000/yr. Given this set of circumstances I would, without a doubt, say that teachers are overpaid. Based on the service that they provide, the amount they work, and the benefits they receive, I think a cap of $65,000 would be very generous.
I definitely agree that an experienced teacher should be making over $40k, but $80k is absurd. It took me earning a Master in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA before I surpassed that figure.

Answer 4

I am not a teacher but I have been working as a substitute teacher, and I would have to say they definitely don't get paid nearly enough for what they do. Not to mention all the hours they stay for meetings and the work they bring home to correct, they are constantly required to further their education. I think professional athletes, movie stars and people like that are the ones who are overpaid.

Answer 5

Teachers are not overpaid. Some guy said that the starting salary is like $40,000; but that's not true for the norm. My mom is a teacher(and has her masters) and she get's around that salary and she has been teaching for over 25 years. Anyways, sure, they may get that much, but a lot of the times they are spending their own money for the things that they need for the classroom. Another thing is that, teachers have taught everybody that is on top now(like Oprah, and Bill Gates).SOMEBODY taught them at one time, but from the way that they are paid you wouldn't think that.

Answer 6

Teachers underpaid? No chance where I live! Here, we've been on a wage freeze for three years! Everything else goes up, but we haven't even received our contractual raises.

Now, I know all of the arguments about salaries for 9 or 10 months, BUT ...

1. Teaching is the ONLY career in which you MUST deal with more than one person / client at a time on a daily basis.
2. Our time-clocked hours may be "short," but we tend to take a LOT home for planning, grading, and so on.
3. Many of us deal with extracurricular activities, and at least where I am not all of them are paid positions.
4. Society is accepting and allowing more and more disrespect for those in the educational professions. I have been cussed out, threatened, and even injured by students in the years that I have been teaching, and those students almost always return to my class! (The worst one was when I received a neck injury after being knocked down, and that student sat in my class the rest of the year even though the principal witnessed the incident. The advocacy at the time just wasn't there ... all I received was a very poorly written 2 line apology.)
5. We are CONSTANTLY being asked to do more with less! Out of date textbooks, copiers that don't work more than half the time if we're lucky, students who don't value what we have to offer, parents who have the "not MY baby" syndrome when their children misbehave, cuts to funding resulting in even larger class sizes mandates from federal, state, and local levels that may or may not also provide us with time and $$$ in order to implement them ...

DO I really need to go on? Thank heavens for peolpe like Bill and Melinda Gates who have finally revealed the disparities in our educational system! I have EIGHT years of college behind me and after about as many years in my district I'm barely making $45,000 per year. (And to the person who complained about us working only 9 months, we're LAID OFF over the summer. No paycheck! How many other professions pay you so little that you have to get a second job over the summer?)

I'm done before I end up writing a novel ...

Answer 7

Maxma327 is absolutely right, although I haven't actually counted how many hours I teach each year. I can't imagine how many hours I actually put it. Teaching isn't one of those jobs that when you go home, it’s done. I work through my lunches and my preps just to keep up with grading and lesson plans. I look at my friends who have office jobs, and I am always amazed at how much time they have to send emails, goof around online, and go out to lunch. There is no time in my day for that.
While Conservative Texan may think a $40,000 a year salary to start is a lot of money, it is not. I find it hard to believe it is even close to the average starting salary, given that "the U.S. average public school teacher salary for 2002-03 (the most recent survey) was $45,891" according to NEA. You also need to realize that a teaching degree requires more than a mere 4 year degree (education classes are often in addition to a regular subject area degree, especially now with NCLB), not to mention that many states require advanced degrees and training. You also need to take into consideration ending salaries. For example, in my district, someone with 30 years experience and a master's degree only makes about $35,000 more than someone who starts with the same degree. How many other professions can boast that dismal statistic? My sister, an accountant with only a bachelor's degree and half as many years of experience as me makes considerably more than I do.
Now, I may sound bitter, and I'm actually not. I love teaching. I just become very aggravated when some misguided people think our rewards are financial.

Answer 8

I hate to say this but in some cases yes. the ave starting salary for a new teacher in S Texas is $40,000, thats for 9 months work so we're talking $53,000 if they worked all year long. how many college grads are given jobs of 53k with all the vacations? I know most masters degrees don't start at that level.
Also it's a monopoly with the teachers union can't fire a bad teacher

Answer 9

Actually some teachers are overpaid. Those you see it as a job instead of a profession are definitely in that boat.

Answer 10

All school employees are underpaid. Especially teachers, custodians, and support staff. I'm a computer technician for a school district and I've been here 2 years, and I'm at the top of the payscale. Maybe 10 cents/year raise from now on.