Teachers are underpaid?

Question

YES YES YES they are!

"Modern cynics and skeptics... see no harm in paying those to whom they entrust the minds of their children a smaller wage than is paid to those to whom they entrust the care of their plumbing." ~John F. Kennedy

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. ~Henry Brooks Adams

A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others. ~Author Unknown

In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~Jacques Barzun

So as school resumes for many children today, remember that. And have patience for these underpaid, overworked and always determined teachers who do it because it's what they love!

Answer 1

I guess Miranda has never tried teaching before!

The oldest refrain in the world - "But teachers get summers off!" Sure they do. Of course, they work at home for hours each night and on weekends. The extra time and effort teachers have to put in (not to mention the money they must spend out of their own pockets on their classrooms) more than compensate for 10 weeks of vacation during the year. I'm sure if you averaged it out per hour, you'd find the salary is even lower than it appears to be.

The thing I find most interesting is that teachers are required to have masters degrees. Yet they are usually paid less then many jobs which only require a high school diploma.

Well, back to grading papers I guess.

Answer 2

Yes, teachers are underpaid. The establishment just doesn't seem to understand how important teachers are. Teaching, more than any occupation, has a direct impact on the future of this, or any, country. Without teachers, no one would be able to become an engineer, doctor, lawyer, architect, the list goes on and on. My lifetime goal was to become a teacher and make a difference in children's futures and make on-going, long-term contributions to the community. However, the low pay scale for teachers forced me to totally change my career plans. Now I work in the semiconductor industry as a translator/technical writer.

Answer 3

Amen! I love the Kennedy quote.

And you can always tell people who've never taught, or had a friend who is a teacher, by the "they work short hours and have summers off" comment. sigh. I wish I did work short hours, but when that bell rings, work is NOT done yet. Nor do I start at the bell in the morning. And weekends? Used to plan what I'll teach the following week. Summers? Maybe two weeks of real relaxation, if you count the hours of recuperating sleep in the first couple of weeks, then the last two weeks which you spend worrying about the new year, and planning ahead.

Answer 4

Thank you! We've been in school three weeks in the state of Texas.

TO Miranda: We have 7-8 weeks "off" during the summer, during which time we attend professional development classes, workshops, or work on our advanced degrees - and some teach summer school. We pay our own medical, dental, and in Texas do not receive Social Security benefits (even though past jobs may have had SS withheld). We pay taxes, Teacher association dues, supplies, insurance, PTO, campus uniform shirt, etc from our own pockets. I get up at 5:30, get to work by 6:30 (although legally I don't have to be on campus until 7:30), work my hours on campus, attend after-school meetings and workshops, take home papers and grade until it's time for me to fix my family's dinner, and then I grade some more and write curriculum or lesson plans until it's time to go to bed. On weekends, I again am sometimes required to attend workshops and meetings and in my spare time I write more plans and grade more papers. I DO have an advanced degree, although in many school districts that and a nickel will get you a piece of gum! I don't know exactly what you do for a living that requires you to work 70-hour weeks and 52 weeks/year, but I guarantee that a teacher was responsible at some point in your life for your getting your high-paying corporate job that you are so proudly waving in my lowly, intellectual face!

Answer 5

My Aunt is a teacher. I am very close with her, as we have kids the same age. I hear her stories all the time.

The first few weeks of summer vacation are spent cleaning up the classroom, tie down those loose ends, etc...

The last few weeks of summer vacation are spent preparing her classroom, getting lessons plans done, etc....

I have seen her shell out lots of her own money to better the learning enviroment for her students.
I have seen her cry over children whose home lives are less than perfect.
I have seen her bring dinners to a family who she only taught the child, thats the only way she knows them, but the mother is fighting cancer.
I have seen her heart break when a student leaves to go into the hospital.
I have seen her stick to it, even tho her school disctrict took away bonues, pay raises and insurance.

BRAVO to all teachers out there who love thieir job and stick with it, shaping and molding our children's futures!

Answer 6

To the Mirandas out there: tame your sense of entitlement. What level of education do you suppose that most teachers have? I have a PhD, and so do many of my colleagues. We work extremely hard and often have to put up with professional disrespect from the likes of you and your children to boot.

Perhaps if more people stopped working ridiculous hours and leaving parenting to strangers, if they were willing to pay more in taxes to reduce class sizes, if they didn't habitually regard teachers as some sort of mommy/servant class, we could get more done. I suspect that, as far as the behavior of children goes, parents make the bed, and teachers have to lie in it.

How socially useful is your job? How socially useful is teaching? If you work in law or in finance, I'm sure I could do your job. Could you do mine?

In response to the question, thanks for the hagiographic praise, but ENOUGH WITH THE SELF-SACRIFICING TEACHER STEREOTYPE!! I'd rather get money and respect than pity.

Answer 7

We went into and stay in teaching because we love what we do. Going in, we knew we wouldn't get rich. I get so tired of hearing those who do not teach inform us what an easy time we have. Not many people bring home 100 or so essay tests to grade, fix dinner, and tend to the needs of the family day in and day out. Parent/teacher conferences are a joke, because so many of our student's parents are clueless about their own children.
I would love to have one day were all I do is teach! I get tired of being a mediator, social worker, and doing required paper work that has nothing to do with grading.
Why do we continue to teach? Maybe it has something to do with the smile on a student's face when they finally get a concept; receiving a letter from a former student that says thank you for helping me; having a former student walk up to you and saying, "I bet you don't remember me," and you do remember them; or to know that you made a difference in someone's life.
As the bumper sticker says, "If you can read this, thank a teacher!"
If Miranda and others like her believe our lives are easy, I have one thing to say. . . get your degree and step into my shoes for one week!

Answer 8

17 years ago my husband was told by a parent, "I'm a Doctor, you're just a teacher."

My husband said, "And how did you become a doctor? Did you just wake up one day and discovered you were a doctor?"

Teachers are under appreciated. BUT, in our home county we are having the problem of dumming down in public education. If the kids don't pass standardized tests, knock standardized test, instead of educating our children.

Our kids go to private school because we know the teachers there are earning their pay and then some!

Answer 9

I completely agree!! We are entrusting our children to them and if we want good teachers we need to pay them well!

Answer 10

Amen! What a society we would have if we had our priorities and values in order. We have a long way to go.