Why do teachers complain of not making that much?

Answer 1

I am NOT a public school teacher, but my father was, and I have many friends and associates who teach in public schools. In many public school systems teachers are paid what many outside the school system would consider less than minimum wage. Consider this:
1. After 4 - 6 years of college you get an entry level teaching job, the salary from which not only buys food but also has to pay your student loan for college.
2. Yeah, you get ALL those holidays and the summer off, but most good teachers take students' papers home to read and grade because there's just not enough time during class WHEN YOU ARE TEACHING to grade them. And they also grade on weekends and holidays.
3. The same goes for lesson planning... some teachers can get away with the time you have at school, maybe an hour a day if you're lucky, but many of the good teachers spend time AT HOME in the evenings, on weekends, and on holidays to plan for the next day, week, month, semester, school year, etc. But that's not enough. I've been in planning sessions that teachers have at the school when the students are off for the summer. No, the teachers don't spend all summer at work, but often much more time than you would think.
4. As if that's not enough, many school systems require teachers to gain so-called "in-service" training or "professional development". These are classes, workshops, and college courses that teachers must often take just to keep their teacher certification and keep their job, as if they could somehow lose the ability to teach. Some school systems pay for the in-service, sometimes the teacher foots the bill. And it's almost always done on your own time, rarely or never during class time because obviously you're supposed to be teaching.
5. Public schools being PUBLIC schools, they are governement entities, with all the associated politics, paperwork, bureaucracy, and pain-in-the-neck insanity that goes with most governement jobs. All this while everyone wonders why you whine about the pay when you obviously do so little!
6. Last, teachers are often underappreciated, ridiculed, demeaned, harrassed, and threatened by those they serve: the students and the communties in which they teach. I've seen it happen to many good teachers. Not that teachers are infallible or god-like. There are plenty of bad ones. But the good ones often don't get treated in the way they deserve.

By the way, most of the teachers I know (maybe about 3 dozen or so), rarely or never complain about the pay, only the politics of schools and the apathy of some parents. And as for my dad, he was in the school system for 30 years, and I never once heard him complain about the pay. But to put this in perspective, we were a middle class family with an average house (not luxurious by any means!), and dad would work a second job many times during the school year (I don't know how he did it all!), and sometimes two jobs in the summer if he wasn't going to in-service, just so he could pay the bills. But he never complained about it!

I salute all the hard-working teachers, we honor you!

Answer 2

Where I live, a teacher needs TWO undergraduate degrees to teach elementary or secondary school. The first degree has to four years in a subject recognized by the provincial Ministry of Education, and the second degree is two years. In any other area, you would complete a Master's degree after your first undergrad degree. But not in Education! Nope, teachers are stuck paying for two undergraduate degrees and not receiving a title that acknowledges the extra two years they put into their post-degree program.

Teaching today isn't the same as it was fifty years ago. I have a class of thirty-one eighth grade students. In the class, one student has a recognized behavioural problem, one has a mild form of autism, six have less than two years of ESL experience and one arrived in Canada last week. There is an aide in the classroom for only about ninety minutes each day. I have to prepare a general lesson plan for every class, as well as DAILY individual learning plans for the special-needs students. There is no recess at this school, so I go without a break from 7:30 to 12:00. At lunch, teachers are expected to help with supervision. I may end up eating my lunch outside in the rain or in the computer lab. After school, I am expected to lead extra-curricular activities like the debate team and the tennis club. The year has two semesters but I only receive a block of preparation time in one of those semesters. In the other semester, I have to take the marking and lesson prep work home to do on my own time. Typically, this equates to a work day starting at 7:15 am and going until about 6:00. That's almost twelve hours! Let's not forgot those nights that I have to stay even later and do parent-teacher interviews or supervise a school dance.

So I have six years of university education and work eleven-hour days, for the equivalent of $42,000 USD per year (before tax). Does that sound good to you?

(That being said, I knew that when I entered the profession. I won't complain until they throw something new at me.)

Answer 3

I don't think you should judge teachers as "complainers." Most of us work very hard and don't ask for much in return. Our hours extend well into the evenings and weekends are spent planning for the following week. Even on days we try to leave on time, we could run into a student that needs somebody to talk to or another teacher that needs our help. Our jobs are demanding but we are there because we want to be there and make a difference in the life of a child. We went to be role models so we dress, act and speak professionally to other adults and children. This includes not discussing our finances because at the end of the day, money does not matter to us, the children are what matter.

Answer 4

Well, first most people complain about their job for one reason or another. If you have kids, you know what it is like to get frustrated with them. I am a highschool math teacher. I have 100 students a day. In today's school system, I don't have the power to discipline my students at all. If a student misbehaves in class, I have to take my own time to write a report and send it to the office. If a student is a threat to another student or myself, I must use the intercom system to call the office and wait for an administrator to come and remove the student. I am not allowed to touch the students. While most of my students are very good kids, there are always a few that misbehave or have a bad attitude. Teachers put up with this everyday. Also, we must deal with parents. Most parents are very obliging and cooperative, however, there are some who believe there child does no wrong. I once had a student who was skipping my class. The office sends home notification of this, but when it kept happening, I took it upon myself to call the parent. The mother asked me "where is my daughter going." I stated I did not know and she accused me and the school of not doing our job and protecting her daughter. Another time a student failed my class and his mother came in for a conference. She wanted to know why she did not know her son was failing before the end of term. I pulled her son's file. I had sent home a midterm report, and three tests to be signed that term. All were returned signed, but they were not her signature. She asked why I did not follow up and check the signature. I wonder why parents expect us to control their children and keep track of them and their lives better than they do when we see them for 50 minutes a day and we see 100.
Good teachers spend a lot of time outside of work preparing for work, preparing lesson plans, grading tests, writing assignments, thinking of ways to motivate students, contacting parents, keeping their website updated so parents can check on their students. This is time they don't get paid for.
I have a masters in education and I get paid $26,000 a year. My husband makes twice that without a college education. I love my job and would not trade it for the world. I do not complain about the salary until someone complains about teachers complaining. I knew what I was getting into when I graduated, but not many people understand what being a teacher really requires.

Answer 5

Entry level teachers make very little.
Teaching is a very demanding job. Many people think the hours are great - but I work from 8 - 4:30 at the school, and then again from 8pm - midnight most nights at home. Plus, many weekends I put in 12 + hours on marking, phone calls to parents, lesson preparation, and designing handouts and tests. These things are all very time consuming.

Plus, teachers are judged not only for their behaviour in the classroom, but their actions and behaviour in the community. I know teachers who have gotten complaints by parents to the principal because they were out with their friends in a restaurant who were overheard to be having a conversation about drugs. This does not mean the teacher was doing drugs or even talking about drugs, but that the people they were with were having a conversation that at one point turned to the topic of drugs in society. So, this teacher was not judged by his professional behaviour, he was expected to be able to predict the flow of conversations he has with his friends when out in public!
This complaint turned into an investigation on the teacher. Eventually the investigation was dropped because it was very stupid. However, the teacher in the mean time got a bad reputation and was humiliated.

Answer 6

When I do the math, dividing the numbers of overtime hours, the supplies my school refuse to provide, and adding the cost of classes I am required to take to keep up my certification, I make less than minimum wage. I don't complain, I'm too busy working a second job. Just don't ever let me hear you say teachers go home at 3:00PM most work well into the night on lesson plans and activities for their classes.
So, do you want to become a teacher?!

Answer 7

To get the basic credential you need a B.S. or B.A. that consists of course work in both teaching and a subject matter area (a second major, like Math, History, English, Science, etc). Then you need to pass several tests and student teaching. At that point you are making less than someone with a similar B.S. or B.A. To get to the higher levels of pay you need at least one Masters degree, usually "Masters plus 30 graduate credits" or a second Master. By that point you are making a decent salary, but still less than someone with similar education and experience.

I've looked into it as a second career (after I retire from what I am doing). I don't know that I would be able to afford a decent standard of living on what they pay, the retirement will make the difference, and my retirement pay will be more than teacher salary (and I already have two Bachelors and a Masters, will have a second then). I feel for teachers, they are dealing with kids and their problems and trying to get them interested in learning, no easy task given all the distractions and issues that kids deal with.

Does that explain a little?

Answer 8

Because based on their level of education -- most professionals with the same amount of college training have more earning power.

People often site the fact that teachers only work on contract for roughly 185 days per year, but can you think of many other professions that require take home work (grading papers/tests), supervision at night (athletic events, plays, dances, etc), or the responsibility for helping develop the next generation of Americans.

How is it that a college drop out can make millions in the NBA for playing basketball 30 hours a week. But a teacher working 40+ hours a week can train THOUSANDS of students and not make 1 million in their entire career?

Answer 9

To avoid looking the fool, you should first read the links you post as a source. "The Ohio Education Association reports the average teacher salary in Ohio is $53,000. Sulser and other teachers argue that because administrative salaries are far higher than those of classroom teachers, the two should not be lumped into the same category. "Don't discard a levy because you think the teachers are making the money. It's not the teachers. It has to be administrators if you're going salaries."

Answer 10

There has also been a study saying that a beginning teacher will spend a 1/3 of their salary setting up their room, b/c the school districts do not provide all the neccassary materials to provide an program... veteran teachers also spend their own money to b/c the fact is most teachers care and want to provide the best education possible and if that means losing money from our own pockets than so be it.