Why are teachers' salaries low compared to those of other professions?

Answer 1

That depends on what professions you are talking about. If you are comparing them to corporate managers, accountants, doctors, or dentists, they are low, If compared to the trashman, secretary, or social services worker, thier salaries are high. In fact, when everything is considered teachers in many districts are far overpaid.

There are a number of things that determine the pay of a proffesion.Here a few of them. First is the amount of education that is required. Doctors, Nurses, Lawyers, go through more school Than teachers do. Thus it makes sense that they would be paid more. Second is the amount of responsibility the position holds. Doctors sre responsible for peoples health, CEOs hold millions of dollars and jobs in thier hands pilots hold passengers lives in their hands. When a doctor makes a mistake, they are sued, when CEOs make mistakes, they are fired. Thus each of these professions is valued highly.When techers make mistakes, another one has to correct it later, but that's it. A third value is the competition for the job. If there are thousands of qualified people to take the job then the salary will be lower. If there are very few who can do what you do, you will be paid more. Few people are ready to be Dentists, CEOs or Pilots. There are thousands of people with a BA that are legal to teach.

It is somewhat of a myth that teachers do not get paid well. Depending on the district, the average teacher is paid 30-50K a year. The average americans salary is closer to 25 so this is not bad. In addition, they get three months off to work other jobs. The school year itself provides more vacation and break time than most Americans get in a year. They also receive state benefits that are better than most public companies can offer. Since teachers generally recieve tenure in 2-4 years they are rarely forced out of thier job for poor performance. This is a huge benefit to the bad teachers, that would have problems finding pay for as much money as they earn teaching. This just doesn't work in other proffessions, So perhaps teachers don't have it as bad as many think.

Answer 2

I love teachers because they do a wonderful job in the education system. In fact, I also teach. What I'll write will piss a lot of people. However, they tend to get lower salaries because they don't have leverage.

In other words, anyone off the streets could be taught how to teach and given lesson plans. This is why teachers get paid very little, teaching does not require a teaching degree. Therefore a teaching degree does not have much leverage.

Don't get me wrong, teaching is a wonderful profession, but the reality of the world is that teachers in schools will never get paid well. So, if you are thinking of becoming a teacher, you might want to make sure it is your passion, not something you do for an income.

Answer 3

Basically, it is because with other jobs, if the work output is superior, you can sell the product created through the output at a higher price.

With a public school, no matter how great the eductation and work done by the teacher is, the school can't charge a proportionate amount more. Thus, they can't afford to pay the teacher any more. If it is a private school with high tuition costs, and a teacher's reputation and skills matter, then they can afford to pay the teacher more because, if parents are willing to pay the premium to have their children taught there, they can charge more.

If you want to teach with a higher income, you'd be better off being a university professor or tutor privately to wealthy clients.

Answer 4

I did, not so much because of the pay (which wasn't that bad) but because of the constant threats from all sides to my job security. I graduated college with honors in Education, English, and History, I also received commendations from every teacher or administrator I ever worked for but I wanted to start my family and I couldn't do that not knowing if I would still have a paycheck each year. BTW in my state starting pay (after BA) is 32,000. To get to the $50,000 you would need something like 10 years in with a masters. Parents - get politically involved and will try to get you in trouble if they disagree with the lessons you teach. I ALWAYS would present several sides to an issue and ALWAYS remained objective in class, nonetheless if it is even perceived as controversial then parents will fight it. They are also sometimes not involved at all, which is frustrating. Students - Hold grudges for bad grades and will lie to parents about why. I've once had a parent storm into my room after school screaming about how I treated his student unfairly - I then showed that parent how his child was committing plagiarism and received a failing grade on that assignment. The student continued to lie to the parents and I eventually had to have a sit-down with the kid, his parents, and the principle - I was cleared of any wrongdoing by my boss, but the whole hassle was VERY stressful. Administrators - pressure teachers into accepting conditions that aren't good for education. I've seen teachers disciplined for issuing write-ups. Politicians - on one side or the other tend to work against the interests of education. You could be the best teacher on earth, but good luck finding a job next year because the budget got cut 50% in March. Please also remember that teachers are FULLY responsible for students in their care. If you think stay-at-home moms have a lot of responsibility, try it with 30 kids in a school whose administration won't support you. @Iron - spoken like someone who has never worked in a school. Most teachers work through the summer on planning and are required to get at least 6 college credits a year in 'continued education' - thus, no summers off, just summers outside of the classroom. Maybe a teacher in NYC makes 50k on year 1, most start around 30k.

Answer 5

Well, this can simply be answer but the fact that other, better paid jobs, result in the professional creating some money for the business. In the case of teachers they do not 'create' revenue for the school, but are merely a cost. And, yes, they do teach children which is a benefit, but not a financial benefit to the organisation.

Don't get me wrong, teachers do an amazing job, but to the state, for instance, they are a one-way cost, meaning paying them $30,000 a year as opposed to $50,000 a year won't make a difference except to cut costs.

Answer 6

Teachers for public schools are working for the government, so budgeting can only offer so much...

If the teacher worked for a private school or college, they're likely worth much more. Obviously, in order to be hired here, the teacher would have to have the skills to justify that better pay.

The true pattern here is... are you working for a private organization that has outside funding, or are you working off tax payer money?

Best of luck!

Answer 7

Because...

It's a public-sector job
They don't work as many hours in the year
They have great benefits
They have a good retirement
There's pretty good competition for the jobs