Are teachers underpaid?

Question

Given that our children aren't learning how can anyone say that teachers are under paid? Will giving the current teachers more money make them better teachers? Or do we need to fire the current teachers who are obviously failing and raise the teacher starting salary to attract people who are intelligent enough to get the job done?

But my experience has always been that you should produce positive results at your current salary before asking for a raise, wouldn't you agree?

Christy80: Why everything you say is true, how does paying the current teachers who are not getting the job done, more, improve the situation. Yes I agree there is a discipline problem and it began when the paddle was removed from the public schools. Many parents are afaid to discipline their children. I have had no such qulams about my own, at ages three and six they learned very quickly that I was not afraid to give them a quick swat to the behind in public as well as in private. Unfortunately things have changed for the worse. In my day if you got paddled in school you didn't run home and whine about it because then you'd get another. Today, its call in the lawyers!

Von1979: Yes I have and the teens were much worse than the younger ones. I think the problems of class room behavior begins at home. My children know that if they don't behave at school there will be trouble at home. If more parents would adopt this attitude that would clear up the behavior issues.

Yes in the US. Thus far the answers have pointed to a solution of empowering teachers to keep discipline in the classroom so that they can teach not giving them a raise.

Answer 1

I am a teacher and I make $36000 before taxes. If we look at only the time I spend with students, not prep time or grading or inservice days, I get $200 a day. Divide that by the 140 students I teach each day, and I get $1.43 per student. I just want to know how many babysitters would agree to care for a child for $1.43 an hour. I have to watch them and teach them math. So yes teachers are underpaid.

Answer 2

It seems that you obviously have some issues here. While your children may be hard-working, conscientious individuals, many are not. Teachers have their hands full trying to motivate kids who do not want to learn. It is not that teachers are not doing their jobs or that they are greedy, they simply want a salary commesurate with their education. Is it reasonible for someone to spend $30,000 on a four-year education and start out making $27,000 a year when required to do 60 hours of work a week? That scant 27 grand a year is before you take out health insurance, car payments/insurance, rent/mortgage, etc... Teachers are not paid the cost of living in most areas of this country.

I think you are also failing to realize that the standardized tests teachers are now reqired to teach to are also skewing the data you may be using to base your opinion on. Children are being taught in ways that get the most information possible to them in order to prep for these tests. They do not always receive instruction in the way that is best, and most effective, for them. There is little time in the teaching schedule for remediation or enrichment. If one sub-group does poorly on the test, then the school's AYP is not met, but the fact that that group may have improved is not taken into consideration if they did not hit the 'goal'. I see kids every day who do poorly on these tests because they are not allowed to use accommodations that would be used in real life, because they are considered non-standard. Also, consider that in many nations, only the top 1-5% of students are tested as ALL of our kids are. We are comparing every ability level in the US to the creme of the crop of other countries. No wonder we come up short.

I admire the fact that you care about the education of our children, but there is a lot more to this than teachers 'not doing their jobs'. Children ARE learning. If the educational system is so bad, why do foriegners still come here for an advanced education? The people who instruct at that level are the products of our 'flawed' educational system. I honestly don't know what the solution is, but it is not firing teachers or refusing them more money when the vast majority is doing everything they can for their students.

Answer 3

by the the way you write your question you have issues with teachers. Have you tried taking care of at least 5 children that are not yours, what was the experience like?
Teachers are underpaid 3x below. You know the salary was not the factor that attracted me into teaching i don't care if I am only paid 9 thousand pesos a month.
Salary is not a big factor why some teachers are guilty of forgetting the job that they should be doing I know I am.

If you really is concern with your children why not ask the school and the teachers on what are really happening inside the school.

As a teacher If I have parents complaining I ask them to sit and observe my class and give them the experience of how and what is happening inside my room.

Don't be too harsh with teachers. In reality we always want to fire people who are not doing there jobs, but the question is are there any one out here who are willing to teach in public schools with the current situations we as teachers are dealing with.

Answer 4

what country are we talking about? USA? I have no idea how much a teacher gets there. Here in Cyprus, teacher salaries are good compared to other civil cervants. They complain that we work half day while they work all day. However, we all know that they do not fill those 8 hours with work; they actually sit doing nothing for hours, go to work late and leave early. I have always supported the idea of full time teaching. Considering the responsibilities of a teacher, I should say we need to get paid more. Moreover, students of today do not have as much respect to us teachers, nor to learning itself. Parents give them backing in their behaviours. Society allows students to be lazy, disrespectful, etc.
I have been teaching for thirty years and my monthly salary just went up to 2200 US dollars after tax. The starting salary is less than half of this.

Answer 5

I AM A TEACHER

Yes I am underpaid. All of us at school are underpaid and overstressed. The fact these kids don't learn IS NOT OUR FAULT! You cant MAKE anyone do anything they don't WANT to do.

Parents need to instill in their kids that education is important. Parents don't do that these days. Society as a whole doesn't see education as important. Kids learn what they live!

Paying me more money WILL NOT in any affect how I teach. How could it? What will affect the way I teach is how the kids perceive education.

Those people who talk about teacher accountability and how the schools are failing due to teachers have NOT spent ANY time in a classroom. I have 6 years of college including graduate school. I have had students threaten me, steal from me, and cuss me. And thats MY fault?! I don't think so! Its the parents fault for not teaching THEIR children in the first place.

Its time to stop blaming the teachers. Its the crappy parents who teach disrespect and laziness to their kids who are at fault. AND by the time a student is a freshman in high school, they know right from wrong. They know how to behave and they know it is up to THEM to aquire the knowledge given to them. I can open the door, but it is up to them to walk through! Its time to make the students accountable. Its THEIR education. Make them live up to responsibility and QUIT making excuses for them!

Answer 6

Have you walked into a classroom lately? Public School system teachers are very underpaid. I say this as a parent. Look at the statistics of violence against teachers. In todays society, we have very little we can do to dicipline our children and then we send them to school, and the teachers can do even less. We NEED to appreciate the job they are trying to do more, and as parents take a more active roll in whats going on.

Answer 7

Yes they are.Teachers,especially in the public system deserve way better salaries for putting up with the messed up kids this declining society is producing.

Answer 8

Yes, the dedication and hard work rendered by them could never be compensated by any amount of money.