Teacher’s salaries?

Question

I am doing research on teacher’s salaries and I have a question. I know why teachers should get paid more, but why SHOULDN’T teachers get paid more?

Answer 1

One argument for NOT paying teachers more is that then some people might go into teaching just for the money. Teaching is a calling, not a money making career. You have to "belong" in the profession.

In response to purplesec-- I don't think teacher's pay should be a direct reflection of student's test scores. The kids should not be looked at as walking dollar signs. There are some kids who will not do well on the tests and there's not much that can be done about it. If the pay was directly related to test scores, then the teacher would spend most of her day with the low kids and ignore the high kids because her ability to pay her bills is on the line. The teacher may even cheat on the scores. Yes, it's illegal, but it's better than getting evicted. Also, teachers would fight to have only the smart kids, and favoritism may show its face when placing kids in teacher's rooms because the kids are now walking dollar signs. Some parents don't help their own children, so we should decrease the teacher's pay? Besides, we need to stop raising a nation of test-takers. There's more to education than filling in the right answer on a scantron.

Answer 2

I am a teacher in austalia. Currently my holiday hours that i recieve are in lieu of all the extra hours that I perform throughout the year. This means we work under a common law agreement. Currently I get paid a 30 hour week. I get to work at 6 in the morning I leave at 5 most afternoons only to go home and work a few more extra hours. My weekends are divided between work that I have to do for school and things to do around the house. Peoples opinion that we get plenty of holidays is really disappointing. I spent at least 1 week out of every two weeks getting ready for the following term meanwhile i have already worked those hours and should be having the time off like other would get a RDO. I spend 3 week out of 6 weeks over the christmas holiday getting organise and going back. I getting to the point where I am working more hours than I am at home or doing anything else. I have been put in a new grade again this year and the work commitments of this class has increase significantly due to the extra modifications that I need to make to eight of my 29 studetns. I have put off getting married this year because I do not know when I will fit in the week that I may need off to get organised or go away for a few days honeymoon. Work intensification has become so high that the unions are fighting to help decrease the nonsense paper work that we have to fill in day after day. I have been teaching for 7 years and it feels like I have been teaching for 20. If I worked these hours for any other company or business I am sure I would be rewarded with a higher wage without a second thought.

Answer 3

I am also a teacher and I know teachers have those long days off for vacation. Most, however, have to work other jobs due to lack of pay. The reason that many see us to not get paid is we are a semi-profession. We only get paid for the days we work. We should be paid more, because we go to college like anyone else, but get paid less. The biggest idea I see is that there are so many teachers in each state that money is scarce.

Answer 4

I can't come up with any reason why a teacher should not get paid more. I resent anyone making comments about the days off, unless they have done the job themselves. It is a salaried position, so where I do the work does not matter, as long as it gets done.
Purplesec---you are incorrect...I can't force your child to learn. Come into my classroom someday and look around. There's a student with his head down....hangover. That girl over there lost her only brother last year in a car accident....show me how I can force her to concentrate. The girl behind her lives with her father, who is never home. Her mother took off last month. I have not made any of this up....just an example from one of my classes. Teachers deal with so much more than just handing out assignments.

Answer 5

In response to rebi. You may be a teacher but your experience is not a common one. Most teachers I know work at least ten hours a day, we just get paid for seven.

Yes, we can take work home, so can many professionals this doesn't mean that we should be payed less.

The only valid point you have is that we have more days off than most people.

Answer 6

Teachers work between 175-180 days per year with students and perhaps 5-10 in-service days without students. They are contracted for 7.5 hours per day. A full time year round employee works 260 days per year and 8 hours per day. Teachers - 1350 hours per year (approx) Year round professionals - 2,080 hours per year. Also, I believe in a merit pay system where teachers are paid for what their students achieve. If tests scores go up, pay should as well. If test scores go down, pay should as well.

Assembly line workers must meet quotas. So should are teachers in order that our children become better educated. There are many weak teachers who think they are the best at what they do. They need to retire.

Answer 7

one very important reason why teachers shouldnt get paid more is that ....they work lesser no. of hours compared to other professions!
they can take work home and do it at thier own pace.
when children have a holiday teachers too enjoy the benefits!