Why do pro football players make so much more than public school teachers?

Question

Do the differences in their salaries accurately represent their relative values to our society? If so, does this tell us anything(good or bad) about our cultural priorities?

Answer 1

I'll answer your question based upon my economic studies and then try to find a good link if you're interested in further reading.

Salaries are based upon their marginal contribution to society and the economy. People who can satisfy the most urgent unmet needs most effectively will command a high salary.

So if we were struggling just to feed ourselves, we wouldn't be talking about professional athletes at all. That professional athletes can earn millions speaks volumes about how effectively we have been able to satisfy more basic needs.

Teachers are immensely important to society. However, the skills required to teach (at least to be an average teacher) are relatively common. Further, education is a good that is being pretty well served (though you and I might criticize some forms of it). For these reasons, we would expect teachers to typically command a lower pay in a free market for education.

But wait! We don't have a free market in education. We have a largely centralized, command economy. As a result, the income allocated to teachers is decided bureaucratically. There is little profit information to separate the good teachers from the incompetent. As a consequence, good teachers typically are paid about the same as those less effective.

So in conclusion, the differences in salary say alot about our cultural priorities. They say that we have been very effective at satisfying basic priorities. It's a great triumph that we are able to spend so much on something frivolous. I do agree that there could be other uses for that money that seem more noble. It's fair to criticize our obsession with certain forms of entertainment. But we should recognize the vast incomes enjoyed by entertainers as a success for our economy.

On the matter of *public* education, I think that the dismal salaries of almost all teachers only shows that we haven't yet learned that socialism doesn't work. If we *really* valued education, we would pay for it on the free market and not trust government bureaucrats to muck it up!

Answer 2

OH. MY. GOD. I could go on a huge rampage on here about this right now! I'm not exactly talking directly about how football players get more money; only that in general our school district right now is getting less money than one pro football players' salary (I really don't know but I'm trying to make a point). we have about 1,600 students at our school (high school), not to mention the other 200-300 or so of the seniors that go to an old office building for half the day.

I'm just in a bad mood about all this because the 'lesser important' departments of the school are getting BAD budget cuts and the STUDENTS are going crazy (specifically about band). We're not getting the recognition or care that we should. I could go on......................................................

The teachers are getting laid-off because of budget cuts and there are at LEAST 35-40 students in each classroom. That means for some of the chemistry labs, the lab tables have to be put so close together (I'm talking like 2.5 feet or so) that it's going against code; against THE LAW! It's totally unsafe! And the administration doesn't care. They don't have a penny to care.

I won't go into any more detail, but I totally agree with this question. It makes me crazy to sit and think about how bad our society's standards have come. It is turely SAD!

I know you may not agree with everything I've said, but I've made my point and I know there are others out there that feel the same way.
>KEEP FIGHTING!

Edit: I DO NOT CARE IF A SKILLED TEACHER IS MORE COMMON THAN A PRO FOOTBALL PLAYER, BUT NOW THEY'RE CUTTING TEACHERS FROM SCHOOLS! WTH! I THINK IT'S A FACT ENOUGH HOW MESSED UP OUR SOCIETY IS IF WE (PRO FTBLL PLRS EMPLOYERS) PAY THE TEAMS MORE MONEY THAN ALL THE TEACHERS COMBINED. IT'S THE FACT THAT WE CAN'T PAY TEACHERS ENOUGH EVEN THOUGHT THEY DO JUST ABOUT THE SAME AMOUNT OF WORK AS FOOTBALL PLAYERS DO, AND WE CAN'T KEEP THEM IN SCHOOLS. THERE ISN'T ENOUGH MONEY.

I guess I did rampage. Anyways...

♥ Peace

Answer 3

The difference in salaries do reflect our societies values. To be fair lots of money is made with football. No one gets rich in public school, there aren't any multi million dollar endorsement or big televison deals.


Theres just the drudgery of inspiring and educating America's future, which is our children. It's not glamorous, maybe in our life time we'll see a move towards assessing a fair value to the work educators do.

Answer 4

I would like to answer your question (the original one) without getting into the addition questions you raise.

I would say that teachers make MORE that football players. Obviously, most would disagree, but each fails to realize that money is not the sole means through which to "take score." Teachers make little money, but they also have the pleasure of seeing the act of their labor endure long after it is first presented. In fact, the teacher's labor transcends time because it, in essence, is eternal because what I teach a student who becomes a teacher later becomes the continuation of a chain that moves through me without stopping. Thus, the teacher dies, but his/her lesson lives on. The football player, well, after enough hits and surgeries, he retires and is forgot when new players come to take the public screen. Yes, some are immortalized in the Hall of Fame, but that number is small and insignificant. Even Hall of Famers, in some way, represent the labor of a previous teacher.

Answer 5

I made more money as a janitor for 18 years than many school teachers in my district so I quit my job. If I wasn't part of the answer, I was part of the problem. I learned more about educational priorities behind a broom than I ever learned behind a school desk. Teachers deserve far more respect than money but they certainly deserve better pay and understanding. Look what you expect of them! They do mutiple jobs on a shoe string budget that gets cut with every dime they save you. You may not love them but they do your job with your children.

Answer 6

Because Governments pay teachers. Governments get their money from taxes, and this money has to be divided among all Governemnt workers. Teachers are only one group out of many that Governments have to pay. On top of all this, Governments have to pay other expenses such as building/maintaining roads, the armed forces, emergency flooding, Government buildings, and so on.
Owners of football teams do not have as many expenses as a Government, but there is almost no limit to the money team owners can get from the sales of tickets, and commercials, and so on. In other words, owners of sports teams have more money to pay fewer workers than the Government.
If it really bothers you that football players make so much money, just do not buy tickets to games or any other stuff teams sell. If enough people stop supporting teams, the owners will not be able to afford to pay such high salaries.
"Values to our society-----cultural priorities." You are on such dangerous ground here, that I am almost afraid to attempt an answer. But, hey, nobody takes answers on Yahoo seriously, so here goes.
In a democracy, a societal value is any practice that is legal. In a democracy everyone is free to attach the highest/lowest value to any lawful practice. Your second and third questions are dangerous because they make you sound as it you want to impose your values on others. Uh-uh. Not allowed in a free enterprise democratic system. And, really sorry to make this observation, friend, but there are a few undemocratic Societies around in the world where people are not allowed free responsible choices. The Politicians and Priests in those Cultures tell you what to think and do. And you have to obey, or you go to jail. In those Societies, football players are not allowed to earn more than teachers. You want to live in one of those societies?
By the way, the seemingly unjustly high salaries of football players and tennis players and hockey players do not bother me because I have never bought a ticket to sports events in my life. I get all by sports entertainment from television in the comfort of my home. I don't/won't buy even Cable. See how well-adjusted I am? I invite you to join me in SWAM (Sensibly Well-adjusted Minority.

Answer 7

Salaries do not represent a persons contributions to society, they represent a person's contribution to their employer.

This tells us nothing about our cultural priorities. It only tells us that a skilled football player is far rarer than a skilled teacher.

But don't single out teachers for the low compensation/contribution ratio. Caregivers for the elderly, for one example, are even more poorly compensated than teachers (especially unionized ones), yet contribute to our society in equal measure. A condition that baby-boomers are going to appreciate more and more in the next few decades.

Answer 8

Well isn't it the same for pro baseball players and basketball? A lot of people ***** about how unfair this is and how wrong it is, which I agree with, but as long as people continue to go to the games and pay for the tickets which help support those salaries then it is never going to change.

Answer 9

The differences in their respective salaries, represent the earning power that they have for the people that employ them. A team owner will pay a million dollars to a player, who has the potential to garner him ten times that amount. A town will pay a teacher, thirty thousand dollars, as the teacher, does not bring back a visible return.

Answer 10

Show me a public school teacher that can return a 65 yard punt for a touchdown and I will agree with you.Till then public school teachers make plenty of cash and only have to work 9 months a year to make it..