Public school teachers in the United States earn a median income around $56,000 per year. This is far too HIGH.
https://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/mobile/high-school-teachers.htm
https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/high-school-teacher/salary
https://www1.salary.com/Public-School-Teacher-Salary.html
I’m not saying what they do is not noble, important, or difficult. I am saying they are paid too much compared to other professions.
Public school teachers are paid through tax dollars under contracts negotiated by unions with the power to strike. This artificially inflates their wages and benefits. (The purpose of a union). It’s revealed in the numbers. Private school teachers, who do not have the power to force a tax payer to pay more, earn far less. Some estimates are as low as $37,000.
https://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Private_School_Teacher/Salary
Teachers Union Convention, NEA top official - It’s not for the kids, it’s for the power.
https://youtu.be/baM8N24K8kE
The median HOUSEHOLD income in the United States is only about $62,000. That means that ONE teacher’s income is nearly equal to the median income of entire households, most of which contain two or more incomes.
But wait Billy Mays, There’s more.
Teachers are required by contract to perform their job only about 180 days per year. Private sector non-education wage jobs have 260 work days per year. Business owners work up to 365 days
all net of holidays obviously for simplicity since Christmas and New Years etc. happen for everyone -
Annualized pay to equal out the effort put in by private sector and self employed workers then reflects an equivalent of $89,500 and $125,700.
And please, don’t tell me “Teachers work 16 hours per day 364 for little Johnnie doing lesson plans and grading papers.” Stop it. Third Grade long division has not changed for 2 centuries. 1 lesson plan per career can literally handle a lot of subjects - and I know teachers who do just that.
Teaching is not easy, but it’s not hard either. And yes, before you say “try it once and stand in my shoes” - I have.
On average, teachers are not very good at what they do and take little to no responsibility for results. They are more facilitators than professionals.
“These kids get out of high school and can’t even read.”
Proficiency in reading, math, science and other subjects varies depending upon what is tested and at what point in the education process it’s measured, and varies greatly from state to state and city to city, but reading proficiency is often as low at 40%. Math often under 50%. Half or more of our public school students are being pushed out into the world whether they are prepared or not. Private schools do considerably better in every category across the board.
It’s because federal funding - for those sweet salaries and benefits - is tied primarily to graduation rates, not proficiency. And when proficiency tests are proposed, teachers scream like a banshee that it’s unfair to test teachers based upon whether their students have learned.
You can peruse this trove of data if you like. It’s fascinating actually. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/index.asp?faq=FFOption3#faqFFOption3
“It’s the parents, not us.”
You’ll often hear this in response. And it’s true, parents are extremely important in little Johnnie’s life and success. But that does not mean a teacher is without responsibility. They are typically trained for at least 4 and up to 8 years post-secondary to figure out how to get little Billy the bully ready even when he’s a dick and won’t pay attention. The gifted and smart kids are going to learn the material no matter what the teacher does or doesn’t do, all she needs to do is competently facilitate for them. Her job is to get slow witted Corky some knowledge because he can’t learn on his own.
Schools are becoming prison camps. For what we pay for, public schools are providing less and less benefit and more and more hazards. I don’t think it’s because there were no Donnie the drug dealer and Billy the bully when we Generation Xers were growing up. It’s because school administrations have slowly changed the culture of schools to a more institutionalized authoritarian culture. There is a growing attitude of contempt for students and parents. Cops are everywhere. Students have few if any rights. The kids are treated with disrespect and ‘zero-tolerance’ policies that effect their lives and their personalities forever. It gets worse each year.
I do not see the same thing happening in private schools. I believe it’s because private schools have customers, and public schools have captives - and the cliche that “teachers are overworked and underpaid” has given them a generally bad overall attitude of smug superiority and entitlement. They have become adversarial.
https://youtu.be/sO_gKQUuISc
Like I said, I’ve had my life threatened for this opinion locally. It’s dogmatically accepted that teachers are heroes that are overworked and underpaid.
Yet they work fewer days, earn more than almost half of entire households, have unions negotiating the best benefits in the country, the kids are not learning, the experience of being a student is increasingly miserable, and their own top representatives admit its not about the kids, it’s about the power.
No.
This is the most inane post I have ever seen on this site. Couldn’t even attach a fake name to it. Comparing the median income nation wide is not even close to relevant. How about the $90k Median income in Melrose?