should teachers be paid 125k/yr?

[Chaotic42]

Considering what I do and how long I've been doing it, I'd still call that overpaid.

Way overpaid.

Go figure.

What do you do and how long have you been doing it?

 

[cbrunny]

In Canada nepotism is a HUGE issue. It's very difficult to find a job unless you know someone. Talented teachers can expect to sub for at least 5 years before landing a position.

True enough. I actually hold a bachelor of education and am a certified teacher but I didn't even try to get in. The union alone is reason enough to turn and find other work.

They're saying now the average is 7 years supply and LTO before full time. As it should be.

 

[CoPhotoGuy]

How about a teacher who teaches a classroom full of children who are emotionally and behaviorally disabled. You want to talk about earning your pay!

Well that's pretty much any classroom these days.

 

[gotsmack]

But a CFO/CTO/CIO/CEO who works the equivalent of 4 days a year between doing lines on his executive desk that runs a company into the ground and puts people on unemployment. That guy is cool right?

That is a 1 off. Usually you don't build a great company and keep it profitable by slacking off.

What C level execs do have nothing to do with school teachers. Just think about how many C level execs have existed in the world ever vs the number of teachers and people who formerly taught that are alive today.

If you want to pay teachers more than engineers that is fine, but you have to bring the demands of qualifying for the job in line too.

 

[Sonikku]

The school district around here must have got a real bargain when they tricked all the teachers to accept a paltry 25-30k a year.

 

[Hugo Drax]

No.

Just get rid of the concept of tenure and make it a lot easier to fire teachers based on performance.

Want higher test scores? Put a system in place that actually weeds out teachers based on how much they suck.

Your not gonna get a good teacher.

Why would anyone want to work for 40k a year teaching who is really good?



You want a good teacher to teach your special snowflake, well you better pony up.

 

[zerocool84]

Your not gonna get a good teacher.

Why would anyone want to work for 40k a year teaching who is really good?



You want a good teacher to teach your special snowflake, well you better pony up.

FYI, if you want to make good money, you don't become a teacher.

We certainly don't want our teachers CARING about their jobs do we? You have to care about your job if you are a teacher. The amount of teachers that make good money is not common. It's the type of job you do because you enjoy it, not to get rich.

 

[Bateluer]

No.

Just get rid of the concept of tenure and make it a lot easier to fire teachers based on performance.

Want higher test scores? Put a system in place that actually weeds out teachers based on how much they suck.

How would you address the issues of the students sucking and apathetic parents using the public school system as day care?

 

[bononos]

That's an excellent point that I, too, have made many times in the past.

I think most US studies which control for that variable don't show a significant difference. The recent Stanford study said it was abit worse.

Have you read Ravitch's book? I browsed through it 3+years ago. She was a well known proponent of nclb until she realised she was wrong and her movement was basically used to push through privatization (for corporate profit).
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704869304575109443305343962
http://www.aft.org/periodical/ameri...2007/why-teacher-unions-are-good-teachers-and

 

[halik]

Or it could be the fact that school performance in the 5th grade doesn't have any relevance to what a person likes to do/is good at when they're older.

Don't think there's single bit of research to back your claim up. I tested into a "gifted" highschool around 6th grade and our rates of graduation and college acceptance were 100%.

 

[halik]

With pictures of you, dingus.

Haaa i love that this thread has a completely parallel discussion of Tindr going.

 

[smitbret]

Sounds like the teachers you know qualify as those "shitty" teachers.

If teachers had it cush and easy, why do they have one of the lowest average time in career of all professions. The average teacher lasts 5 years in the teaching profession.

I personally know a lot of teachers. The good ones all put in ~60 hrs a week during the year. Fortunately in the DFW metroplex teachers are paid adequately.

Maybe they are shitty. I should probably call Farm Bureau and tell them to consider revoking my mother's "Idaho Farm Bureau Teacher of the Year Award" they gave her a few years ago. At the very least, they should probably put an asterisk by her name.

They aren't getting rich, but effort vs. compensation is not bad, especially when you consider some of the retirement plans they are getting (PERCI, etc.) is not bad. Teaching is not the minimum wage job that every one makes it out to be.

Anyway, it might be geographic as well. All three teach in relatively rural areas (Idaho). They may put in 50 hours a week during the school year, but once that bell rings on the last school day in May, there's not much time put in. There are a couple of conferences they will attend throughout the state for a couple of weeks, but those are basically just a handful of workshops and a luncheon spread out over a couple of days.

In general, once the curriculum is in place, the materials don't change much from year to year. The biggest difficulty is keeping the class at a comfortable pace without leaving the slower kids behind. I think the reasons people quit after a few years has more to do with not being able to deal with high maintenance kids and the crap the parents roll out. New teachers roll into the system expecting rainbows and sunshine with a genuine desire to change lives and mold the leaders of tomorrow. Then they discover that their class of 28 includes 7 kids whose arms are covered in cigarette burns, 4 other kids that have the collective IQ less than their shoe size and every parent thinks their kid has perfect manners and is the next Stephen Hawking. If they take everything personally, they will burn out.

Some people expect one thing and when they get something else they find something else that fits their abilities. It's called attrition and the rate you just quoted isn't very high for just about any industry, especially early on when the pay rates are low. I would be interested to see where you get your attrition data.

 

[Rhezuss]

My gf is a teacher and she's been for the past 10 years. She teached in poor and rich neighborhoods alike. In both environments their seemt to be a recuring problem: parents that don't give a fuck. She thought about dropping the profession to do something else but she just can't. She genuinly want to change how the system work, as are many of her coworkers, but the Union and management don't give a F about that since they're effing lazy slimes run by a disabled system.

Now, the parents have the last word concerning the graduation of their children. Your child with attention deficit disorder is in 2nd grade and still can't read and write properly while the rest of the class is doing awesome, the teacher will recommend that the child stays in 2nd grade to perfect and improve it's skills so he/she will have the proper tools to move on. But NO! The parents decide if their children will move up or stay...

What do you think is the result? Children with no basic knowledge and tools to properly advance in this world...it's effing sad really.

Here in Canada where Education seem to be less important then freaking paying able people to do nothing 24/7, a teacher can no longer do it's job properly.

I don't say they have to be paid 125k/year, but they're certainly worth more for what they do and what they endure.

 

[manimal]

Your not gonna get a good teacher.

Why would anyone want to work for 40k a year teaching who is really good?



You want a good teacher to teach your special snowflake, well you better pony up.

well many do it for the job and the kids not the money. There are thousands and thousands of good teachers out there toiliing away making a difference in the lives of our children. Would MORE good teachers be around if they made more money?

Of course thats how the free market works but in reality some people do things that arent rational/more financially rewarding because they choose a different path.


This study just reinforces what we already knew but choose to ignore because its not convenient.

 

[unokitty]

Just my opinion.

But I've never thought of teaching as a way to get rich. I've always thought of it as an avocation. That is, something that you do because you wouldn't be happy doing anything else.

That said:
Good teachers don't get paid nearly enough.
Bad teachers get paid way too much...

Uno