Those who can’t teach, teach gym.
Sorry, my wife is a teacher. But you keep setting them up and I’ll keep knocking them down.
In New Mexico (#50 yeah) with three years in the district and a Masters my wife makes less than 31K.
You hit the nail on the head though, my wife would never stop teaching. I tried to convince her to get the administration certificate (to be a pricipal) instead of her education master she politely told me to go to hell and that was it.
Old saying, I didnt come up with it. Though I will say that of the teachers I know (ex’s mom, sister, freinds and so forth) none of them really care, they are all jadded and dont think that they can make a diffrence and dont try to make the kids lives better at school (all teach K-6).
44G isn’t chikcen feed, but since most teachers get out after 3 years and most of those cite low salary as a major reason they got out of teaching, it might be good to address it.
Do you have a source for that? Not disputing it necessarily, but my impression is that most people who leave teaching do so out of frustration at the system, not over low salary. I could be wrong.
As for 3 months of vacation, well my mom is a high school teacher and her vacation months weren’t exactly time off.
What is it, then, exactly? My sister and her husband are teachers, my aunt is a teacher, two of her kids are teachers and her third is in school to be a teacher, my brother-in-law’s wife is a teacher, one of my sisters-in-law is a nurse at a high school, and two other sisters-in-law are teachers. They all get summers off.
Those who can do…those who cant - teach.
Didn’t someone have to teach those “that do” how to do it? It could also be re-phrased … “those that can do … because they can’t teach.”
Teaching and doing are different things, I won’t argue that point. Some that teach struggle to do. Some that do struggle to teach. Not all accounting teachers will make good accountants, just as not all accountants will make good teachers. Different professions, different skills, etc.
The “those that can’t do … teach” phrase has been around forever, and will continue to be. For those that say it, I always respond with “Can You?”.
I encourage people to give a presentation at a conference where the very diverse group of listeners are forced to be there and on a subject they are forced to listen to (not necessarily interested in). While presenting the information in a manner that engages the listener and allows for the greatest amount of retention (various levels of intelligence), and having the least amount of distractions.
While doing this, present it in a manner that inspires and motivates them to want to do it again tomorrow". Be sure to include group learning, computer aided instruction, guided practice, etc. Repeat for 180 days. =) Let me know where this takes pace, I want to be there.
If teaching were only “presenting the information in the book” it would be incredibly easy … and boring.
44k is an “average salary”. Most starting teachers in Arizona start at 25k-27k. Most if all the starting teachers I know have second jobs or roommates to make ends meet. For such an important job, I think the salary needs to be a little higher to attract the brightest to the career. Both my parents taught school and both had to get advanced degrees and eventually move out of the classroom to make a decent living.
**we should do away with public education. let the free market handle it. **
I somewhat agree. To often the govenrment just gets in the way, institutes knee-jerk, half-thought out policies that require even more demands on time and imposes greater workload, and does nothing to handle the real problem (students not working on education OUT OF THE SCHOOL). The answer for “parents making the kids do some educational stuff at home” is not giving the teachers/administrators more hoops to jump through or more work to do in the same amount of time.
Slowguy … **So do we let those who can’t pay get a piss poor education? **
As opposed to what they are getting now?
No Child Left Behind is just going to remove funding (punish) the worst schools for not “meeting expectations”. Guess which school’s are going to be hit the hardest? The best get better. The worse get worser (bad grammar for effect).
Judging by the amount of time students are willing to work on school stuff out of the classroom, and the amount of encouragement and discipline parents offer students, one can safely say that education might be the only thing people really do not want to get their money’s worth.
**The quality of education will greatly increase when we get government out of it because there will be more competition. Just like private schools provide better education right now. Imagine if we all had our tax money to spend on education. The competition would be very healthy. The quality very good. **
… and there it is. Well put.
i hope you’re not serious
.
where do you live/what do you do that you think $44k is good money? is this entire discussion a joke? privatize education? so the difference in education between those with money and those without can become even greater? i was fortunate enough to go to one of the best high schools in new york and it was that way because teachers were paid $80k as opposed to $44k. we need to stop pouring money into a missile defense program that doesn’t work and doesn’t protect against today’s dangers and pay our teachers a decent salary.
where do you live/what do you do that you think $44k is good money?
Where do you live that $44,000 *isn’t *good money, and what’s the average teacher’s salary there?
I’d say $44K isn’t very good in San Francisco. It may well be great in Post Falls though.
Personally, I’d kill for $44K.
I’d say $44K isn’t very good in San Francisco. It may well be great in Post Falls
I agree, and I doubt that $44,000 is the average in either one of those places.
How does the national average for teachers compare to the national average as a whole?
National household income is right about at the same number. About 43K. However, that takes into account all the people not making any money at all, and all the people making a gazillion dollars for not doing much. I don’t know what the average income for people who work is.
You’re citing the low color rendering index of lighting as a reason to teach your kids outdoors? I’d like to see one study that CRI has an influence on learning. Also, full spectrum is a meaningless term because it has no standard definition.
Low CRI ratings is schools means the district employs inept facilities people and administrators that haven’t the slightest clue about running a facility efficiently. There is no reason for anyone to own a T12 luminaire.
National household income is right about at the same number. About 43K. However, that takes into account all the people not making any money at all, and all the people making a gazillion dollars for not doing much.
Actually, I don’t think it does take into account those extremes. (Or if it does, it matches up rather nicely with the median household income, which is also right aroung 43,000) Of course, that’s *household *income. The median income of individual males is about 38,000, and individual females about 29,000. Looking to me like the average teaching salary is holding up quite nicely.
IMO, what matters is comparing the salaries of …
-
Bachelors only teachers with professions in other fields at comparable years of experience.
-
Masters Degree teachers with professions in other fields at comparable years of experience.
-
Doctorate Degree teachers with professions in other fields at comparable years of experience.
Do other professions have rigid stair-step payscales based upon years of education and years of experience, rather than quality and results-produced? Also … no bonuses for production above and beyond the expected results.
I don’t have many complaints about my salary (I do have some). My retirement annual salary will be awesome. I also live in an area where housing is affordable. In Kansas City (Actually Johnson County) they run into problems of having low starting salaries in areas where the only housing “starts at 165K”.
**IMO, what matters is comparing the salaries of … **
Those aren’t totally invalid points, but what really matters, I think, is how much a community can afford to pay teachers.
Do other professions have rigid stair-step payscales based upon years of education and years of experience, rather than quality and results-produced?
Ask the good commodore.
I’m sure there are areas in which public school teachers are underpaid. But as a whole, their salaries just aren’t that bad, especially figuring in the benefits- again, like 3 months off each year. That’s a considerable advantage for one’s quality of life.
To be truthful … teachers are very intrinsically motivated people. Frankly we wouldn’t care about salary (that much) if we could get a pat on the ass once in while. Let us have some input in decisions, keep the red tape on the roll and not in our way, … and we’re pretty good at what we do.
I don’t have a big problem with teaching salary, the retirement is exceptional. With reasonable financial discipline, you can live a comfortable life on a teaching salary.
Any complaints I have about my job have nothing to do with salary or students. I knew going in I wasn’t going to be a millionaire … and I knew how teenagers were (and I like them for it).
teachers are very intrinsically motivated people.
I absolutely agree with that. It’s one of those professions that I think of as more of a calling than a career. Which isn’t to say that I think they should get screwed with low pay, but I don’t think more money is going to really motivate most real teachers. (And I don’t think most of them are getting screwed with low pay, anyway.)
Any complaints I have about my job have nothing to do with salary or students.
So you think my impression that most teachers, if they’re unhappy, are frustrated with the system (red tape, etc) rather than with their pay?
So you think my impression that most teachers, if they’re unhappy, are frustrated with the system (red tape, etc) rather than with their pay?
I was about to type a longish explanantory type post Re: the teacher’s mind … but no one realy cares about that but teachers. To non-teachers, teacher complaints-suggestions are about as exciting as say, Calc-Based physics. =)
Yes. teachers have enough obstacles involved in teaching, without ones placed in front of them by folks that have never taught in a classroom. I guess it’s similar to how doctors feel toward the restraints of insurance companies. Just get out of way and let us do what we love to do. Pat us on the butt when we do well.