It’s not a fail-safe. Unions are notoriously corruptible, both by the opposition and the greed of their own leaders. Furthermore, you could put this argument to ANY civil service job. Why pick on teachers? It’s a simple trade off: civil service severely restricts performance raises and offers benefits security instead. You pick your lifestyle. America USED to have strong private sector unions, which are now only in a few blue-collar professions. That’s not _our_ fault.

“Teachers don’t have to spend three to seven years in training, taking on more student debt, after undergraduate college, like doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, psychologists, economists, etc. The majority of teaching positions require a four-year education degree and relevant certification.”

Unless you weren’t on that track in the first place, and have to go back to get your masters. Also, in NY, all teachers MUST earn their masters within the first five years of teaching. Universally, professional days, which are often scheduled beyond the school year, constitute additional training. Then there are the local decisions like textbook revision and technology upgrades. The profession isn’t stagnant.

“Teachers don’t have to spend extended periods away from their families on the other side of the world, in life-or-death situations, like soldiers.”

Granted. But neither do many people in the private sector making comparable pay.

“Teachers don’t have to risk their lives to run into a burning building, like firefighters, who often earn less money than teachers.”

Of course not. Many instead risk their lives like police officers, facing violent youth every day without either the gun or the badge or backup. Let’s also not forget the actionable psychological harassment and intimidation that wouldn’t stand in the typical office.

“Public school teachers still make significantly more than private religious school teachers who do exactly the same work. I attended a religious high school where the teachers earned $21,000/year + benefits at a time when the median public teacher salary in that city was about $37,000 + benefits.”

This is true, and it’s why I left teaching, as I DID work in a private school. 2 things to consider, however: smaller grading loads, and lower hiring requirements. Still, you’re right. It’s often not worth it.

“Teachers don’t spend their entire lives pursuing a career where only a small select few people ever succeed, such as professional artists, athletes, and entertainers. The majority of teachers rather tend to find stable jobs soon after graduation.”

This is no less true of police officers, delivery men, nurses, or any other of the vital infrastructure jobs. Furthermore, teaching has an average 50% turnover within the first five years last I checked. Sounds to me like you’re describing why the profession is so in need of fixing.

“Teachers with good skills have excellent job security, knowing that there will always be a market for their skills because there will always be children to teach. This certainty does not exist in many manufacturing- and technology-related jobs where workers have to wonder if there will still be a market for their skills.”

And you would think that the importance of our work would draw more people. In fact, teacher staffing is headed for a crisis over the coming decade if you take a look at the demographics and retirement projections.

“Teachers who have children in school tend to get the same days off as their kids (holidy breaks, extended summer breaks, etc), allowing more days and weeks of family time than other jobs where workers only have 10 vacation days and a few holidays.”

This is commonly the main reason why homemakers take the job: to match their children’s off-time. Why? Saves on daycare and babysitting expenses. Allows time-strapped families to survive. As mentioned earlier however, the amount of time a teacher actually WORKS, which any other white collar job would call “billable hours,” are woefully unreported.

For the record, I have _never_ heard a teacher or even a former teacher make the “teachers are decently paid or overpaid” argument. It always comes from those outside of the profession.

And everybody believes their job deserves more money, teachers included.

However, consider the following…
Public school teacher unions are able to negotiate for very generous pensions and health care benefits, which many private sector jobs don’t have.

Teachers don’t have to spend three to seven years in training, taking on more student debt, after undergraduate college, like doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, psychologists, economists, etc. The majority of teaching positions require a four-year education degree and relevant certification.

Teachers don’t have to spend extended periods away from their families on the other side of the world, in life-or-death situations, like soldiers.

Teachers don’t have to risk their lives to run into a burning building, like firefighters, who often earn less money than teachers.

Public school teachers still make significantly more than private religious school teachers who do exactly the same work. I attended a religious high school where the teachers earned $21,000/year + benefits at a time when the median public teacher salary in that city was about $37,000 + benefits.

Teachers don’t spend their entire lives pursuing a career where only a small select few people ever succeed, such as professional artists, athletes, and entertainers. The majority of teachers rather tend to find stable jobs soon after graduation.

Teachers with good skills have excellent job security, knowing that there will always be a market for their skills because there will always be children to teach. This certainty does not exist in many manufacturing- and technology-related jobs where workers have to wonder if there will still be a market for their skills.

Teachers who have children in school tend to get the same days off as their kids (holidy breaks, extended summer breaks, etc), allowing more days and weeks of family time than other jobs where workers only have 10 vacation days and a few holidays.

Yes, teachers deserve a fair wage and recognition for the hard work they contribute to our society. But so do all positions in our economy. Everybody’s work is valuale.

The table they showed had teachers listed as being paid more than lab techs, nurses, chemists, and a few others but more than Attorneys, Doctors, etc.

The glaring omission is that all of the jobs making less than teachers require only an undergraduate degree while the jobs listed as being higher paid requried an advanced degree.

As a public school teacher in Cleveland I am required to have an MEd after 6 years of teaching.

In essence the chart showed that teachers were the LOWEST paid of any profession listed requiring an advanced degree.

They conveniently missed that point.

Chris

Hello,
I am a student in Florida, and I am writing an article for my school newspaper about the low-paid teachers, and how it affects students.

I attend West Boca High School, and perhaps you’ve heard of my school. We had a teacher here by the name of (Name Removed by blog author). Before becoming a teacher she was a model. One parent found out about her past, and went to the media, outraged that she was allowed to teach at our school. Soon, her story was all over the internet and t.v.

She was shunned because she had a few pictures, nothing harmfull. Most who had her class thought she was a good teacher. But the parents and the media drove her to the point where she couldnt take it. She quit the job….

But while parents were wrapped up about a model, they fail to realize that a teacher has her face on the internet for truely harmful means. She has two DUI’s and an assault charge. Why can’t the parents complain about that.

But the source of the problem isnt the parents. Its the low pay given to teachers. School Districts lose the oppertunity to grab the more qualified educators because of low pay. Why would a qualified person want to work in a job that consumes all your time, and reaps no true reward expect that moral reward of helping students?

The public school systems are forced to choose underqualified teachers, and the students are suffering. This isnt an issue to be held lightly. They hold the power to make or break our lives. It is getting harder and harder to earn a good education, and the low salary is the reason.

Maybe if Florida’s state government spent less on the FCAT (a stadardized tests given to students that decide how much money the school, and the teachers make) and spend more on slaries of teachers, we wouldn’t have this problem.

That is very true. One of my professors, interestingly enough in a Political Statistics class once said ‘You can take any set of numbers and massage it to get whatever results you want’.

We just need to be vigilant in how we read and digest what is placed in front of us. What my blog post and the resulting comments show are that the people that care about this issue will see through the fluff and FUD to find the true numbers. But will the average person reading the article or the main stream TV or newspaper who won’t research the data that the numbers are based on? I don’t thik they will, which is why we need to properly educate the public about this misinformation.

Of course, that leaves out the unreported hours.

It is important to realize that number crunching without analysis can be used to create misleading results. It is the low-tech reading skill that reveals their manipulation.

If you look at their summary you’ll see they attempt to justify their use of BLS data, their failure to compare annual earnings, and their discounting of hours/wk due to summers off.

As hard as they try, they fail. The BLS data is clearly a lowball figure. Annual earnings are all that really matter. Any attempt to talk about hourly rates for teachers is a joke. When the joke is told by a right wing outfit, it really is not the least bit funny.

Do you think the figures are accurate?

I smell hoax of some sort.