It is my perception that an issue that affects all educators is the lack of what I would consider to be fair compensation. As I said the other night, I believe that most parents believe that education is incredibly important, not all parents feel music education is as important, but on the whole I believe most parents would find the education of their children to be very important. I don't understand how, when education is so important, it seems that cities and towns skimp on the payment of their teachers. It seems like societies spin on salaries is completely warped at this point. While I am a huge baseball fan, I find it absolutely obscene that players are paid as much as they are, only to play a game. This past year, professional baseball player Alex Rodriguez was paid 25.2 MILLION dollars for a single season of play, he made over $44,000 every single time he stepped to the plate, whether he hit the ball, walked or made an out. $44,000 for striking out???? There are teachers that struggle to make $44,000 in a year, and they are shaping the lives (or not) of countless students. Does anyone ever think that it will happen that people that perform such important jobs as teachers, will ever get greater compensation? I believe it is much more difficult to recruit good teachers when they know that the pay they will recieve is, in many cases, terrible. While I can hope to be optimistic, I have doubts that this will ever change.
posted by Ben @ 11:45 AM
4 Comments:
It is amazing that an athlete could make that much money just for walking out there. However, as far as teachers getting a pay increase of that amount…I hate to say that teachers will never be paid as well, but its what I know and it really isn’t a job you are going into for the money.
While it’s true more people would consider the job of being a teacher if it paid better, you would also get people there for just the money. They may not educate the students as well, and they may educate them better…but this is something we probably will not experience in our lifetimes. Being a teacher isn’t for the money, it is for the students.
I have to agree though, this situation will probably not get better within our life time, but perhaps in our great grandchildren’s lifetimes there might be some difference in the world view. It depends on our actions here in the present what happens in the future. If we believe that teachers deserve a better pay, then it is up to us to show that to the world. It is impossible for things to change if we just sit on the sidelines and watch, we have to be active and involved and see the problem to the end if we ever want to see a change.
I hope that one day teachers (and other people who deserve it as well) will get a pay increase, and who knows perhaps this discussion will lead to the eventual remedy to this problem.
I agree with Ben and Theresa that the teaching profession as a whole often struggles to survive on current wages. As a child growing up, both of my parents were teachers, and although this was great when I had a homework question, it was difficult when an activity that either my brothers or I wanted to do cost that little extra. My mother went back to school to get an administration degree, mainly for the pay raise, and there has been a steady increase of teachers taking that approach as well. Unfortunately being an Administrator often takes you out of the classroom, and away from students, who were originally your inspiration. I think that it’s crucial that Government funding be able to go to teacher wages. Why not take a few billion dollars from the campaign in Iraq to give teachers across the country a well deserved spring bonus?
I think that the pay teachers receive is a reflection of society's view of their importance. Teacher compensation is an issue in many countries, but from what I see and have been learning since coming to New Jersey, in comparison to other professions in America, it is clear that the nation does not see teachers as a priority. I think this reflects the capitalism that seems to serve as the foundation for almost, if not totally, everything here. A good education is important to the upliftment and development of the population, and a look at the amount of funds allocated to education compared to the things America spends heavily on tells us where the leaders' focus is. It doesn't seem to me that it is on the development of the people. So the disparity between a teacher's and an athlete's salary is disturbing, but is it really surprising?
I disagree that more pay would bring teachers of less quality because they would only take the profession for the money. Take a look at the jobs where people are well-compensated. They keep getting that good salary because they keep doing a good job. Better compensation would also help schools retain good teachers who move towards administration or another profession altogether as their family responsibilities increase.
I think it is interesting to consider that some school districts do not want to higher a fresh, out of college student that has anything more than a 'lowly bachelors degree'. Some of these young teachers that have also earned their masters degrees have more difficulty finding positions because districts do now want to have to pay them more, even when they have had no in class experience. Just because they have that masters degree does not immediately make them a better teacher. I don't see why we should support districts that pay their teachers less, if you WANT to be paid less, be my guest and take that job, but that really doesn't make any sense to me at all. I wish that the education 'market' would get more competitive, it will only do this though when teachers are actually better, and when society realizes that if they want their little athletes to get anywhere, they better hire good teachers to teach them how to read their contracts before signing their lives away.
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