Public School Teachers Underpaid

As explained in Diane Ravitch's article, “American Schools in CRISIS,” educators are provided with little job security under Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Obama's Race to the Top educational reform initiatives; where teachers can be fired based on poor standardized test scores from their students (50). The majority of new teachers already quit within five years of entering the field; “demoralized” (Ravitch 50) by the effects of such high stakes and low resources (Ravitch 52). To combat this figure, many states have decreased the requirements for becoming a teacher, even allowing online licensure in Texas (Ravitch 51). To lower the standards of the “conservators of our common future” (Barber 122) is an irresponsible practice that must be reversed if students are to succeed. Barber proposes paying early childhood educators as much as lawyers to attract better teachers. Higher wages would encourage more ambitious individuals to enter the fields of primary and secondary education. Without highly-trained and intelligent educators, who are dedicated to progress and change, students will continue to stumble through a broken system, woefully unprepared for the task of becoming productive citizens.

Most politicians believe teachers are not motivated and part of the problem. In my opinion growing up most of my teachers were motivated however, the lack of funds and over crowding were bigger stumbling blocks to me getting an education. It is no secret that being a teacher will not make you rich but. In Canada and the United States, most teachers with a four-year degree earn about $40K. I believe most teachers enter that profession to help students go on to lead productive lives.

Many people wonder if teachers should or should not get paid more than they do. A lot of people believe that teachers should get paid more, but there are some that do not. Parents that want their kids to have a good education want teachers to get paid more. For example, P.V Derkachev said, “… teacher pay influences the quality of education.” (Derkachev 574). Teachers that get payed more would be more likely to perform better at their job and not mind the extra time that they have to do stuff outside of work to get everything done. Matt Barnum said, “Higher salaries --- even small bonuses ---- can and do keep some teachers in the classroom, and likely improve outcomes for their students.” (Barnum). The student is going to get taught better if teachers get paid more because the teacher will want to teach at the best of her ability which will help the student.

All the time people ask, “Oh, why do you want to be a teacher, they don’t make that much money?” However, teachers make decent pay. On average, a teacher will make $53,000 per year. In the state of Wisconsin and Minnesota, teachers make the average salary and have the

I can personally say that I have had teachers put in so much extra time to help me, because I was struggling in class. They aren’t getting paid for the extra time they put in; they just do it because they care about the future of their students. If we didn’t have teachers who care for the future of young kids then Oklahoma’s education system would be no existent, we would be dead last and on the brink of having the worst economy in the United States. I have grown up and lived in Norman Oklahoma my whole life and I don’t want to see our education system crumble into nothing or just barely hang on and struggle like we have been for a long time now. I want to see our education system start to work its way to the top and see the teachers who have taught me since I was in Kindergarten finally get paid the salary they deserve. I have traveled all over and have been to more than 30 states and multiple countries and I can honestly say that Oklahoma has some of the most caring, hardworking, genuine, give the shirt off their own back kind of people. So we need to start acting like it and come together as a community and raise the salaries of the people who are some of the most compassionate and caring humans around and that’s our teachers. Some people would say that they are the backbone of our community because they are the ones grooming the kids who will someday run the community and

     High school teachers’ average salary varies across the world. The United States is said to be one of the richest countries in the world, yet our teachers are being paid one of the lowest amounts. The Education Intelligence Agency, author of the article “Ohio Teacher Overcomes Union’s Tolerance” published an International Teacher Salary Report ranking the fifty states by “how much the average salary exceeded per capita personal income.” According to the Education Intelligence Agency Ohio’s percentage rate is only fifty- five point one percent. According to the Education Intelligence Agency the lowest state percentage is in South Dakota at twenty- three point six percent and the highest state percentage is

The low pay for our educators is causing many negative effects. New York Times shows that the low income is causing sixty-two percent of teachers to have a second job outside of their teaching jobs. Just to have enough money to support their families and make ends meet. Most everyone decides to college to prevent having these struggles with money, and to avoid having to work multiple jobs, when they get older; however, not when it comes to living off of only a teacher’s income, the struggles to have enough money are interminable. This low pay is also causing most teachers to retire, and find new jobs. New York Times states, “every year 20 percent of teachers in urban districts quit. Nationwide, 46 percent of teachers quit before their fifth year. The turnover costs the

In today’s society one of the most important factors in selecting a career field is rate of pay. No matter whether the profession maybe, the dollar figure must be within a range that allows the employee to maintain a substantial lifestyle. The debate of teacher pay scales has raged on for years. Many argue that the current pay scale for teachers is a scale which rewards teachers merely for seniority. They argue that the current pay scale overlooks those educators which demonstrate exceptional performance. Teacher merit pay systems have been the most popular suggestions made to remedy the problems seen with the current pay scale. Although the current pay scale may not be completely effective, the idea of

Teachers have and will always have a big impact in everyone’s life and if not everyone, well, at least they did for me. They teach you everything you need to know about a subject and valuable life lessons, so why are they not paid sufficiently enough to make a decent living? Teachers salaries have always been low and I believe it is the time that changes. Being a lawyer, doctor, or engineer is great, but none of that would be possible without the insight of a teacher, I will inform you in this paper on why I believe there is a need for action. I will go over the background of teacher’s salaries, my ideas on what would be best for teachers not just in Texas, but nationwide, and pros and cons on the issues and ideas at hand.

Teachers often times complain about how little they get paid and how difficult it is to accomplish the simple things in life because of low income. I believe teachers should receive more pay because they do everything for today’s youth. Some people disagree, saying that teachers’ jobs are not as important as other higher-up, prestigious jobs. I disagree, saying that without those teachers to be there to guide those students in college or high school they would not be where they are today. Without the help of teachers’ some jobs would be done wrong; there would be no right way of doing it, people would get into disputes about whether their way is right or wrong.

Valerie Strauss wrote “Think teachers aren’t paid enough? It’s worse than you think,” this was an article posted The Washington Post. Valerie Strauss had a great deal of information about teachers and their pay. This article was written in August of 2016. I do believe that this article had the correct and up to date information about teacher pay and wages. This author compared teachers’ pay to comparable public workers. Valerie Strauss gave the impression that she wanted to inform her readers about how underpaid teachers are. I do think this article was convincing, Valerie Strauss knew what she was talking about.

Apparently,it doesn't matter how good the teacher is, it matters how long they have been teaching.I think this is very stupid, a teacher can be very good at there job and another teacher sucks at it and the bad teacher would still get paid more if he or she has worked longer than the good teacher.On google it says the average for a teacher is IL makes $61,402 a year.This is obviously not true because it depends on if it's a big city with a big school because in a small town like edinburg is a lot teaching job at a bigger school and get like $50,000-$60,000 in a year.In small towns like Edinburg, teachers may get as less as $25,000 a year when you can get a If you work at a big school, an average employee gets like $27.00 an hour.In smaller schools like edinburg some new teachers will get $12.50 an hour.

With beginning teachers usually earning entirely less than other college graduates, the profession is at loss of top-notch, quality people who tend to find jobs seeking more money. Almost 50 percent leave the profession within 5 years, lured by higher pay and prestige elsewhere in the booming U.S. economy (World, 1999, par. 7). Starting teachers average a $25,735 salary in the United States compared to an engineer earning $56,820 or a physical therapist earning $56,600 (Engineer, 2000, par.1). And what signal does it send out about the value of good teachers and a good education when a 45-year-old teacher with a master’s degree earns $45,000 a year and a 25-year-old out of law school often starts at $80,000, considering a six year education for a master’s degree and a seven year education for a law degree (Greenhouse, 2002, par. 4)? A teacher is also given no compensation for the long hours spent basically in overtime work. The teacher’s day does not end when they leave school because if lesson plans, grading, or planning is not completed, it will have to be finished on their own time. Accountants, paralegals, and engineers all are compensated and get paid overtime for work that does not get completed in a regular day or if they want to stay and

Lurking over our great country is a troubling issue that is plaguing the professional educational workforce. When compared worldwide, American teachers work the most hours, yet are paid in the lowest brackets when related to the top 32 nations (Teachers Pay). In addition, when you compare a teacher’s salary to other four year degree salaries, teachers are among the 5 lowest paid degrees (O’Shaughnessy). Not only are the salaries among the lowest in the American workforce, a typical teachers at home workload exceeds all other professional jobs by 20% (Current). Furthermore, teachers were only given a 2.3% salary raise in 2009. Yet the rate of inflation rose to 3.1% causing a loss in purchasing power and creating a hardship on the

The shortage of teachers is caused by multiple reasons. The amount that teachers get paid is incredibly low. If tax money went to education, teachers pay would be raised. There would be more teachers willing to work for a higher pay. . Teachers are important to education in every way possible. Teachers teach students and allow them to get the knowledge they need to succeed. Teachers work outside of the classroom everyday. From grading paper or making lesson plans, they put their effort into each and every assignment. Teachers make an impact on every student’s and parent's life. They help students understand the basics for the knowledge they will need to succeed in the real world. Teachers should be valued more because they put their all into providing an education for each student.