The moment a child enters the world is a miracle. Birth is a gift from God, and nothing is ever the same after parents experience the unconditional love for their child. Parents have an innate desire to protect their children and offer them the best chance for success in life. The process of giving a child a bright future starts with a proper education. Public school is subsidized by the government and considered a right afforded to all Americans. Teachers are the backbone of the education our children receive within the public school system. With so much importance placed on the role of teachers, it is curious that an evident wage gap exists for educators in America. Teachers are underpaid and drastic measures must be taken in order to pave the way for changes in pay. Public school teachers have the right to strike for better employment benefits.
Public school teachers are undervalued and underappreciated in American society, and their constitutional rights to strike must be honored. When nurses or factory workers are unpleased with their working conditions or wage compensation, they strike for change. Freedoms of speech and the rights to strike are constitutional rights and must apply to all Americans
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Every lesson taught is important, however, teachers will not be heard unless drastic action is taken to compensate their wage gap. The recent appeals to the Hawaiian legislature to raise wages by $20,000 annually have fallen on deaf ears. Congressman Doll was seen leaving a meeting with three teachers laughing and gawking (Smith 4). It is evident that unless teachers strike, they will not fairly be compensated for the valuable lessons they instill in our children. The only way that the government will take these teacher’s claims seriously is for teachers and Americans to band together and speak out to demand
I am here as a high school teacher in Fallsburg and also as the chief negotiator for the Fallsburg Teachers Association (FTA) because our members are deeply dissatisfied with their wages, health benefits and teacher rights. We want an end to the struggle. There has been no pay increase in the past 5 years. Health care costs will increase by 33 to 40% by next year.
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
For some students, even though they can get high scores in exam, but that’s all they can do. They just memorize the solution and don’t try to understand and absorb the real knowledge behind the exam, for these kinds of students we can’t say that their teachers do well. Comparing with this, some students have really penetrating understanding to the knowledge, their know how to use them even though it can’t reflect on their exam scores sometimes, but their teachers still deserve higher paid. There is no doubt that we can’t tolerate keeping low-performing teachers in classrooms because it hurts everyone, but the method used to evaluate teacher performance should be sophisticated enough to consider all factors that can affect a child’s success in classroom before they can be used to as a standard to punish or award teachers. Chicago strike also evokes a debate toward salary problem. Chicago teachers have the highest average salary of any city at $76,000 a year before benefits, compared with the median household income in Chicago is $46,000 (BBC News: para 4). So many people couldn’t understand that teachers rejected a 16 percent salary increase when most occupations are not getting and raises and many people are under unemployment. There are two reasons that CTU still raise salary debate even though teachers already get enough paid. Firstly, CTU considered the law aspect. According to Illinois Educational Labor Relations Act, it is illegal for teachers to strike on all
Edwin Louis Cole once said, “The pattern of the prodigal is: rebellion, ruin, repentance, reconciliation, restoration.” We often say that people should fight in order to win what they want. Teachers strike has been instigating arguments, however, it caused vicious circle that deepened conflicts and separations within society, rather than resolving problems. Teacher’s strike hurt not only students and civilians, but teachers themselves.
The issue of teacher shortage today is continuing to grow. The effects of the achievement gap are reaching the teachers, not just the students: “...good administrators and teachers, who are doing their best under difficult circumstances, will be driven out of the profession…,” (Boyd-Zaharias 41). The achievement gap is part of the reason teachers feel they are underpaid, which happens to be one of the leading cause in teacher shortage considering, “Teachers were paid two percent less [than comparable workers] in 1994, but by 2015 the wage penalty rose to 17 percent,” (Long). Being a teacher requires passion in order to stay in the field, especially if the money in teaching is decreasing. Money is an important aspect for people when it comes to their careers, therefore, fewer people want to become teachers. This lack of teachers and the lack of college students studying to become a teacher leads to unqualified teachers and larger classroom sizes (Ostroff). Both of these causes are eventually affecting students’ learning environments. I chose this issue in education for my project because I have personally felt these effects, and I know others who have as well. As a future educator, I want to see better wages and better benefits, but this can only happen with qualified, passionate teachers. I plan on being one of them, and I plan on sparking a change. I am a future educator fighting to end teacher shortage.
In the news recently a major story has been the teacher strikes across the nation where teachers are demanding higher wages along with more funding for schools. (Cano, azcentral.com) For these teachers there doesn’t seem to be much of a solution to their current financial crisis other than raises to help them out of the financial troubles they already find themselves in. This is why it is important to keep teachers, and people with other lower income jobs from ending up in the financial situation like the current one. Of course, there are plenty of ways to do this from raising people’s pay or forgiving them of debts they may currently have but one thing that could help future people who might find themselves in this situation is a change in
For the longest time, I wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher. I have had the privilege of working in a kindergarten classroom before, and one of the best feelings is seeing kids grow and learn. I could not think of a more rewarding career than helping kids on their first stepping stone of education. However, when I met my athletic trainer, Jeanine, I became very intrigued in physical therapy, and became torn between teaching and the medical field. As much as I wanted to be a teacher, their salaries pointed me in the direction of physical therapy. I am not alone in this decision. Because of low salaries, the United States has found a shortage of teachers. The ones who do pursue education are often forced to work another job to make financial ends meet. Teachers also found they are spending their own money on their classroom, an additional expense that takes even more out of their already small salary. Additionally, teachers work very stressful jobs, and their income only shows how underappreciated they are. For shaping and influencing the minds of the world’s future, teachers make one of the lowest salaries. Even though people often claim that teachers do not work for the full year, they work much more than people assume. However, their salary is a poor reflection of how much work and dedication teachers put into their profession on a daily basis. Teachers’ salaries should be increased.
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.
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
There has been a wide range of disagreements about whether or not schoolteachers should have the privilege/right to strike. Some people trust that the privilege to strike should be unrestricted, while others feel that this right must be limited. Therefore, I will argue that the right of public school teachers to strike should be diminished. How being a teacher comes with great success for themselves/students, how they should not leave their teacher profession, and the reminder to being a key
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
Teachers with a low salary and frozen teacher compensation, have less motivation and time to dedicate to school. Some examples that prove it, is that most of the teachers of public schools in Arizona don’t make corrections of any homework due to the lack of time. Kids also have extra recesses at school hours to allow the teachers to grade school assignments. Some schools in Arizona are
Public school teachers around the United States are not earning fair pay. When compared with other fields such as computer science, engineering, or the medical field, teachers earn among the lowest pay grade of all jobs. The thought of living on a low-income frightens many potentially amazing and well qualified students from pursuing a degree in education. Teacher pay is beginning to affect students education as well; therefore, causing children to not obtain the education they deserve. Teachers should be receiving more money because valuable teachers are walking away and superior education begins with quality teachers.
In the US paying teachers more than they already are paid is a highly controversial topic in today's society. Many people are against paying teachers a higher salary because they are worried about the outcome and how it may not improve the education of the students; some even believe teachers are paid too much currently. However some believe teachers should be paid by skill because this would give them an incentive to do their job better, it’s not fair if a teacher is doing a poor job and they are getting the same pay as someone who is doing a good job teaching, lastly it would make the tax payers happy because they aren’t paying teachers who are not teaching their kids.
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