Are teachers underpayed ?

[hemet dennis]

What do you think ?

 

[CGinJCMO]

Interesting. I'm a paraprofessional in a Missouri school (so that was interesting about the MO statistic of 19 applicants per job opening)...my yearly salary is less than $15,000. I do get the summer's off if I don't want to work summer school (no furthering my 'education' beyond the district sponsored days), don't have to attend before or after school meetings, don't have to sponsor/advise a student club, don't have to grade 100's of papers/homework, and I'm sure I'm missing other duties. There are a lot of things teachers have to do...I wonder how they manage family time, and personal time. My kids wouldn't have given me time to grade worksheets at the dining room table. There aren't too many jobs out there when the employee has to take home work (although I have worked at one where I did). I have a part-time at-home job to help with money. I know one single mother para that just barely makes enough money to qualify her kid for the free lunch program.

That's not to say I do nothing. I help students even when I'm not assigned to them (I'm approachable partly because the kids see me in all the classes - not just the Math teacher or even only in the core classes). I take hall and car/bus duty waiting for my assigned student(s). I'm there before some teachers and still there after they have left too. I have to be ready for when my student arrives and cannot leave until he/she is gone - so hopefully the parents aren't having car trouble. I have to clock on so if I'm a few minutes late, it's recorded in my employee record. Teachers do not have to punch a time clock. If they want to have a "Donuts with Dad", "Muffins with Mom" or attend an awards ceremony that their kid is getting an award at their kids' elementary school, they get another teacher to cover their class for that hour they'll be absent. I, however, would have to pay a substitute for a half day (can't get one by the hour) if my kids' school actually informed me of the fact that my kid was getting one. (I don't actually pay the sub, but I do get docked on my time card.)

The biggest gripe I have is the fact that I can't bring my kids to my school district (I'm on the wrong side of the line - yet my house is closer to work than to my kids' school - I go east, they go west) so that we could have the same days off (for example, I start work a week before my kids start school this year yet they typically get out a week earlier too - I have to hope that their school gets more snow days than me to push back their last day of school closer to my last day). Many years ago, when the district did accept out-of-district students, I would have had to pay tuition more than my salary. Now, they only accept children from "Certified Staff" (a.k.a. teachers). Only got a few more years till that wouldn't even bother me.

A benefit that I do get from this job that I didn't get from previous jobs...retirement savings - not just Social Security. I'm in the same system as the teachers, and if I was to go to another district in my state, then it goes with me. Even though I don't make a lot of money, I hope to be able to put in another 20 years before retirement.

 

[1Teacherchick]

Should be "underpaid".

 

[hemet dennis]

Should be "underpaid".

My teachers were highly overpayed.

 

[sourland]

My teachers were highly overpayed.

'Underpayed' -'overpayed'? Yes, Dennis, we hold these truths to be self evident.

 

[RHRanch]

Anyone teaching hemet dennis should get hazard pay.... But seriously, anyone who is or knows a teacher should realize that it's a thankless job, one in which the odds are stacked against student and teacher success. I mean, out of pocket required professional certifications and courses are expensive, and they add new ones all the time. Read "The Shame of the Nation" and think again about what the real problem with education is....

 

[oldrooster]

It truly depends on the teacher, some are actually over paid IMHO because they don't even try to teach, or barely try. That being said but most are under paid.I would like to see the teachers to be able to vote out a union if they desire to and vote in a different union or form their own! I had a few worthless instructors whom if allowed to I would imagine if there was a choice the teachers in the schools I attended would have voted out the "regular" teacher union and vote one in that would throw out the lazy or incompetent teachers. Why would they do this you may ask? Because if you have to teach a student 2 grades of material instead of the one grade most teachers are expected to teach then it's to there advantage to get rid of the dead weight.

 

[hemet dennis]

It truly depends on the teacher, some are actually over paid IMHO because they don't even try to teach, or barely try. That being said but most are under paid.I would like to see the teachers to be able to vote out a union if they desire to and vote in a different union or form their own! I had a few worthless instructors whom if allowed to I would imagine if there was a choice the teachers in the schools I attended would have voted out the "regular" teacher union and vote one in that would throw out the lazy or incompetent teachers. Why would they do this you may ask? Because if you have to teach a student 2 grades of material instead of the one grade most teachers are expected to teach then it's to there advantage to get rid of the dead weight.

A unions job is to keep the dead weight at all costs.

 

[Kernel Cluck]

In Wisconsin.. the average public school teacher makes $50,000 per year. That's the average... some are lower, some are higher....they work 9 months a year , get free health insurance (for life) and a pension that ,up until the Scott Walker changed the law, they contributed nothing towards. If you include pay, health insurance and other retirement benefits.. the average salary rises to north of $ 80,000 per year. That comes no where near "underpayed"

 

[theuglyduckling]

well this year my fiance got a job at an elementary school we were excited until we realized how much he was really going to get paid. we originally thought it was 1500 every two weeks, but no turns out its only 1500 every month. i just wonder why some teachers get paid as much as my brother who works as a server at a resturante and gets paid minimum wage when teachers study for years and in reality all they are working hard for is pretty much nothing. i understand it shouldnt be about the money, but paying a teacher minimun wage if you think about it is just an insult. it disgust me.