Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – babysit!
We can get that for less than minimum wage.
That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan– that equals 6 1/2 hours).
Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations.
LET’S SEE….
That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).
What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.
Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here!
There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!
You know the teachers I have met are a very reasonable group, I am POSITIVE they would be willing to renegotiate their contracts for the deal offered above. Don't you think?
If you love your children, and want the best for them, then your favorite people on the whole planet should be their teachers. In a world constantly in search of heroes, the public school is crammed to the rafters with them.
School is starting soon, and has already started in some places, perhaps you should let these dedicated professionals know how much they are appreciated.
(H/T to Addicting Info)
This teacher would be willing to re-negotiate in a heart beat.
ReplyDeleteMy middle son is a teacher/coach at a large high school near Atlanta. He had to take a pay cut to avoid being laid off as many of this teacher-friends were...
DeleteHis regular-average-kid math class scored high enough in the recent state tests to rank his school in the top ten in the state!
His fellow teachers were jubilant ~ back-slapping him, and praising him for working so hard for the average students that resulted in a stellar performance.
Sadly, the only way he was able to avoid another pay cut is by going in to more student-loan debt to get his Masters, which i'm so proud to say he will be awarded next Tuesday.
So, yeah, let's cut teachers' pay or force them into more debt to keep their jobs. They're just babysitters and obviously in it for the 12 months pay for 10 months of crazy-hard work (teachers are at the schools even when the kids aren't).
Thank you, WakeUpAmerica. I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for your crazy-hard work for less than minimum wage.
/rant
It is my personal opinion that the two MOST important PROFESSIONAL careers in this country are Public Safety Officer and Teacher.
ReplyDeleteQuery: Why are they among the lowered paid professions?
I mean, come on people! $50K a year? For dedication that makes them work from 7 AM (I'm using my sisters as examples here), all through the day and late into the night grading papers and "polishing" lesson plans and etc.
As for their working only 9 or 10 months a year, most of them are going to school every summer "vacation" to continue their education to improve their teaching ability and maintain their accreditation!
And Public Safety Officers? Would YOU want to accept a salary of the level these guys go for WITH ALL THE RISK OF GETTING KILLED IN ACTION?
Anybody who believes teachers and cops get paid too much needs to have their asses do what these guys do every day. Even for a month - including using their own money to help students get supplies and things of that nature.
They need to see what kind of hell teachers go through because a lot of parents DO see them as glorified baby sitters and literally abuse them for their own kid's stupidity - even though many times it can be proven that a little effort on the part of the parent would drastically increase the student's performance.
Paid too much? Not a chance in HELL!
Lets face it, Republicans are stupid! Yes they see teachers as glorified "Babysitters" b/c that's what THEY do when they "homeschool"!
DeleteOk all the homeschooler's don't jump down my throat, b/c I know people who home school their kids during summer vacay and they really do make them sit down and study and buy workbooks for them, send them to programs...
I am talking about your average RWNJ here.
When my daughter baby sits she get paid more than a teacher. My mom was a teacher and I know damned well it is a helluva lot more than babysitting.
DeleteI attend the University of New Mexico, enrolled in the College of Education. My starting pay will be $30,000/yr. After I have taught for five years (while obtaining my Master's) I will make $40,000/yr.
ReplyDeleteI sometimes wonder if I am nuts. I am motivated and driven by a desire to be a great teacher. The poor pay is part of the package. I knew that going into the program. I am confident that I will reap rewards more important than financial gain.
6:42? That is exactly what my sisters say to me and most of the teachers with whom I have spoken. I am so grateful that people of your heart continue to go into teaching. THANK YOU!!!
DeleteI just wish you could get more money for the hellish labor you will go through!
Yes, I have seen dedicated teachers out there buying notebooks and school supplies for "their" kids....
DeleteR's don't appreciate that.
They don't understand dedication and public school is well..." socialist "? Why should they pay for a Liberal education?
(snark intended)
Thanks Leland!
DeleteFrom 6:42
Hey, I go to UNM too as an economics undergrad. Don't lose hope. We'll get through this and your efforts won't be in vain!
DeleteAt the very least, you have my respect. True. Blue. Respect.
I don't know if parents and politicians are really aware of how much work the teachers really do?
ReplyDeleteTeachers do not work 9 to 5 jobs.
When school is out at 3, some of them stay after school to help kids, talk to parents and then they go to their second jobs.
What are the teachers second jobs? They have to go home and check their students math, English, history and their other assignments.
The assignments that our kids do at school does not just disappear or magically correct themselves at 3pm. Somebody has to review and correct the daily assignments to see what has to be done the next day and who needs more instructions.
Being a teacher may sound easy to others but I'm sure those people do not spend time at home helping their kids with their home work or see that they are studying. We throw all that responsibilities onto the teachers and then try to screw them out of a fair day of wages.
Teachers.... you have my respect.
I worked as an engineer for years before becoming a college instructor. At first I thought the 30% pay cut was reasonable, after all, I didn't "work" in the summer. But after a few months I started adding it up- and in the 9 month academic year I actually worked more hours than in 12 months as an engineer- I didn't have coffee breaks, I ate lunch while I was working, I didn't hang around the desks of colleagues chatting while tests were running. I DID bring home work that I did 7 nights a week. Some courses were online so I was "on call" 24/7. I also worked in the summer to keep up with subject matter and help students looking for jobs.
DeleteMy one consolation (not counting all the "thank you for giving me real job skills and making it fun" notes) is that my engineering job probably has been down sized or outsourced.
WORD.
ReplyDeleteUP.
DeleteWhy is it the low to median income wage earners always over pay?
ReplyDeletestore clerk
janitor
teachers
firefighter
police
Farmworkers
Ambulance Drivers
http://www.myplan.com/careers/top-ten/lowest-paying.php
But high income wage earners are never over pay?
Brilliantly Done!
ReplyDeleteMy kids' teachers were worth their weight in gold. My kids are now grown and getting good grades in college. I think teachers, firefighters and police should be paid more. They are the glue that keeps our society safe and functioning.
ReplyDeleteLets pay politicians less as they are useless and most of them rake in big bucks from special interest groups anyhow.
The Palins don't believe in Education, that is why all of their kids learned so much from Home Schooling. Don't Todd, Sarah, Bristol and Willow sound Educated when they talk about subjects that they know nothing about? BWAHAHAHA.
ReplyDeleteTeachers are very important to society. Look at what happened to Willow Palin when she was home schooled under the guidance of her parents.
ReplyDeleteHer mother Sarah Palin went on book tours, went on tv bad mouthing President Obama and pretending to be informative when she spewed her nonsense and hate on FOX. Instead of going to school, Willow spent time on the road in the lower 48 with her father and boyfriend, who was not in school either, driving to Minnesota to pick up snow machines for Todd Palin's hobbies and now Willow who did not receive that extra help from her mother or father is not qualified or wants to go to college.
As you can see by the parenting skills of the Palin parents, they have always been self centered only thinking of their future, their name recognition and their happiness while their children are left to fend for themselves. Example, Bristol had to feed her siblings instead of Bristol studying at home and now look at Bristol. Bristol's career is trying to make money off of her son on reality shows and publicly bad mouthing her baby's daddy and Bristol, like Willow, is not qualified for college either. However Bristol's career choice backfired and now she is being ridiculed as a terrible mother. Like her mother Sarah, Bristol in thinking of only herself went out and spent money on a chin implant and being know for buying and wearing shoes like mom.
What about Piper Palin? Sarah took Piper out of school during the McCain campaign as a prop to show others she is a mother and what did we see? We seen Sarah pretending to study math flash cards with Piper. The problem was that she was studying addition at the age where other kids are learning higher math.
Let the Palin kids be shiny living walking and talking examples how important it is to have qualified teachers.
Look at Sarah Palin herself. She went to 5 colleges in I don't remember how many years to get one simple degree and she can't tell you what she reads or tell you correctly what Paul Revere did. Sarah can't even speak correctly. English should be Sarah's primary language but she fails at it and only speaks proficiently at word salad. Sarah with her limited vocabulary calls the place where supposedly Willow is at "Hair School". Most people would say their child received a high school diploma but Sarah calls it a high school degree, Sarah calls a lake a swimming hole and other nonsense like that.
I'm not sure if you can blame the teachers for the Palin's educational shortcomings or just chalk it up to the rumors that the Wasilla Hill Billies are borderline reeeeetards?
I wouldn't be surprised if Tri-G has a higher IQ than all the Palins put together!
DeleteThank you for sharing...I just retired after 40 years. I am so angry about the rhetoric being spewed by politicians concerning teachers...they should all be required to work one full week in an inner city/urban school. Will see what they have to say then!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your service :)
DeleteYou are welcome!!
DeleteThis Republican war on teachers is pure bullshit, especially when it comes from the likes of Beck, Hannity, and O'Reilly, who rail on teachers who make 50K a year and they are paid millions a year to spout their hatred, lies, and misinformation.
ReplyDeleteOur children getting an education is FAR more important than anything these assholes have to say.
It seems to me that the Republican party actually wants our children to be less educated and less able to think on their own so they can be indoctrinated into their values.
Bingo! Critical thinking skills are dangerous to the right.
DeleteSee the picture posted above of the kid doing the multiplication problem?
ReplyDeleteProud Piper Palin told Sarah: See mom, I'm smarter than that kid. Even I know that 10 X 6 is 16 and not 60.
Sarah Palin is wondering if that kid in the picture above is in college?
ReplyDeleteThey don't teach that type of math in Wasilla until yew get your GED or work for NASA.
When I relocated 15 years ago, I had been a certified teacher - with a Master's degree - but I had been working in a related field for many years and my certification had expired. I could not get recertified without a long and expensive process. I got a job as support staff in special education and my starting salary was just UNDER $20,000! That was in 1998! It was literally half of what I had been making before I moved...and THAT wasn't a whole lot!
ReplyDeleteFortunately, I now work in a position with a slightly higher salary range but just squeaked past the $40,000 mark last year after 14 years in the department.
I work the same hours as the teachers, have more degrees than some of them, and have already gone to three meetings this summer that I will not get paid for, with at least one week of (unpaid) set up in school before the kids arrive this fall.
Good thing I really love my students because I'm certainly not in it for the money!
Thank you for your dedication
DeleteOn top of the teachers’ slight, some towns are proposing "PART TIME COPS" Seriously? How dare any of us think that we would ask anyone to risk their life for ours while not even showing respect for them and their family’s potential sacrifice by withhold proper benefits? TOTALLY OUTRAGEOUS!!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120808/news/708089959/
Yo Tri-G! WHERE U AT??
ReplyDeleteimnofred? I have been saying for quite a while that I believe the people attacking public schools and constantly reducing that with which the schools have to work are doing it deliberately because as Stalin and Mao knew, a person cannot complain about their rights if they don't know what they are!
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest mistake of the 1964 Civil Rights Act was a tiny clause which was inserted into the bill which actually got the Federal FOOT in the door of our public schools and ultimately threw out control by the parents and local school board.
Let me be perfectly clear so I do not anger anyone. I do NOT think the Civil Rights Act was a mistake!!!!!!! Only that one clause quietly inserted in it.
In my book, the only thing the Federal Government should have the right to do in education is SET THE STANDARDS. As for anything else? NO! Set the standards and back off.
To all the teachers out there: I thank you every day!
And where have been living since they passed the Civil Rights Bill? FYI, a few things have happened in the USA since then. Perhaps the most disastrous to the PUBLIC education system was no child left behind that created a federal standard that nearly destroyed the PUBLIC education system in this country. The current attact on PUBLIC education is an outgrowth of that policy designed to rid the nation of public education....
Delete9:34? Sarcasm and sick cracks like you just made do nothing to forward the discussion about the failure of our public school system. While I must agree a lot has happened since 1964, never once did I even mention anything except the root of the trouble was in the 1964 Act.
DeleteStupid and acid comments such as yours only prove your lack of education in that it becomes obvious you are incapable of recognizing a point someone is trying to make.
Regardless of whatever YOU feel is a big problem, the fact that the 1964 Act gave the U.S. Government its foothold in the door DOES NOT CHANGE. The root cause is still the root cause.
And so that you are aware, No Child Left Behind does NOT set the standards any reasonable government would set. It sets procedure and what is taught and things far beyond real standards.
Standards are things like Weights and Measures. Standards do not set how to do something, only the end result. (Except in very limited areas like testing of materials and the like.) Standards in this case should say that if a certain level of proficiency is achieved the standard has been met. Period. Not WHAT to teach. Or HOW to teach it.
And as far as I am concerned, the most disastrous thing to happen to public education is in the ultra basics like reading and arithmetic. Technology be damned! Calculators should not be used until a child can prove he/she can actually ADD and SUBTRACT and MULTIPLY and DIVIDE!
Saw this posted on FB: What type of person would think it is wrong to increase a millionaire's taxes by 5% but OK to ask a teacher to take a 20% pay cut?
ReplyDeleteTeachers have always had my highest admiration.
ReplyDeleteThe disrespect expressed by so many seems to be a sign of insecurity about their own educational shortcomings.
Just wanted to thank teachers, wherever they are.
I am fromthediagonal
And many teachers not only buy their students supplies, but their mittens, jackets, and even boots.
ReplyDeleteEvery summer, my sister, the teacher hunts through garage sales ( and she hates garage sales) to have these things on hand for her students in a very, very poor community. And before they started free breakfasts at her school, she kept peanut butter, jelly, and bread, cheese and crackers, and other things for her students that were hungry.
And I know darned well she is not the only one spending her money on her students.
A big thank you to all of our educators out there!
There are 240 Republicans in the House and 47 Republicans in the Senate, each of which (except for leadership positions) makes $174,000 per year. In 2011, the House was in session for 993 hours and the Senate for 1,102 hours. Therefore, the average Congressman made $175.22 per hour and the average Senator made $157.89 per hour, not including generous perks including health care, housing and travel allowances, etc.
ReplyDeleteLast year, we paid Republican Congressmen approximately $41,760,000 and Republican Senators $8,178,000 and what did we get for our money? Dozens of anti-abortion bills and renamed post offices, probably upwards of 80 filibusters in the Senate, and not a single jobs bill.
We could hire close to 1,000 teachers for what we’ve wasted on the Republicans in Congress. Over the course of a 30 year career, those 1,000 teachers could teach millions of children how to think critically, reason for themselves, and see the smoke and mirrors the Republicans use to maintain power for what it is.
Our teachers are the first line of offense in taking our country back from the true forces of evil that have overcome it and threaten to drag it down. Teachers will always be heroes in my book.
Great post! Thank you!
DeleteAs I'm sure you already know, (Gryphen seems to know everything...) Bristol followed suit of your post: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/bristolpalin/2012/08/honoring-teachers-specifically-mr-howell-from-9th-and-10th-grade/
ReplyDeleteWhat confuses me is she claims she had this wonderful teacher for freshman/soph year, but she spent 10th grade at JDHS. So did she go back to Wasilla early, or is she talking out her ass?
(There was no Howell at JDHS)
There are 240 Republicans in the House and 47 Republicans in the Senate, each of which (except for leadership positions) makes $174,000 per year. In 2011, the House was in session for 993 hours and the Senate for 1,102 hours. Therefore, the average Congressman made $175.22 per hour and the average Senator made $157.89 per hour, not including generous perks including health care, housing and travel allowances, etc.
ReplyDeleteSo essentially I agree that teachers should be paid a lot more, but only after they are carefully screened. You could end up paying a kindergarten teacher lots of money and he turns out to have pedophile tendencies and then has to be fired. Not to mention any names of course.
Last year, we paid Republican Congressmen approximately $41,760,000 and Republican Senators $8,178,000 and what did we get for our money? Dozens of anti-abortion bills and renamed post offices, probably upwards of 80 filibusters in the Senate, and not a single jobs bill.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@ themom 8:22 "On top of the teachers’ slight, some towns are proposing "PART TIME COPS" Seriously?"
ReplyDeleteYes, seriously. This is part of the NRA's master plan to force peaceful citizens to obtain high capacity semi-automatic firearms and form "militias" to take care of the ever-increasing crime rates (even though crime rates in the US have been plummeting over the last 20 years)in our cities. If this is successful, soon fully automatic firearms will be legal, nay required, and at there will be an at least one machine gun requirement per household.
A secret arrangement between the New Black Panthers, various cartel drug lords and the NRA will ensure that there's enough random street crime to force even pacifist urban dwellers into the fear-based mindset that the NRA and their corporate gun manufacturer masters thrive on.
The above is snark--but it's at least as logical as the ridiculous notion that "Obama and the UN are coming to take all of your guns away!!!"
Stupid people are easier to control. That's why the GOP hates education. Simple minded people are easier to scare with lies.The rest of us actually do research on any issue, before who decide.
ReplyDeleteHey Jesse, did you hear the one about the gay kindergarten teacher in Alaska who got fired on suspicions of acting like a catholic priest?
ReplyDeleteNope.
DeleteDid you ever hear about the ignorant Palin-bot who got every part of a statement factually incorrect yet still managed to be pleased with themselves?
By the way, still working.
Willard, do something constructive and get on a treadmill.
DeleteI recently got my MSN in nursing education. If I chose to leave the hospital and go into academia, I would take a 50% paycut. 50%. We need good nursing educators in the US and you want them to be people like me who have experience in nursing to back up the theory and science. But a 50% paycut???
ReplyDeleteMy druthers now is to keep makinig the good money while midlle aged and then go teach nursing in Africa or other needy parts of the world when i reach retirement age!
Yeah, I have people that I work with who bitch about teachers & what they make. My son has two master's degrees and is now teaching (30K/yr).
ReplyDeleteHow about all that money spent on his education? How about the 6 years he lost by not working? Does that not count for something?
Who would teach if they only paid you for 10 months (if you didn't count all the hours they work over 8 hours during the year)?
What is wrong with people? Personally I think that if they thought it was so great then why didn't they spend the $100K+ & over 6 years of their lives plus the loss of income over that 6 year period? Hmmmmm I wonder?
I guess it was much easier to spread you legs at 16, get pregnant & make millions doing reality shows. Yep, great world we live in.
This is a variation of an essay that has gone around for years.
ReplyDeleteA more thoughtful essay was by Tamim Ansary.
It's no longer archived on MSN Encarta where it was originally published so you'll have to google Are Teachers Overpaid? by Tamim Ansary to find any reposts. I did find one here:
www.techimo.com/forum/imo-community/130514-teachers-overpaid.html
Some of the numbers are out of date but the basic premise is still correct. I suspect teacher's salaries are even farther behind than they were when Tamim originally did his research.
I do have the original in PDF form.
I've always thought teachers should be paid salaries equivalent to those of doctors. Seriously, our children's lives depend on teachers. An example - over 70% of prison inmates are illiterate. Obviously there's a connection between literacy and the quality of life.
ReplyDeleteTeachers in Finland (with the world's highest scores in math, reading, and science) are treated as the professionals they are - unlike in the USA, whereas education is considered by the GOP as insignificant and where teachers' salaries and jobs are being cut to the bone or eliminated altogether.
What's with all the rock, movie, sport, and political 'stars' racking in millions and they do what to contribute to society other than provide senseless entertainment and spend taxpayers' monies on terrible things such as war?
ANY nation that puts wealth accumulation (through any means) above that of an educated youth in doomed for failure. ANY nation that weaponizes ignorance WILL die by ignorance.
So a big THANK YOU TEACHERS! Seriously, you are what keep our society together (or rather, what's left of it).
The most important factor in the attacks on teachers and on education in general is money.
ReplyDeleteThe No Child Left Behind disaster was put into effect during the Bush administration. Neil Bush owned a company that produced educational software that helps prepare students to take standardized tests - just like the ones that brother Jeb mandated in Florida and brother George forced on the entire country.
After Hurricane Katrina, Barbara Bush made a generous donation to evacuated students in the Houston area. The donation was in the form of educational software. Guess which company profited.
The push to decimate funding and staffing of public schools and to institute increased testing of students all goes back to money. Companies that produce testing and study materials and curricula are raking in the dollars so fast their accountants can't keep up. Companies that produce professional development materials and the software and procedures to provide all the new (and generally invalid) teacher accountability are making a bundle. And, naturally, these companies are always generous when it comes to supporting the candidate who will help them pad their bottom line.
And what happens when all of these new laws and procedures prove to be a failure (which the teachers on the front lines could have told them years ago)? The public schools are closed or taken over by the charter schools...run by for-profit companies.
Public schools put all their funds into their schools. For-profit schools cut corners to put money into their shareholders' pockets.
It all comes down to money.
And the teachers still teach.
The teachers still teach...for now.
DeleteBut as pay and benefits are cut, more teachers are leaving the profession. And they're not being replaced as college students see the writing on the wall and are not going into teaching.
Repub1%can'ts say that teachers feel a calling and will teach no matter what they're paid or how they're treated. Unfortunately I think the right wing has teachers and nuns confused. Teachers did not take vows of poverty and obedience when they signed on. And no, those who can't...teach. Teachers CAN follow the professions of their degrees. I have a master's in library science. While I might take a pay cut to go to a public or private library at least I have the option of rising to a management position. Teaching is pretty much a dead end as far as advancement goes. (Hence the step and column increases to compensate for that.)
So what happens when there are no longer teachers still teaching?
Great Post!
ReplyDeleteI'm grateful for every teacher I had (except for Mrs Cline in fourth grade) and for those who are teaching my kids.
It's a noble profession, and I wish society would realize how important good teachers are, and pay them more.
We want the best for our children as they are the future and our precious gifts. It's inane to think that this is not a profession worthy of 6 figure income.
ReplyDeleteIn Philly, our baseball team recently renewed Cole Hamels' pitcher contract. He will make about 197k per inning. Per inning. If he averages 15 wins a season.
That is just wrong. My sistrer, a preschool teacher makes 14 an hour. 14$. She has to buy all her own classroom supplies. She recently, in desperation, applied to the new Amazon mailing facility being opened in her area. The lowest paying position she applied for starts at $16 an hour. And she will have no prep work to to for hours when she gets home. Sad, as she loves teaching her kids, but let's get real. She is trying to raise three of her own and the oldest starts college next month.
The title of this post is misleading. The over-generalization of republicans and democrats is what has gotten our country to be so two sided. I am a republican and believe that teachers are vastly underpaid and underappreciated. My brother is a far left leaning democrat who seems to have a sever personal issue with teachers stating that they are overpaid and should not get paid for having the summer off. Until we can get past this partisanship we will not really be able to effect positive changes with our education system.
ReplyDelete