What do teachers really make?

[Double Eights]

Re: What do teachers really make?

So yes, they are very underpaid, especially considering they are molding the future.

In my opinion the only teachers "molding the future" are elementary teachers and college professors. Elementary teachers teach us the basics that we use in everyday life, while college professors teach us things that are job specific(for later years in college). Math is a prime example of what i'm talking about.

Mrs. Burns 4th grade math is still fresh in my mind, because it was the basic math that we all still use today. However, Mrs. Congdons 11th grade math has long gone left my memory. I need to know how to do fractions, count, add, subtract, etc.. I do not need to know how to do matricies or how to graph a pallabara.

Sure the middle school and high school teachers tell us things, but I for one have never used what they taught me outside of school. This is just my opinion though, I'm sure some will not agree.

Edit: And as for underpaid careers. Law Enforcement officials are up there with teachers in terms of being underpaid, if not worse off.

[USF11]

Re: What do teachers really make?

I depends on the area you live in and High School vs. Grade School.

I know high school teachers retiring around 100k a year in my area (30 years teaching), my girlfriend just finished her education degree and she will only start around 40k a year teaching 1st grade.

The highest paying job in teaching is drivers ed, its a couple classes and your making over $30 an hour during summers right off the bat.

[tribesyoungguns]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Wow...calling my wife a whiner, are you? Bold. I happen to think her complaints are extremely justified because I've seen it with my own eyes. You happened to luck out and get a job in a great district that obviously compensates you guys very well. Seems like you might be living in a little bubble though, because most districts are not like that. Hell, my wife makes about half of what you do and she's in her 5th year also. When she finishes her Master's (she'll have it by mid-2007), she's expecting a slight bump in pay, but not 50K a year though.

Consider yourself lucky. You've found yourself a wonderful place to teach and coach. But realize that most places aren't like that.

I wasn't calling your wife a whiner but a lot of the teachers I know specifically certainly are. And I don't live in a bubble, I taught in an inner city Hell hole for 3 years before I landed the job I'm at now by volunteer coaching and getting multiple certifications. I know its tough getting a good job but once you do get settled as a teacher, its a good gig. I think that was the point to begin with. I know Ohio has far too many teachers right now and its tough getting a job but we're talking about the actual job.

As far as some of the other complaints...

A 2 month summer break is exactly that except for its a little longer than 2 months and I also get spring break, Christmas break, and all the little holidays in between. I don't know any teachers who work more than a week during their off months, unless they choose to.

"Not having a life because of grading" is silly. At both schools I've worked at I've had ample planning time to get grading done. I also stay after 3:00 for about 45 minutes to get my lesson plans done for the following day. A lot of teachers I went to school with work make their profession harder than it has to be...again, thats their choice and should have no bearing on what they get paid.

I should mention that I teach high school and my wife teaches elementary school. She puts in more time than me but still not by much and her summer breaks are spent teaching summer school by choice (getting paid $30 an hour for 3 and half hours a day) and doing nothing else.

[ezekiel55]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Both my roommate and his girlfriend are both teachers for the Chicago public school system so I see on pretty much a daily basis their schedule. While both sides have valid arguments I have to agree that sometimes too much is made of teachers being underpaid. This is also by my roommate and his girlfriends admission.

They both were guaranteed around 40,000 a year coming out of college directly into a teaching gig, and these are in the tougher neighboorhoods of Chicago. I will say though that they both did have trouble finding work in the beginning and were extremely lucky to land the jobs they did.

[Scottdau]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Also you have to keep in mind they don't get paid for the two months they are off in the Summer. So some slpit their checks into 12 months instead of 10. So they get paid during those months off. So it avarge to about 50 to 60 grand a year. 60 being a high. Also, in Cali that is not that much. The problem with teaching is dealing with parents and the state. You think you have everything you need and then the State add more to do with training or taking more units. The Clad and everyother thing the State think you need. Also, dealing with parents is not easy. Becasue of all these things good teacher's are quiting and they have to settle for ones that don't know what hell they are doing.

[Beantown]

Re: What do teachers really make?

In my opinion the only teachers "molding the future" are elementary teachers and college professors. Elementary teachers teach us the basics that we use in everyday life, while college professors teach us things that are job specific(for later years in college). Math is a prime example of what i'm talking about.

Mrs. Burns 4th grade math is still fresh in my mind, because it was the basic math that we all still use today. However, Mrs. Congdons 11th grade math has long gone left my memory. I need to know how to do fractions, count, add, subtract, etc.. I do not need to know how to do matricies or how to graph a pallabara.

Sure the middle school and high school teachers tell us things, but I for one have never used what they taught me outside of school. This is just my opinion though, I'm sure some will not agree.

Edit: And as for underpaid careers. Law Enforcement officials are up there with teachers in terms of being underpaid, if not worse off.

May not, and obviously wasn't, your experience...but there are plenty of kids out there whose middle and high school teachers are 100 times more important. Why? Because for those kids their middle school/high school teachers taught them something more important than school work. They taught them social skills. Everyone knows the awkward kid in high school with no friends, and who is clearly depressed and everything...that's the kid the middle school and high school teachers can help the most. Now, I know a lot of teachers who don't...but there are plenty out there who will go above and beyond the classroom, especially during the teenage years when kids need guidance, need someone other than their parents to look up to for advice.


Man...this educational psychology class actually has taught me stuff. Damn.

[pennstlbu]

Re: What do teachers really make?

I depends on the area you live in and High School vs. Grade School.

I know high school teachers retiring around 100k a year in my area (30 years teaching), my girlfriend just finished her education degree and she will only start around 40k a year teaching 1st grade.

Only 40k a year, teaching kindergarten? Where's this at? I have a couple buddies who just started this year after getting their masters, and they're making 20-25k, teaching high school. And one of them coached football also. And that was in Washington. In Montana, it's even worse. They make pennies compared to everywhere else in the country.

[Double Eights]

Re: What do teachers really make?

May not, and obviously wasn't, your experience...but there are plenty of kids out there whose middle and high school teachers are 100 times more important. Why? Because for those kids their middle school/high school teachers taught them something more important than school work. They taught them social skills. Everyone knows the awkward kid in high school with no friends, and who is clearly depressed and everything...that's the kid the middle school and high school teachers can help the most. Now, I know a lot of teachers who don't...but there are plenty out there who will go above and beyond the classroom, especially during the teenage years when kids need guidance, need someone other than their parents to look up to for advice.

Actually, that is a very valid point. There are teachers out there that do exactly what you talked about. But in my experience in middle/highschool, teachers just came in, talked for 80 minutes, then gave us homework and that was it.

I was never one of the kids that was "friends" with the teachers, and would hang out after class and talk. I just sat there and doodled on my papers, then left and hung out my friends, and then went to my next class.

[Skerik]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Actually, that is a very valid point. There are teachers out there that do exactly what you talked about. But in my experience in middle/highschool, teachers just came in, talked for 80 minutes, then gave us homework and that was it.

I was never one of the kids that was "friends" with the teachers, and would hang out after class and talk. I just sat there and doodled on my papers, then left and hung out my friends, and then went to my next class.

Not sure how old you are, but with this generation of latchkey kids who lack parental supervision and/or attention, it seems that teachers these days are expected to fill a little more of the parental void than they once were. Which could lead to their increased likelihood to take socially underdeveloped or outcast kids aside and help them develop skills that, typically, their parents would have helped them develop years ago instead of their teachers. But if the parents aren't around....

[Scottdau]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Actually, that is a very valid point. There are teachers out there that do exactly what you talked about. But in my experience in middle/highschool, teachers just came in, talked for 80 minutes, then gave us homework and that was it.

I was never one of the kids that was "friends" with the teachers, and would hang out after class and talk. I just sat there and doodled on my papers, then left and hung out my friends, and then went to my next class.

Trust me they do more than just that. The state makes them take so many more units. My wife has taken so much more units from teaching that she could already have a master's lol. I was thinking about teaching here at J. Hall, but the State makes you take so many classes to just be classiflied. It is not easy!

[Shaver]

Re: What do teachers really make?

I think Teachers fall into the same category (in terms of pay) as Nurses (my wife) do.

Not UNDERPAID... but UNDERPAID for what they do.

[Beantown]

Re: What do teachers really make?

In this day and age, where both parents are working full-time jobs, and kids don't really get as much time with their parents...there is a lot more being asked of teachers that isn't in their job description.

As Sucre said...a LOT of teachers stick to the books. They go in, teach, when the bell rings they're done. Rinse, and repeat. It's the OTHER teachers that make the impact in the world. It's the ones who keeps things fresh, who liven up the classroom, who take an interest in the students and actually try and get to know them that truly are "molding our youth."

As Skerik said, if the parents aren't around kids do look to the teachers to fill that role. What's unfortuneate is that the teacher doesn't always know when something is going wrong at home. They don't know if a kid needs that guidance, that parental figure in his or her life unless the kid shows/tells the teacher that he or she does. So what happens if the parents aren't around, and the teacher never realizes that the kid is looking towards him or her for guidance? Where does the kid turn then?


Moral of the story - parents play a HUGE role in their kids education, whether or not they realize it.

[Gary Armida]

Re: What do teachers really make?

I've been teaching for 10 years and I love conversations like this. I fully acknowledge the "benefits" of teaching. It is a good life. There are worse jobs to have, and I have had some of them.

Are we underpaid? It depends on the area. Talk to a NYC teacher and he/she might say yes. I teach in the 30 minutes upstate from NYC. I get paid enough to live a lifestyle that I enjoy. With that said, I have friends with less education and less responsibility who make double my salary. Not complaining...To supplement my "cushy" job, I coach high school baseball. Again, not complaining. I love baseball, I love coaching. Last year, I computed my $3200 dollar stipend for the season hourly and it was 7 cents per hour. Again, not complaining...I coach for the love of the game.

In order to have my 2 months vacation so my wife and I live comfortably, I teach summer school during July and August and teach a part-time college prep course during the year (2-3 nights a week, depending on enrollment). Again, not complaining, I love my life.

Oh yeah, in order to have a nice classroom, I pay for my supplies, some books, and other stuff. I wonder if the "office" people have to do that.

Mixed in with that is having to take additional courses to maintain certification, grade 122 essays (I teach English), and maybe have some time to spend with the "Mrs.".

It's easy to criticize teachers. Hey, I hate alot of the complainers myself. But, don't judge the profession on the actions/words of a few. Sherik--there are computer programmers that complain and are very lazy as well (I'm not attacking you, please don't misunderstand me). Do I think it's a "cake" profession? No. No job, if done correctly, is a "cake" job.

Hey, it's easy to rag my profession, people think it's easy--sometimes it is, but I challenge anyone to trade jobs for a week and do it the right way. I often wonder what it would be like to sit in front of a computer screen all day and just "bang away". Or, sit in some office, get some task and complete it and repeat the process until my lunch break (oh yeah, I spend those with students who need help passing the NYS regents exam).

Please don't mistake my comments for be offended; I'm not. I am just presenting the other side. Like I said, if anyone wants to trade jobs with me for a week, they are more than welcome.

BTW--How is this in the entertainment and technology thread? Seems a bit misplaced.

[USF11]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Only 40k a year, teaching kindergarten? Where's this at? I have a couple buddies who just started this year after getting their masters, and they're making 20-25k, teaching high school. And one of them coached football also. And that was in Washington. In Montana, it's even worse. They make pennies compared to everywhere else in the country.

In Illinois, pay varies by school districts, there are some districts in Illinois that pay the same K-12. But when the average 200k home has to pay 6k in property taxes a year 40k dont sound that good.

[Gary Armida]

Re: What do teachers really make?

Guys, newsflash---There's no industry standard for teacher's salaries. It all depends upon the area the school district is located.