Are you sick of highly-paid teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

But here's the thing … in what other industry is there a public debate over salaries? Except minimum-wage rate jobs. Why does anyone get a say? Do non-nurses get to chime in about how nurses are under or over paid? What about lawyers? Hair stylists? Why do we all think we are entitled to judge teachers on every level?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wish we paid teachers more. And could fire them.

I would like to get rid of tenure.

[Anonymous]

I think many teachers are paid well, and that's what they deserve, and many are underpaid compared to their contributions. I don't believe the teaching field is one that can sustain high incomes and promise good annual raises like private industry, however. The only way to do that is for taxes to go up every year or class sizes to increase. Sometimes I wonder how much raises have to do with increasing class size -- the more each teacher is paid the fewer teachers can be on payroll, under and fixed budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

But here's the thing … in what other industry is there a public debate over salaries? Except minimum-wage rate jobs. Why does anyone get a say? Do non-nurses get to chime in about how nurses are under or over paid? What about lawyers? Hair stylists? Why do we all think we are entitled to judge teachers on every level?

Because teacher salaries come out of local taxes, mostly. So there is a pretty strong correlation between increasing salaries and increasing taxes. Taxpayers get a say on what their money is used for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

But here's the thing … in what other industry is there a public debate over salaries? Except minimum-wage rate jobs. Why does anyone get a say? Do non-nurses get to chime in about how nurses are under or over paid? What about lawyers? Hair stylists? Why do we all think we are entitled to judge teachers on every level?

Because teacher salaries come out of local taxes, mostly. So there is a pretty strong correlation between increasing salaries and increasing taxes. Taxpayers get a say on what their money is used for.

What do your local cops get paid, PP?

[Anonymous]

No. I guess I'd have to meet one first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

But here's the thing … in what other industry is there a public debate over salaries? Except minimum-wage rate jobs. Why does anyone get a say? Do non-nurses get to chime in about how nurses are under or over paid? What about lawyers? Hair stylists? Why do we all think we are entitled to judge teachers on every level?

Because teacher salaries come out of local taxes, mostly. So there is a pretty strong correlation between increasing salaries and increasing taxes. Taxpayers get a say on what their money is used for.

What do your local cops get paid, PP?

Not sure how this is relevant, but median police salary is about 10% lower than median teacher salary. The total police budget is 12% of the schools budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wish we paid teachers more. And could fire them.

I would like to get rid of tenure.

Not sure about MD or DC, but in VA publics, there basically is no true tenure. All school division employees can be fired for any cause at any time with minimal notice and hearing rights, and only resort is to go to court at their own expense. And they're still paid less than the grossly overpaid "hero cops" who cannot, ever, be fired no matter what they do.

[Anonymous]

If it helps, I think police are generally overpaid more than teachers. It does make me wonder though when teachers ask if there's any other job out there where people judge other's salary. I hear this kind of straw man argument from teachers often yet most service professions have clients choosing how much to pay on a daily basis. Teachers also talk about how their job is the only one where so many people have a say in what they do. Parents, students, principal, school board, etc. Almost any job out in the world though has people from multiple angles critiquing another's work typically on a daily basis. Perhaps more people have a say in what teachers do because almost of all us went to school and many of us have children, but other than this I see few differences. While they may get more comments than smaller professions, they also get more tips. There are far more people working to help education and health than other fields these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

+1 I don't think anyone says teachers are overpaid.

What people do say -- and I think there is something to it -- is that increasing teacher pay isn't necessarily going to improve education in this country (meaning the reason why schools seem to be failing isn't because the teachers teaching in those schools are underpaid).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

But here's the thing … in what other industry is there a public debate over salaries? Except minimum-wage rate jobs. Why does anyone get a say? Do non-nurses get to chime in about how nurses are under or over paid? What about lawyers? Hair stylists? Why do we all think we are entitled to judge teachers on every level?

Because they are supposed to be educating children, the next generation, and yet we are constantly being told that they are not performing well.

I think there's actually a public debate over salaries in lots of industries! Federal employees' salaries (and feds range from the IRS to the FBI to the people who inspect food) are debated constantly.

But I don't think the answer is that we aren't allowed to debate teacher salaries. I think the answer is that there should be MORE discussion about salaries for other fields -- wall street, doctors, CEOs. These things should be discussed.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are underpaid and given insufficient planning time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've never met anyone who thinks that teachers are overpaid. I do find some arguments teachers make in favor of higher pay kind of obnoxious, I suppose.

But here's the thing … in what other industry is there a public debate over salaries? Except minimum-wage rate jobs. Why does anyone get a say? Do non-nurses get to chime in about how nurses are under or over paid? What about lawyers? Hair stylists? Why do we all think we are entitled to judge teachers on every level?

Because they are supposed to be educating children, the next generation, and yet we are constantly being told that they are not performing well. [/u]

… often by politicians or business people who have no idea what they're talking about … I'm not saying every teacher is perfect, but I for one would hate to have constant coverage of my job by the media saying that I'm not doing it well when in reality none of us has any idea what goes on in individual classrooms. Heck, we all turned out OK, didn't we, and many teachers had way less preparation and training 30-40 years ago than they do now ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it helps, I think police are generally overpaid more than teachers. It does make me wonder though when teachers ask if there's any other job out there where people judge other's salary. I hear this kind of straw man argument from teachers often yet most service professions have clients choosing how much to pay on a daily basis. Teachers also talk about how their job is the only one where so many people have a say in what they do. Parents, students, principal, school board, etc. Almost any job out in the world though has people from multiple angles critiquing another's work typically on a daily basis. Perhaps more people have a say in what teachers do because almost of all us went to school and many of us have children, but other than this I see few differences. While they may get more comments than smaller professions, they also get more tips. There are far more people working to help education and health than other fields these days.

And we've also all been to the doctor, probably sat on an airplane, ridden on a train or bus, heck, I've even mowed the lawn a lot of times but I have no idea how my lawn mower is put together … (that's not entirely true, actually)

Oh … and it's not just teachers who are questioning the extent of the judgement out there … case in point ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I make over $100,000 a year as a resource teacher. I work my 10 months and then get paid for 20 days over the summer - and this is with lost steps due to the economic downturn and childcare leave.

I am not not bothered by haters. I do a fantastic job and have been offered other jobs in corporate training. But I can't find a better fit for my family b/c I'm home with my kids. (Husband has the same position. So we take turns over the summer with childcare.)

I have a 2 undergrad degrees and a Masters - plus and additional 30+ credits over that.

Damn! What county? I make half that with the same degrees and extra credits.

Mo Co - But I've been in the system a long time. And I have to work summers as part of my job.

I have a friend who's leaving Frederick Co, MD for MCPS b/c her salary would jump significantly. So will her stress level, I'll add! lol