For those who argue that other professions are underpaid as well and teachers don't have it any worse, I will halfway agree. Many other careers don't pay enough.
However, how many of you have politicians creating evaluation systems who don't even have training or experience in your field? How many of you continually see your profession in the news for negative reasons? Everyone and their brother thinks they can do my job. You don't see dentists getting fired because their patients get cavities. You don't see the dentists' names being published with data of how many of their patients got cavities.
I'm in architecture and all we hear is how people without any design degree can do our job. Everyone always knows best: the government, clients, developers, professional and non professional associations.
It's true that many buildings require an architect to be built but that doesn't mean we don't get dragged through the mud when people hate our building because of the way it looks, or get called out in the media when a building collapses. We lose our stamp and certifications. Codes are only the minimum standard and they are mostly written By governments comprised of non architects/builders/the public.
Yes there are "starchitects" who make a bajillion dollars but most are riddled with 50k in debt making 30 -40k a year for the first 15 years with shitty hours that begin in school and end when we retire. Thanks to the influx of design shows everyone thinks they can do my job and when they do pay me aren't willing to pay me enough to make a decent living. I went to school for 10 years, my husband is workin in customer service making 10k more than I am.
Sorry kind of turned into a rant- I agree teachers are underpaid but right now everyone is. No one is willing to pay what everything really costs in any field.
I in no way said it was a poor choice to become a teacher. I wasn't signaling teachers out - my UO just came to mind during that thread and it wasn't at one single profession. Like I said, no one thinks they're paid too much. Every teacher I had said they didn't do it for the money, so I don't think anyone goes into it thinking they're going to be rich.
Lots of people make poor choices when they're young and in college. I know people who went to expensive schools, took out too many loans instead to live off of instead of working, credit card debt, got degrees that they ended up not using, etc. It was not directed at teachers.
All right, that's the last post from me on this. Don't assume someone is trying to insult you on a message board just because you don't agree with what you read.
As a paralegal, I think I'm paid too much. I make more than a significant amount of attorneys that I know, which is why I never pursued my law degree.
You know why no one is willing to pay the taxes to pay educators a salary that truly compensates their work? It's because we live in a culture of teacher bashing and blaming us for the failures of students.
I have never heard anyone bash teachers and think that's a little extreme. p;
You need to go to a school board meeting...
Agreed... And why the school board is comprised of a veterinarian, a guy who owns a hamburger joint, a realtor, a chiropractor, and various other careers is still confusing to me. I mean, obviously when you are training to become a realtor they do a bunch of training in education laws, classroom management, special education, and truancy... Right? Oh wait, they live in the city limits and went to school 20 years ago so that makes them am expert. Obviously.
As others have mentioned, I think a lot of people are underpaid. My reality is my perspective. What I know is that I have taught for 4 years and make less than I did when I was hired. $32,000 a year doesn't go far, but many people have it worse than I do I realize. Saying you're unhappy with an aspect of your job, to me, doesn't mean you are saying other jobs are easier/better/harder/etc. I guess I don't understand why people get upset and have this "you're not the only one"-fest one upping because some teachers and nurses have expressed some frustrations.
You know why no one is willing to pay the taxes to pay educators a salary that truly compensates their work? It's because we live in a culture of teacher bashing and blaming us for the failures of students.
I have never heard anyone bash teachers and think that's a little extreme. p;
You need to go to a school board meeting...
Agreed... And why the school board is comprised of a veterinarian, a guy who owns a hamburger joint, a realtor, a chiropractor, and various other careers is still confusing to me. I mean, obviously when you are training to become a realtor they do a bunch of training in education laws, classroom management, special education, and truancy... Right? Oh wait, they live in the city limits and went to school 20 years ago so that makes them am expert. Obviously.
As others have mentioned, I think a lot of people are underpaid. My reality is my perspective. What I know is that I have taught for 4 years and make less than I did when I was hired. $32,000 a year doesn't go far, but many people have it worse than I do I realize. Saying you're unhappy with an aspect of your job, to me, doesn't mean you are saying other jobs are easier/better/harder/etc. I guess I don't understand why people get upset and have this "you're not the only one"-fest one upping because some teachers and nurses have expressed some frustrations.
This exactly! Like I have said before, school boards make no sense to me!
I actually make pretty decent money for a teacher (55,000), but when you add up all the hours I put it, it's not much hourly.
I have never known a teacher who does it for the money. Most teachers do it despite the money because we know how important our job is.
This is why I don't understand performance based pay for teachers. If a teacher is going to become a better teacher because you are paying them more, they weren't a very good teacher to begin with. << that's my UO I guess.
@bandteacher band was miserable for me. I can tell you love your job, and our good at it. Your students are very lucky to have you.
I have to agree about the school board meetings. Or reading the comments on any article posted about teaching. Someone always shows up to bash teachers--and then about 50 other people chime in about how they know that one teacher who doesn't work hard and has summers off and is overpaid blah blah blah.
My UO of the day is that I hate Big Brother. Which I hadn't thought was unpopular until the past two weeks when everyone started getting excited.
I actually have been to school board meetings and have known some wonderful members of the board.
Before I found my last job, I completed an alternative certification class so that I could teach elementary school. There were people of many backgrounds in my class, and most went on to teach after spending very little time training, so I'm not sure why people of other professions shouldn't have any say in education. The majority are honestly trying to better the system.
No other job has so much influence over our kids. Of course parents with other backgrounds are going to want to be involved. And if you had seen some of the crazy people in my class who went on to get teaching jobs, you'd want to be involved, too.
For those who argue that other professions are underpaid as well and teachers don't have it any worse, I will halfway agree. Many other careers don't pay enough.
However, how many of you have politicians creating evaluation systems who don't even have training or experience in your field? How many of you continually see your profession in the news for negative reasons? Everyone and their brother thinks they can do my job. You don't see dentists getting fired because their patients get cavities. You don't see the dentists' names being published with data of how many of their patients got cavities.
As a social worker I feel I am grossly underpaid for what I do. We also have politicians dictating our work, the media very often portrays social workers as monsters, a few years ago our roles were opened up to non social workers bc ppl thought anyone could do our job and it backfired, colleagues names have been in the papers and a couple have actually had to face criminal charges, many of my colleagues have been assaulted by clients, we never get end of year appreciations cards/gifts, and I envy the time off teachers do get, and where I live if a high school teacher wants to earn more during part of that time they could teach summer or night school. A lot of teachers I know also offer tutoring and get paid cash for that - at a rate of $50 per hour.
Like a few ppl have said, I don't disagree in that I wish teachers were paid more and treated better, but I wish the same for nurses and most other professions. I do also find it trying to hear about from teachers because that is where I do hear it from the most.
This whole discussion reminds me so much of what happened this past week where a fellow bumpee was called out for her woe is me posts. She was called out bc ppl said we all went through the same/similar thing and most were able to get over it and move on. So ya, I wish I was paid and respected more for my work, but I don't dwell on it and I'm not going to bitch about it like I'm the only one.
Can we all just agree that jobs suck, we should all be paid more and that in one way or another we ALL have it bad when it comes to work?! I think the reason this is dragging on is the 'I have it worse than you' type of thing which instantly makes people say 'no you don't I have it worse!' Aaaand it gets everyone no where except pissed off! Truce!
nlane0723 really really really good decision!!! don't ever ever ever go to law school. (can you tell I mean it? lol!) around here new attorneys are averaging about 40k/yr salary but have about 180 k in student loan debt. this means that 100% of their paycheck goes to pay loans, which is BS! (many of the loans are private loans so no IBR-type repayments for them). The thing that really sucks is that even if you do your research before making the investment, good info just isn't out there about the reality of the debt vs salary. schools hide the truth behind their statistics because they want people to enroll and get the tuition $. the bar association doesn't have great figures either, so most new attorneys are very unpleasantly surprised when they graduate. I have a friend who graduated top of the class and was on law review who now sells mary kay.
it so sucks. so bad. so very bad. so much suckage.
For those who argue that other professions are underpaid as well and teachers don't have it any worse, I will halfway agree. Many other careers don't pay enough.
However, how many of you have politicians creating evaluation systems who don't even have training or experience in your field? How many of you continually see your profession in the news for negative reasons? Everyone and their brother thinks they can do my job. You don't see dentists getting fired because their patients get cavities. You don't see the dentists' names being published with data of how many of their patients got cavities.
As a social worker I feel I am grossly underpaid for what I do. We also have politicians dictating our work, the media very often portrays social workers as monsters, a few years ago our roles were opened up to non social workers bc ppl thought anyone could do our job and it backfired, colleagues names have been in the papers and a couple have actually had to face criminal charges, many of my colleagues have been assaulted by clients, we never get end of year appreciations cards/gifts, and I envy the time off teachers do get, and where I live if a high school teacher wants to earn more during part of that time they could teach summer or night school. A lot of teachers I know also offer tutoring and get paid cash for that - at a rate of $50 per hour.
Yes. Throughout college I was told that you don't become a social worker for the pay. And it is so true. But my last job i was pretty much doing an MSW/LPC job and would have loved pay that comes with those titles.
And is partly why i am going to try and go back to school and get my masters is psychology so I can get my LPC. I loved counseling.
Re: UO
It's true that many buildings require an architect to be built but that doesn't mean we don't get dragged through the mud when people hate our building because of the way it looks, or get called out in the media when a building collapses. We lose our stamp and certifications. Codes are only the minimum standard and they are mostly written By governments comprised of non architects/builders/the public.
Yes there are "starchitects" who make a bajillion dollars but most are riddled with 50k in debt making 30 -40k a year for the first 15 years with shitty hours that begin in school and end when we retire. Thanks to the influx of design shows everyone thinks they can do my job and when they do pay me aren't willing to pay me enough to make a decent living. I went to school for 10 years, my husband is workin in customer service making 10k more than I am.
Sorry kind of turned into a rant- I agree teachers are underpaid but right now everyone is. No one is willing to pay what everything really costs in any field.
Me: 28 DH: 27
You need to go to a school board meeting...
Agreed... And why the school board is comprised of a veterinarian, a guy who owns a hamburger joint, a realtor, a chiropractor, and various other careers is still confusing to me. I mean, obviously when you are training to become a realtor they do a bunch of training in education laws, classroom management, special education, and truancy... Right? Oh wait, they live in the city limits and went to school 20 years ago so that makes them am expert. Obviously.
As others have mentioned, I think a lot of people are underpaid. My reality is my perspective. What I know is that I have taught for 4 years and make less than I did when I was hired. $32,000 a year doesn't go far, but many people have it worse than I do I realize. Saying you're unhappy with an aspect of your job, to me, doesn't mean you are saying other jobs are easier/better/harder/etc. I guess I don't understand why people get upset and have this "you're not the only one"-fest one upping because some teachers and nurses have expressed some frustrations.
You need to go to a school board meeting...
Agreed... And why the school board is comprised of a veterinarian, a guy who owns a hamburger joint, a realtor, a chiropractor, and various other careers is still confusing to me. I mean, obviously when you are training to become a realtor they do a bunch of training in education laws, classroom management, special education, and truancy... Right? Oh wait, they live in the city limits and went to school 20 years ago so that makes them am expert. Obviously.
As others have mentioned, I think a lot of people are underpaid. My reality is my perspective. What I know is that I have taught for 4 years and make less than I did when I was hired. $32,000 a year doesn't go far, but many people have it worse than I do I realize. Saying you're unhappy with an aspect of your job, to me, doesn't mean you are saying other jobs are easier/better/harder/etc. I guess I don't understand why people get upset and have this "you're not the only one"-fest one upping because some teachers and nurses have expressed some frustrations.
This exactly! Like I have said before, school boards make no sense to me!
I actually make pretty decent money for a teacher (55,000), but when you add up all the hours I put it, it's not much hourly.
I have never known a teacher who does it for the money. Most teachers do it despite the money because we know how important our job is.
This is why I don't understand performance based pay for teachers. If a teacher is going to become a better teacher because you are paying them more, they weren't a very good teacher to begin with. << that's my UO I guess.
@bandteacher band was miserable for me. I can tell you love your job, and our good at it. Your students are very lucky to have you.
My UO of the day is that I hate Big Brother. Which I hadn't thought was unpopular until the past two weeks when everyone started getting excited.
Before I found my last job, I completed an alternative certification class so that I could teach elementary school. There were people of many backgrounds in my class, and most went on to teach after spending very little time training, so I'm not sure why people of other professions shouldn't have any say in education. The majority are honestly trying to better the system.
No other job has so much influence over our kids. Of course parents with other backgrounds are going to want to be involved. And if you had seen some of the crazy people in my class who went on to get teaching jobs, you'd want to be involved, too.
Like a few ppl have said, I don't disagree in that I wish teachers were paid more and treated better, but I wish the same for nurses and most other professions. I do also find it trying to hear about from teachers because that is where I do hear it from the most.
This whole discussion reminds me so much of what happened this past week where a fellow bumpee was called out for her woe is me posts. She was called out bc ppl said we all went through the same/similar thing and most were able to get over it and move on. So ya, I wish I was paid and respected more for my work, but I don't dwell on it and I'm not going to bitch about it like I'm the only one.
nlane0723 really really really good decision!!! don't ever ever ever go to law school. (can you tell I mean it? lol!) around here new attorneys are averaging about 40k/yr salary but have about 180 k in student loan debt. this means that 100% of their paycheck goes to pay loans, which is BS! (many of the loans are private loans so no IBR-type repayments for them). The thing that really sucks is that even if you do your research before making the investment, good info just isn't out there about the reality of the debt vs salary. schools hide the truth behind their statistics because they want people to enroll and get the tuition $. the bar association doesn't have great figures either, so most new attorneys are very unpleasantly surprised when they graduate. I have a friend who graduated top of the class and was on law review who now sells mary kay.
it so sucks. so bad. so very bad. so much suckage.
Yes. Throughout college I was told that you don't become a social worker for the pay. And it is so true.
But my last job i was pretty much doing an MSW/LPC job and would have loved pay that comes with those titles.
And is partly why i am going to try and go back to school and get my masters is psychology so I can get my LPC. I loved counseling.