Public School Gone Wild

Being a teacher is a tremendous blessing and a wonderful chance to touch young lives forever, especially in a poverty-stricken area. Fantastic.

But it is hard. It's very, very hard, and for the amount of work and effort I and most teachers put in, we are underpaid.

 

I agree that being a teacher is a real challenge, but not that they are under paid in most places.
Texas is rated 23rd in the US and in 2009 the average pay was 49,900. If you base that on a 9 month year which is about what they work and a 50 hour work week, that amounts to 27 dollars an hour plus their benifits which is different in each area.
You can check average pay here by state;
http://www.teachersalaryinfo.com/average-teacher-salary.html

 

Doesn't take into account continuing education requirements and costs, re-certification requirements and costs, after-hours school support (sports and extra-curricular activities), the fact that teachers don't just jump in their cars and leave when the last bell rings, etc., etc.

Don't be a bean counter. Look beyond the basic numbers.

 

I know several teachers and their hours and yes all was considered. They are payed well in most areas today.

 

49,000 is not a lot for highly-qualified college graduates, many of which have higher than an undergraduate education.

 

It's 49,900 almost 50 thousand in Texas. Then they can go some other place, but for 9 months work that is a good pay scale.

 

Beginning teacher pay out here (not including what is put into retirement and medical) is $30,443.07 per year.

Some schools are year round. This just started with the last school session.

Even in schools that have summers off, the teachers don't get them off. They spend the summer taking mandatory classes and developing their class program for the upcoming school year.

Time spent at work: It varies from school to school. They do not *have* to volunteer for extra-curricular activities, but if they don't, they risk losing their job as the amount of volunteer time they put in taken into consideration when cutbacks happen, and lots of cutbacks are happening in this wonderful economy.
They take work home with them to grade and make lesson plans for the next day. They do not have time to do this during the school day because they are teaching. They keep up records and notes on the students and if they have assigned a student detention, they also put in the time to stay with the kid after detention. (some kids love this as they see it as revenge on the teacher for them getting in trouble!)

Right now there are schools without money for textbooks. Some teachers are buying them on their own. They also buy anything extra they need or will find helpful in teaching a class. This can be written off on taxes, but only up to a certain amount. I think they said $200, but teachers often spent much, much more than that. The school doesn't even supply so much as copy paper in my daughter's school. Teachers have a wish list and students can get points for bringing in normal stuff like copy paper, whiteboard markers, etc..

That's how it works out here. I don't know about other places.

They could make just about as much money working as a cashier and not have all the stress, which is why I love the teachers where I live. They do it because they enjoy what they do. Many are getting burned out with the way kids behave and are very frustrated, but they still have teacher's hearts and that is pretty cool to see.

 

Is any else as glad as I am that billwald and freeatlast are not teachers? :laugh:

 

I'm in my building opening up and turning stuff on at 5:45 am. Teachers begin arriving at about 6 am. I often leave sometime around 4 pm. Teachers are still there. When I've worked as late as 10 pm, I've had company until after 9 pm. No, not every teacher, and not every day, but over half of the teachers work more hours than I do and I'm banking around 50-60 a week.

 

I think Bill would make an interesting teacher.

 

You should get your degree and try it for a while. See what you think.

Bill would probably be a good teacher. Boundtolast, not so much.

You're just the expert on everything, aren't you?

Whatever.

 

Don't judge another man's servant. That amount might be a good salary in SOME places in TX, but not everywhere.

 

Based on that criteria, so would my crazy uncle that lives in the attic. :laugh:

 

We had one of those sort of "interesting teachers" back in my high school days. He ended up dying by choking on his own vomit at a student party...

 

Stop...think a little harder.

We looked at a cruddy two bedroom basement apartment in Queens, NY and it was $800 a month for rent. A nice place without as many rats and less crime ridden for a two bedroom ran around $1500 a month.

Imagine how much it would cost to get a decent place to rent in a safe area for a married couple with two kids.

Where I lived before I moved here, food costs were outrageous and oil to heat your house (temps regularly were negative 0 to negative 50 for months) was $600 per month from October through May.

The cost of living in different areas differs drastically. When someone doesn't have much experience with life and has only lived in areas where basic costs are much lower, that much a year might *sound* like a lot, but add in rent or house payment, property tax, groceries, costs of living, and suddenly that amount becomes squat.

 

Wow, I don't know about the rest of the country but my wife is a teacher with 25 years experience. She made about $95,000 this year with full medical, dental and vision insurance. The school system pays into her retirement which will pay about 50% of her final salary when she retires next year plus medical insurance.

The kids in her schools are nothing like what has been described here. The kids don't even run in the halls or take cuts in line let alone all the mayhem that has been described in this thread.

Our cost of living is also nothing like what some of you have been describing.

I guess that we have been pretty lucky.

 

Lucky XXXXX- you mean blessed.:smilewinkgrin:

 

Mandy, have you considered things such as there are supposed to be benefits for taking the time and effort to get a college education and work towards mastering a skill?

Have you considered that teachers are the ones responsible for molding the minds of the next generation? Of all paid professionals, teachers have the most impact in the next generation. Almost every single child in this country spends more of their waking time with their teacher/s than with any other person. That's a lot of time and a lot of influence. A caring, loving teacher changes a student for life. A bad one scars one for life.

The lack of respect for teachers, such as what you're exhibiting, is becoming grossly apparent in schools and that lack of respect starts at home. It's wrong of you to contribute to that.