No one who turns out to be an essential worker should be paid as low as many teachers are. And since it turns out that those who work in stores and deliver our goods and drive trucks are also “essential” workers, maybe we should make sure that none of them are ever paid less than $15 an hour and have a union to protect them.
The UNREGULATED FREE MARKET ONLY WORKS for the billionaires who manipulate it. Deregulation only means that for-profit corporations make the rules instead of a government of “we the people” through representatives chosen by our vote.
The unregulated “free market god” of Mammon is a FALSE IDOL. The Golden Calf has grown up to become the Wall $treet Bull. (And there is plenty of bull.)
The “free market god” decrees that the hedge fund managers, Wall $treet bank$ters and billionaire CEO’s who collapsed our economy are worth more than doctors, teachers or emergency first responders — or the public school teachers to whom we entrust that which we claim with our lip service we value the most.
The “free market god” decrees that millions of people should live on the street while an even greater number of homes stand vacant, waiting for a higher monetary valuation.
The “free market god” is a phony idol, that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
What part of the parenting is actually done by the parents today? They are never at home, have no time and have no influence at all on their children. They’re not even on the same social media.
I am a retired teacher and I am not so sure I believe teachers are underpaid. (Quick note. I can only speak for my school district which is in New York State. I haven’t really checked but I believe New York State pay is better than other states.) By the end of my career 3 years ago I think I was paid fairly. Not underpaid. Not overpaid. And no I did not teach in one of the schools in an expensive area that has astronomically high pay that is necessary to make up for high living expenses. If you just look at pay you might decide my pay was low. But, I get good health insurance and I only pay 10% of the premiums. Also I have a rock solid pension system that both the school district and I paid into throughout my career. Here is how I look at it. As a teacher I made a sacrifice of immediate salary for long term security. I will take it.
Very important note. This was brought to me by my union. So, it is likely that in the states that have actively gone after the unions the teachers have a far worse situation.
I have several teachers in my family: daugher-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew. All work in school districts that pay better than national average.
Lack of good pay is a job dissatisfier, but not the largest. Better support from the school district and especially better support from the parents would go a long way towards making their jobs more rewarding.
Parents are too willing to “outsource” the education of their children to the school system and this is NOT a bad thing. I have a tremendous knowledge of mathematics — maybe even better than a lot of math teachers – but I don’t know how to get that knowledge into the heads of other people and there are subjects for which my knowledge is still dismal. I did have to trust the specialists to do their jobs.
However, if parents are disinterested in their child’s education why should the child take an interest in it? The very least parents can do is ask their children how their day went at school and insist that they do their homework and study.
Helping with homework or even being able to help with homework might be another story :).
There are a number of jobs you could not pay me enough money to do. Teaching is one of them – the only reason anyone teaches isn’t because of the money, it’s because they LIKE the job. When they can see the light bulb go off in a child’s mind or when a former student comes back to them to thank them, they feel more than compensated for the effort.
Some can tolerate the B.S. and lack of pay better than others and some are driven away.
Bubba doesn’t agree. He thinks them eggheads are sucking more than their share from the public teat. Look at Red education expenditures. On stuff like “Moses was a Founding Father of the USA.”
About 40% of those people who major in education, get a teaching job and start teaching wash out before the 5th year. I have taught and I have worked in an office. The major difference is that when you are working in an office you do not have to be paying 100% attention 100% of the time. And, when you leave work, you leave work. Each class requires about 20 minutes of prep time if you are revising lessons you have done before. If it’s a new lesson, an hour or two is more likely.After getting a total of 6 1/2 years of college and working for 32 years, I was making about 75% of what my nephew was two years into a sales job.All of the ideas for improving education add about 20% to the classroom hours, and no additional money seems to be available to get extra people to help with the job. Paying the people who are doing it more might make them happy, but it’s not going to increase the quality, because it would be an overwhelming amount of work. Eventually, they are going to get to the point where no one with the intelligence to do the job is going to be dumb enough to take it.
Well, that will change as soon as they go back. The right only cares about teachers when they are shielding kids from bullets or parents have to take care of them since they think of them as babysitters. Otherwise, the right only thinks of teachers as “union thugs”.
We appreciate athletes, actors, and singers millions times more than educators. The fact of the matter is that appreciation is proportional to compensation. It’s not right, but there it is.
In for the obligatory – “It is LEGO, not LEGOS”. LEGO is the name of the company, not the name of the product, you can’t pluralize the name of a company… (unless there were two companies with the same name)
If nothing else, this should ensure voting FOR school bonds in the future! And if the bonds could be directed toward teacher salaries, rather than management; which is what usually happens.
Concretionist about 4 years ago
Not the best reason to realize that. But true anyway.
sipsienwa Premium Member about 4 years ago
I have no kids and I have known that for years.
DD Wiz Premium Member about 4 years ago
No one who turns out to be an essential worker should be paid as low as many teachers are. And since it turns out that those who work in stores and deliver our goods and drive trucks are also “essential” workers, maybe we should make sure that none of them are ever paid less than $15 an hour and have a union to protect them.
The UNREGULATED FREE MARKET ONLY WORKS for the billionaires who manipulate it. Deregulation only means that for-profit corporations make the rules instead of a government of “we the people” through representatives chosen by our vote.
The unregulated “free market god” of Mammon is a FALSE IDOL. The Golden Calf has grown up to become the Wall $treet Bull. (And there is plenty of bull.)
The “free market god” decrees that the hedge fund managers, Wall $treet bank$ters and billionaire CEO’s who collapsed our economy are worth more than doctors, teachers or emergency first responders — or the public school teachers to whom we entrust that which we claim with our lip service we value the most.
The “free market god” decrees that millions of people should live on the street while an even greater number of homes stand vacant, waiting for a higher monetary valuation.
The “free market god” is a phony idol, that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
sandpiper about 4 years ago
That list is longer than one category. Much longer
Bryan Farht about 4 years ago
What part of the parenting is actually done by the parents today? They are never at home, have no time and have no influence at all on their children. They’re not even on the same social media.
tbemont Premium Member about 4 years ago
I am a retired teacher and I am not so sure I believe teachers are underpaid. (Quick note. I can only speak for my school district which is in New York State. I haven’t really checked but I believe New York State pay is better than other states.) By the end of my career 3 years ago I think I was paid fairly. Not underpaid. Not overpaid. And no I did not teach in one of the schools in an expensive area that has astronomically high pay that is necessary to make up for high living expenses. If you just look at pay you might decide my pay was low. But, I get good health insurance and I only pay 10% of the premiums. Also I have a rock solid pension system that both the school district and I paid into throughout my career. Here is how I look at it. As a teacher I made a sacrifice of immediate salary for long term security. I will take it.
Very important note. This was brought to me by my union. So, it is likely that in the states that have actively gone after the unions the teachers have a far worse situation.
Odon Premium Member about 4 years ago
And the teachers educate your kids to boot!
dflak about 4 years ago
I have several teachers in my family: daugher-in-law, sister-in-law, nephew. All work in school districts that pay better than national average.
Lack of good pay is a job dissatisfier, but not the largest. Better support from the school district and especially better support from the parents would go a long way towards making their jobs more rewarding.
Parents are too willing to “outsource” the education of their children to the school system and this is NOT a bad thing. I have a tremendous knowledge of mathematics — maybe even better than a lot of math teachers – but I don’t know how to get that knowledge into the heads of other people and there are subjects for which my knowledge is still dismal. I did have to trust the specialists to do their jobs.
However, if parents are disinterested in their child’s education why should the child take an interest in it? The very least parents can do is ask their children how their day went at school and insist that they do their homework and study.
Helping with homework or even being able to help with homework might be another story :).
There are a number of jobs you could not pay me enough money to do. Teaching is one of them – the only reason anyone teaches isn’t because of the money, it’s because they LIKE the job. When they can see the light bulb go off in a child’s mind or when a former student comes back to them to thank them, they feel more than compensated for the effort.
Some can tolerate the B.S. and lack of pay better than others and some are driven away.
gopher gofer about 4 years ago
in times like this it should finally become apparent that mothers are way underpaid…
Michael G. about 4 years ago
Bubba doesn’t agree. He thinks them eggheads are sucking more than their share from the public teat. Look at Red education expenditures. On stuff like “Moses was a Founding Father of the USA.”
Diane Lee Premium Member about 4 years ago
Madzdad the bard about 4 years ago
Well, that will change as soon as they go back. The right only cares about teachers when they are shielding kids from bullets or parents have to take care of them since they think of them as babysitters. Otherwise, the right only thinks of teachers as “union thugs”.
Bookworm about 4 years ago
We appreciate athletes, actors, and singers millions times more than educators. The fact of the matter is that appreciation is proportional to compensation. It’s not right, but there it is.
Aliquid about 4 years ago
In for the obligatory – “It is LEGO, not LEGOS”. LEGO is the name of the company, not the name of the product, you can’t pluralize the name of a company… (unless there were two companies with the same name)
pamela welch Premium Member about 4 years ago
If nothing else, this should ensure voting FOR school bonds in the future! And if the bonds could be directed toward teacher salaries, rather than management; which is what usually happens.