Are Teachers Overpaid?
When I turned on MSN today and saw this headline I braced myself to be pissed. I hate these ignorant fucks who complain about teachers being underpaid because they don't want to pay taxes. Really that's what it comes down too. Nobody complains about teachers being overpaid unless they don't want to pay taxes or are pissed off because they get summers off. But I'm getting off point. I thought this would piss me off. But the guy actually agrees that teachers probably are underpaid. He shows this chart.
Profession
Average annual salary
teacher
$44,367
state patrol officer
$47,090
assistant professor
$47,476
accountant
$54,503
architect
$56,620
computer systems analyst
$74,534
engineer
$76,298
full professor
$89,631
attorney
$90,290
family practice physician
$150,267
Hmm.. Teachers the least. Of course yes I realize that you could find other jobs that are paid lower than teachers. But notice that teachers have as much education as these other professions. Plus in order to be near this average a teacher would need a masters degree which hasn't really been accounted for. Then don't forget the continuing education that although happens everywhere teachers have to pay for. A nurse or engineer with a BA starting thier first job can make much more than a teacher with a masters degree and five years of experience. That seems like a strange discrepency along with the ones mentioned above. So yes. Teachers are underpaid. But yes their salaries are paid by tax dollars. But so are police officers, superintedndents, tax auditors, and many other proffessions that pay much more than teaching.
--Chuck
Profession
Average annual salary
teacher
$44,367
state patrol officer
$47,090
assistant professor
$47,476
accountant
$54,503
architect
$56,620
computer systems analyst
$74,534
engineer
$76,298
full professor
$89,631
attorney
$90,290
family practice physician
$150,267
Hmm.. Teachers the least. Of course yes I realize that you could find other jobs that are paid lower than teachers. But notice that teachers have as much education as these other professions. Plus in order to be near this average a teacher would need a masters degree which hasn't really been accounted for. Then don't forget the continuing education that although happens everywhere teachers have to pay for. A nurse or engineer with a BA starting thier first job can make much more than a teacher with a masters degree and five years of experience. That seems like a strange discrepency along with the ones mentioned above. So yes. Teachers are underpaid. But yes their salaries are paid by tax dollars. But so are police officers, superintedndents, tax auditors, and many other proffessions that pay much more than teaching.
--Chuck
posted by Chuck at 6:52 AM
2 Comments:
Claire: $26,000 so bite me. don't give me the college degree lecture either. The majority of my co-workers have degrees and make the same, give or take $1000, because they live in Oregon.
I'm really surprised to see you write this. I'm a teacher, too, and never have I written about how we're underpaid. You refer to the summers off thing, but you neglect to point out that teachers are paid ONLY for the days they actually WORK. The professions you pointed out work the entire year. When you extend out our typical 180 working days to the typical 260 working days of the other professions, you'd see that our salaries would be STARTING in the neighborhood of $65,000. I have been teaching in CT for nearly 30 years; therefore, I'm at the top of the scale at nearly $70,000. No complants there. If my numbers were extended out to full year they surpass the $90,000 mark, which puts me in line with the typical attorney who had to spend a hell of a lot more time and money in school than you or I did.
It really pisses ME off to hear teachers bitch about being underpaid and try to justify it. Summers off have been a bonus forever. We made our choices based on a variety of reasons, none the least, I'm sure, being the luxury of 15 to 16 weeks off a year, where we can relax, travel, or add to our earnings. We put up with a lot of shit in the classroom and with curriculum changes, etc, but at least we don't have to carry malpractice insurance when WE make a mistake in teaching the kids.
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