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The True Economic Worth of Teachers

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Well-Known Member
According to a New York Times article, kindergarten teachers are not paid nearly what they are worth. How much is the average kindergarten teacher worth, in terms of her or his economic contribution to society? About $320,000 per year. That's a third of a million dollars that they generate. Yet many of them are barely paid a tenth of that. What does that say about our nation's values?

Whenever the discussion about improving teachers comes up, a loud chorus tends to echo, particularly from the Right: Fire the "bad" teachers. That sounds like a good idea to improve the system, but there's a catch. Remember the Law of Diminished Returns from your economics class? It applies here, specifically to the quality of teachers in the system. Here is how the generating mechanism works in this specific application: Let's say you have a teacher with a solid college education and reasonable math skills. Let's also say that he has the following two career options:

Option A--Teach high school math. Benefits may include:
-About $45,000 per year, increasing about the same rate as inflation.
-Kids who know how to game the system and can, at worst, be sent home for a few days.
-An administration who is too "busy" to worry about their job duties, such as supporting you.
-Parents who believe their child is a saint and can do no wrong, and any allegation to the contrary is automatically your fault.
-The ever-present risk of false accusations of inappropriate contact with a child (these are documented and occur every year).
-A society that assumes that all of these problems are your responsibility to fix on your own without any kind of support.
-Both the requirement and the protection to stay in your position at least until the school year ends.

Option B--Middle-management in a big corporation. Benefits may include:
-About $70,000 per year, with the likelihood of promotions for good performance.
-Adults who know they must behave professionally at all times or risk losing their jobs.
-Upper management who has incentives to support your contribution to the company's bottom line in every way possible.
-There are no sacred cows. All employees must account for their actions.
-Nearly complete immunity from civil liability for your work-related actions
-A society that assumes that you are a part of its economic mainstay and therefore reveres you. Outside fringe groups feel otherwise, but they can't even put a scratch in your reputation as long as you are turning a solid profit.
-Both the freedom and the vulnerability that you and your job may separate on any given day.

These are thoughts that go through many teachers' minds every single day. As a result, many of them say to themselves, "You know what? Screw it. I deserve better than this. I'm going with Option B." And you know what? I do not blame them one bit. If we can't start showing teachers the slightest bit of respect that they are entitled to, then why the hell should we expect them to keep putting up with our crap? The flip side of this coin is pretty obvious: If you increase the monetary and emotional benefits of teaching careers, then more people want to teach, the applicant pool grows, and schools have the ability to higher more effective teachers. And then students learn more, and they grow to make more logical decisions, such as paying teachers what they are really worth!

Please forgive the rant. It's just that I am so sick of hearing people b**ch and moan about how the school is filled with "bad" teachers, and if we could just fire them all, we'd solve all our educational problems. People who talk like that, quite frankly, might as well wear a T-shirt that says, in big bright letters, "I HAVE NO ****ING CLUE HOW SCHOOLS WORK." It is that offensive to teachers. And you're not going to win them over until you start to work with them, not against them.

* gets off soapbox
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
If teachers were paid more, it would attract more talent.
 

Guitar's Cry

Disciple of Pan
Amen! :clap

Option A--Teach high school math. Benefits may include:
-About $45,000 per year, increasing about the same rate as inflation.
-Kids who know how to game the system and can, at worst, be sent home for a few days.
-An administration who is too "busy" to worry about their job duties, such as supporting you.
-Parents who believe their child is a saint and can do no wrong, and any allegation to the contrary is automatically your fault.
-The ever-present risk of false accusations of inappropriate contact with a child (these are documented and occur every year).
-A society that assumes that all of these problems are your responsibility to fix on your own without any kind of support.
-Both the requirement and the protection to stay in your position at least until the school year ends.

Not to mention the responsibility of medical and psychology issues that arise from the student body, and the amount of actual time put in (teachers often work over 12 hour days not counting the work on weekends and at home). They are also required to be educated with continued training.
 
A

angellous_evangellous

Guest
A lot [if not the majority] of teachers take on odd jobs or run a home business to supplement their income. That's really sad given that they are highly qualified (BA + certifications + specialty training) and they have a "performance based" job security that relies on kids' test scores (which may or may not reflect the quality of their work). That is, a teacher may do everything right and lose her certification because her kids refused to do their homework and more than half the class fails.
 

Engyo

Prince of Dorkness!
Teachers don't even get to chose who they teach.
There is a certain amount of indirect choice, basically by choosing the level and subject(s) one trains for, and what jobs one chooses to accept (this of course being limited by the job offers one receives).
 

Reverend Rick

Frubal Whore
Premium Member
The answer is in the middle. Higher pay for good teachers, fire the bad ones. In three words, "performance based pay".
 

Mercy Not Sacrifice

Well-Known Member
The answer is in the middle. Higher pay for good teachers, fire the bad ones. In three words, "performance based pay".

I may agree in principle, but there are some critical issues to sort out first:

What standards should be used to judge teacher performance?
How can we know that those standards are the best ones that we can reasonably use?
Who interprets the standards?
Who enforces the standards?
 
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