As I was wandering this morning, I came across this chart.You may have to magnify the image to see detail but I can tell you one of the things you would see...that after 15 years of working as a teacher, your salary would rank 23rd out of 29 nations.
I've been saying this for years; teachers are underpaid! You get exactly what you pay for! It's so basic...why is it so hard to understand?
I am all for paying teachers a good salary as that's our future, but does the chart take into account the number of weeks the teacher works for that salary in these other countries? Some have year round schools where we have summers off. Some teachers I know get good salaries and that depends a bit on whether they live in cities where the cost of living requires more. Some retired (Oregon)with pensions equal almost to their working salaries which has been changed but is part of why we have such a high cost of education but it doesn't go to the current teaching staffs.
ReplyDeleteFrom all that I've read, most teachers don't get 'summer' off. The reports I've seen say that teachers have at most4 weeks off after the counting the after and before training that they must do, plus getting their classroom back in order...which often means that they are buying the supplies themselves.
ReplyDeleteAs far as pensions go, they are the result of bargaining and contractual obligations that were decided upon by both parties before they signed the contract. If people have a problem with those contracts they need to talk to all the parties involved. Funny, everyone wants to blame the teachers but they are only half the problem. The administrators signed off on those contracts as well.
I'm not a teacher and I'm not married to one. But I do know that throughout the history of this country we have treated teachers poorly. Go to school and get a degree in Project Management and you get six figure income...get a teaching credential and you'll never see six figures.