Please excuse me if I rant and rave.
Please excuse me for being a teacher.
Please excuse me for "being overpaid" and "hardly working"
Please excuse me for being the reason this country is in so much debt
Please excuse me for being money-hungry, selfish, lazy, and nothing more than a babysitter
NOT.
If you cannot tell, I am quickly growing tired of the blame-the-teacher attitude that seems to have taken over our country in recent years.
A quick FYI for you teacher-haters:
1. Me, overpaid? Hardly. You think once I'm a veteran teacher with a Masters degree I will be earning the same as someone with the same degree/experience in the private sector? Hardly.
2. GOOD teachers are some of the hardest workers I know. Most of us don't work 7:00-3:00 days. No, no, no...that is just SCHOOL hours. We're with students before school, after school, doing prep work at home for hours during weeknights and hours during the weekend. Of course there are a few teachers who work the system and take off early and don't do any outside work. But would YOU want to be judged by the few bad eggs in YOUR line of work? Didn't think so.
3. You think I'm a babysitter? Fine, pay me like one. I'm going to be real here: working as a 1st year part-time teacher I bring home $400 a paycheck. If I was paid only $3 per hour to "babysit" each of my students I would be making OVER $850 every paycheck!!!! Yes, Please!
And while we're at it: I dislike the fact that teachers have to be fearful of losing their jobs based on how well students perform on tests and in school. Should teachers be held somewhat accountable? YES. It is our job to teach. But should others be held responsible as well? Indeed.
For starters, if we are going to have an accountability system it needs to start in ELEMENTARY schools. Too many high school kids come in with 5th/6th grade reading/writing levels making teachers play catch-up for far too long.
And what about parents? What has happened to their responsibility in all of this? If every parent made sure their kids were fed and clothed properly, checked on their kid's homework, and offered support to schools - SO much more could get done.
Also, lets be honest. There are just some kids out there who no matter how hard teachers and parents work just.don't.care. about these tests; and will put no effort in to study and prepare.
I will not deny some things need to change in Education.
There should be a (reformed) accountability system. And I do believe the tenure system has created some teachers who get lazy. I am more than OK with this system being reformed so that incompetent tenured teachers can be more easily fired.
But to blame teachers for state/national debt? To call us lazy and overpaid? WE educate your kids! WE teach them life lessons! WE inspire them to learn!
By the way: the only 5 states in the U.S. who do NOT have collective bargaining (S. Carolina, N. Carolina, Virginia Georgia, and Texas) were ranked nation-wide as follows in 2010 ACT/SAT scores: 49th, 38th, 34th, 48th, and 45th.
Wisconsin: 3rd.
3 comments:
Oh snaps! Don't get me fired up about teacher's being underpaid :)
HUGE Myth
Teachers are definitely not underpaid. Yes, their take-home salaries are menial especially in the early years, but if you are going to compare pay structure to the private sector you really have to account for the teachers pension. Once you factor in the pension & healthcare retirement benefits, a teacher's salary is nearly identical if not more than a private sector job.
To be fair, pensions are one of the worst financial devices we've ever dreamed up - the #'s just don't make them sustainable. It is also much more than a "teacher" issue - most government jobs are backloaded with ridiculous pension guarantees.
How much is a teacher's pension worth? Well.... assuming you'll live for about 30 years in retirement and will take home 85% of your base pay for that time period, your pension is worth a staggering conservative calculation of $1,500,000
That $1,500,000 just doesn't come from thin air for private sector employees. To acheive that same retirement benefit a private sector employee has to fund their own portfolio by setting aside money from their paychecks. Getting an average rate of return, it would take someone 30 years of saving $30,000 per year to build a $1,500,000 portfolio.
Once you consider that teacher's are receiving a retirement benefit of $30,000 per year, that $40,000 salary + $30,000 in pension retirement savings is equivalent to a $70,000 per year private sector job.
Another big factor with a pension is that it is GUARANTEED. They'll get their 85% payout no matter what the market does.
They have no risk in their retirement. A risk-free, guranteed portfolio is invaluable. Once you start getting into investment theory you know risk is priced into every asset and we could probably put a number on that guranteed. It is probably better to think about it in more practical terms though....
You are a private sector employee who spent the last 30 years, dilegently setting aside $30,000 of your paycheck each year. You finally get to that magically $1,500,000 portfolio where you can retire.... and then the market tanks 25% that year because of a housing bubble. Now you barely have more than $1,000,000 and your retirement dreams are shattered - you can either put in 5 more years working to build up your portfolio again, or cut back your spending in retirement by a solid $1,000 every month. Not so fun to have risk in your retirement :(
And what about healthcare? God knows how much money a private sector employee needs to set aside for healthcare in retirement. Government employees with their free Retirement Insurance Programs are probably taking home another $10,000-$20,000 per year in healthcare benefits the way costs are skyrocketing.
Once you add up the #'s teachers get paid very equivalent. It is all just backloaded to their retirement benefits.
I'll concede hours are probably equivalent - we all work long hours. That summer vacation time period is nice... would love to have a private sector job where things died down for a few months
Dear "The Truth":
I always tell my kids to make sure they read something thoroughly before moving on.
In this case, you should note that I never ONCE said teachers were "overpaid". I simply stated that the notion that we are "UNDERpaid" is a tad ridiculous.
I do not believe teachers should be making $100,000+ nor do I think they should be making $24,000.
Are pensions a great addition to our pay? Indeed. Am I selfishly banking on a $1.5 million retirement? HELL NO! That estimate is clearly from a wealthy suburban school who's outrageous pension plan (a product of great economic times) has been or is currently being changed.
And health care? Yes again, we are lucky. But just like the pension plan (and salary for that matter) a great deal depends on WHAT school district you work for.
Wow... The Truth is a dick :) Maybe I can help clarify. Give me an inch to rant on unions, government pay, pensions, or guranteed benefits and I'll hit the opening like Wayne Fane hitting the hole on a HB sweep.
You did say in your blog that as a veteran teacher you would be underpaid compared to someone in the private sector. That was the whole myth I was trying to dispell. It is definitely not true - you'll be compensated equivalently.
Salary will be lower, but pension + healthcare benefits are ridiculously valuable to the tune of millions of dollars.
Government paid employees have a Risk-Free lifetime set of retirement & healthcare benefits that a private sector employee has to spend 30+ years setting aside a solid 50% of their annual pay just to save up that much money to support themselves once they retire. And then once they do, the private sector employee incurs all risk related to their savings, retirement, and healthcare benefits, whereas that risk of the government employee is non-existant to the individual because the risk is absorbed by the taxpayer.
In fact this is a timely discussion, as the USA Today just released a study/article today in which they found State employees make more than their private sector counterparts in 41 of our 50 states. This is primarly due to the value of their benefits:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-03-01-1Apublicworkers01_ST_N.htm
And just so you know. The $1.5M pension value is calculated off of a teacher who ends their career making $85K. That is not even close to top-of-the-line for suburban schools.
A teacher who finishes their career with a $70K salary has a pension valued at $1.3M. A teacher who finishes their career at $50K salary has a pension valued at $1.1M.
You will definitely end your career making between $50-$70K at the low end. You will definitely have a risk-free retirement pension valued between $1.1M - $1.5M
All your private sector friends will have to personally set aside money from every single paycheck they receive throughout their lifetime until they have $1.5M saved up to acheive the same retirement you will. Depending on how much you want ($1M - $1.5M) you'll need to set aside between $25K-$35K every year you work in the private sector to build those amounts. This is the single biggest expense to them. Once they have spent a lifetime saving up to that $1.5M, they are on the hook for 100% of the risk of keeping that money in tact during market fluctuations, whereas the gov't employee has that guranteed. And we haven't even started discussion healthcare costs...
In summary, basically I am trying to say. Is as a public employee you can't complain about being underpaid by only looking at your salary. In the public sector AT LEAST half of your pay is coming in the form of guranteed benefits that no one in the private sector gets. That new teacher making $25K per year is also reeiving an additional $25K-$35K per year being set aside for them in the public pension funds. On the other hand, the new coroporate private sector employee starting at $50K per year has to set aside $25K-$35K of their salary just to get to the same level of benefits you have.
This is why the USA Today finds that state employees actually are making more than the private sector. It is just not possible for a private sector employee to keep up with public employees once you factor in benefits.
(PS... and since the private sector employee has a higher salary, they end up paying a ton more in taxes every year compared to a public employee who has their benefits set aside before it hits their pay)
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