The average salary in America is $58 thousand and someodd dollars a year. In Texas, a teacher can serve in this noble profession for over 20 years and not even make the average American salary. Pitiful situation. When one wonders what's wrong with education, perhaps the salaries of the profession should be examined. Why would anyone work so hard for so many years never to even make close to the average salary in our country? Very sad!
Just Thinking
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Just Thinking How are the
Just Thinking
How are the good, capable, intelligent young people going to be attracted to and retained in a profession that is historically underpaid? That's the dilemma. Highly capable, intelligent students are refusing to even consider the field of education because of salary primarily and the fact that it is really tough in today's schools. I know many new teachers who are teaching now in economically disadvantaged areas only because their student loans will be waived if they do this for 5 years. And almost to an individual, they cannot wait to finish the 5 years and move onto other careers. If this country wants to have outstanding educators, the pay must be addressed, especially in Texas. Everyone wants to reward a teacher if they do a good job, which theoretically is a fair idea. But forget even getting to that point if we cannot attract or retain effective qualified ones due to low salary. I can say without hesitation that retention of competent, caring teachers is a huge factor in delivering a quality education. Schools that retain their staffs and experience very low turnover always perform better than others. It's the stumbling block at the door of the profession, the obstacle called salary, that turns away anyone who might otherwise be attracted to the career before they ever get to college.
I don't know if a teacher
I don't know if a teacher should automatically earn the equivalent of the national average in salary, but I do think that the really good teachers should be paid accordingly.
Not all teachers are alike. I remember some that were horrible and caused more harm to their students than good. I also had some that were exceptional and really should have earned far more than most others in my school. We need some way of grading our teachers, and then paying them based on their score. Most other jobs are paid depending on the responsibilities of the job and the accomplishments of the employed in that job. It should be the same for teachers.
We should honor and exault
We should honor and exault our teachers... and pay them a professional salary. After all, they are the ones who are shaping our country's future.