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The pay discrepancy between teachers and programmers in San Francisco is really bad. - School districts in SF and Oakland are short dozens of teachers -- imagi

by cbhl 10y ago

The pay discrepancy between teachers and programmers in San Francisco is really bad. - School districts in SF and Oakland are short dozens of teachers -- imagine having sixty classrooms on the first day of school where there is no teacher. (e.g. http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Bay-Area-school-districts-scramble-amid-teacher-6446569.php http://www.sfgate.com/education/article/Bay-Area-school-dist... from last year) - San Francisco is basically building "dorms" for teachers to give them a place to live: http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mayor-and-SFUSD-have-a-plan-to-help-teachers-keep-6583001.php http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Mayor-and-SFUSD-have-a... - Many teachers are leaving the area to go work in more affordable parts of the country: http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/teacher-pay/ http://projects.sfchronicle.com/2016/teacher-pay/

wtbob 10y ago
> The pay discrepancy between teachers and programmers in San Francisco is really bad. I'd say, 'reflects the distribution of skills and positions available' rather than 'is really bad.' There is at least an order of magnitude more people capable of being minimally-acceptable public-school teachers than are capable of being minimally-acceptable Silicon Valley programmers.
- selllikesybok 10y ago
  That's a fascinating assumption.
- zorked 10y ago
  Why is it a given that teachers "must" have low salaries? The sixty classrooms without teachers show otherwise. SF teachers clearly need raises, and those can be funded by taxes from all those programmers that presumably benefit from having schools in their communities. In fact there is no reason why teacher wages shouldn't keep up with the general state of the community where they live in.
  - wtbob 10y ago
    > Why is it a given that teachers "must" have low salaries? I explained why: at least an order of magnitude more people are capable of meeting the minimal requirements to be teachers than are capable of meeting the minimal requirements to be developers, thus the former will always be less-well-paid than the latter. > The sixty classrooms without teachers show otherwise. They may not be due to pay but due to union rules. And, of course, even if teachers should make more that doesn't mean that they should make much > In fact there is no reason why teacher wages shouldn't keep up with the general state of the community where they live in. Are you saying that teachers should make a mean or median wage? I think that's a little silly, as it's hardly a profession requiring high innate talent and intensive study, unlike engineering, medicine, law, religion. Frankly, I think a welder or a plumber should be paid more than a teacher. But it shouldn't matter what you & I think teachers should be paid: their wages should be set by the market, as should everyone's. That's the closest thing to fair we'll ever be able to get.

by cbhl 10y ago

wtbob 10y ago

> The pay discrepancy between teachers and programmers in San Francisco is really bad. I'd say, 'reflects the distribution of skills and positions available' rather than 'is really bad.' There is at least an order of magnitude more people capable of being minimally-acceptable public-school teachers than are capable of being minimally-acceptable Silicon Valley programmers.

selllikesybok 10y ago
That's a fascinating assumption.
zorked 10y ago
Why is it a given that teachers "must" have low salaries? The sixty classrooms without teachers show otherwise. SF teachers clearly need raises, and those can be funded by taxes from all those programmers that presumably benefit from having schools in their communities. In fact there is no reason why teacher wages shouldn't keep up with the general state of the community where they live in.
- wtbob 10y ago
  > Why is it a given that teachers "must" have low salaries? I explained why: at least an order of magnitude more people are capable of meeting the minimal requirements to be teachers than are capable of meeting the minimal requirements to be developers, thus the former will always be less-well-paid than the latter. > The sixty classrooms without teachers show otherwise. They may not be due to pay but due to union rules. And, of course, even if teachers should make more that doesn't mean that they should make much > In fact there is no reason why teacher wages shouldn't keep up with the general state of the community where they live in. Are you saying that teachers should make a mean or median wage? I think that's a little silly, as it's hardly a profession requiring high innate talent and intensive study, unlike engineering, medicine, law, religion. Frankly, I think a welder or a plumber should be paid more than a teacher. But it shouldn't matter what you & I think teachers should be paid: their wages should be set by the market, as should everyone's. That's the closest thing to fair we'll ever be able to get.