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It wasn't until I dated a middle school teacher for a while that I realized how crazy the pay scale is there. Her pay would automatically go up for any grad deg

It wasn't until I dated a middle school teacher for a while that I realized how crazy the pay scale is there. Her pay would automatically go up for any grad degree. She was teaching middle school science, but she could have gotten an online Master's in sociology and received a pay bump. I absolutely would have gone online and done the absolute minimum in the easiest possible program I could find, and I wouldn't have thought twice about it. The fact that any Master's degree would do already tells me that it's irrelevant to the school district whether the degree improves teaching (and let's be honest, even getting a Master's in bio won't really help a third grade science teacher), so what difference does it make if it's a total BS degree?

barbecue_sauce 7y ago
This all depends on the school district and/or state. Many places, you have to actually get degrees in Education rather than random subjects. (And you are expected to do this to stay employed, rather than to get pay bumps).
- awillen 7y ago
  Seems weird that you have to do it to stay employed. If you're a middle school science teacher for several years, why would they fire you for not getting an additional credential just because you've been in the job for a certain amount of time, when they've been allowing you to do the job without it?
  - barbecue_sauce 7y ago
    Well, in the situation I’m describing, you’re expected to have an education bachelors to get a teaching job in the first place, with the condition that you get a masters within a certain number of years (followed by continuing education credits). This is essentially dictated by the Teachers Union, to keep salaries high and reduce the supply of qualified educators (though they also negotiate for partial or full reimbursement of education costs for their members so teachers aren’t paying completely out of pocket).

barbecue_sauce 7y ago

This all depends on the school district and/or state. Many places, you have to actually get degrees in Education rather than random subjects. (And you are expected to do this to stay employed, rather than to get pay bumps).

awillen 7y ago
Seems weird that you have to do it to stay employed. If you're a middle school science teacher for several years, why would they fire you for not getting an additional credential just because you've been in the job for a certain amount of time, when they've been allowing you to do the job without it?
- barbecue_sauce 7y ago
  Well, in the situation I’m describing, you’re expected to have an education bachelors to get a teaching job in the first place, with the condition that you get a masters within a certain number of years (followed by continuing education credits). This is essentially dictated by the Teachers Union, to keep salaries high and reduce the supply of qualified educators (though they also negotiate for partial or full reimbursement of education costs for their members so teachers aren’t paying completely out of pocket).