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Interesting. The overall average salary for teacher in Texas comes in at $49,900 (in 2009). I suppose that leads to a slightly higher rate, but the 8 hour day p

Interesting. The overall average salary for teacher in Texas comes in at $49,900 (in 2009). I suppose that leads to a slightly higher rate, but the 8 hour day piece doesn't come close to accounting for all of the associated prep time. My guess is that, when you figure that in, the hourly rate for real work drops a lot further.

_delirium 15y ago
My mom was a high-school teacher and definitely had that impression, that tutoring paid more than a regular teaching job. The main pros of teaching are that it's very stable work, rather than fluctuating as tutoring jobs tend to, and typically comes with good benefits (not as big a deal for healthy twenty-somethings, but group health insurance can be quite important if you're older and have a family). It's also somewhat different work, teaching a longer-term curriculum to a classroom of students rather than doing one-on-one tutoring; that can be either a pro or con for a lot of reasons.
- akharris 15y ago
  Right. One of the questions we want to answer is whether or not tutoring isn't a full time job for more people is a result of an absolute lack of demand, or lack of appropriate channels for that demand. If you knew you could fill 35 hours a week as a tutor at a $50 rate, and do it consistently, would you (hypothetical you that is a teacher)? If you knew that you would have a consistent relationship with a student and actually guide his/her education, how would that change the dynamic? Is something like the old school meaning of "tutor" (Socrates/Alexander) possible at scale in the modern US? Anyway, all that and more as we get more data together...
  - _delirium 15y ago
    On the latter parts, I'm currently an (early-career) college prof and would seriously consider switching to that model if it existed/worked. I'd much prefer tutoring people outside the institutional framework of curricula/grades/exams/lectures if it were reasonably stable work you could earn a living at, with genuinely interested students. There are some good things about the formalized education system, but in large part it's a compromise due to the need to produce some kind of credential employers recognize (related but not identical to "actual learning"), and to make budgets work. Though I'm less interested if, like some tutoring jobs, it's just helping people cram for SATs, and especially if that's really seasonal work that only happens around SAT-time. So I wish you luck. :)
teach 15y ago
Yes, in my district teacher salaries range from $42,000 to $60,000 depending on experience (0 to 30 years of experience, respectively). My first year teaching I'd estimate I put in 70 hours a week. Now (with fifteen years of experience) it's 40-50, though it does spike up periodically. However, teachers of core subjects (esp. math, English and history) have so much more grading than I that they work a lot more hours.

_delirium 15y ago

My mom was a high-school teacher and definitely had that impression, that tutoring paid more than a regular teaching job. The main pros of teaching are that it's very stable work, rather than fluctuating as tutoring jobs tend to, and typically comes with good benefits (not as big a deal for healthy twenty-somethings, but group health insurance can be quite important if you're older and have a family). It's also somewhat different work, teaching a longer-term curriculum to a classroom of students rather than doing one-on-one tutoring; that can be either a pro or con for a lot of reasons.

akharris 15y ago
Right. One of the questions we want to answer is whether or not tutoring isn't a full time job for more people is a result of an absolute lack of demand, or lack of appropriate channels for that demand. If you knew you could fill 35 hours a week as a tutor at a $50 rate, and do it consistently, would you (hypothetical you that is a teacher)? If you knew that you would have a consistent relationship with a student and actually guide his/her education, how would that change the dynamic? Is something like the old school meaning of "tutor" (Socrates/Alexander) possible at scale in the modern US? Anyway, all that and more as we get more data together...
- _delirium 15y ago
  On the latter parts, I'm currently an (early-career) college prof and would seriously consider switching to that model if it existed/worked. I'd much prefer tutoring people outside the institutional framework of curricula/grades/exams/lectures if it were reasonably stable work you could earn a living at, with genuinely interested students. There are some good things about the formalized education system, but in large part it's a compromise due to the need to produce some kind of credential employers recognize (related but not identical to "actual learning"), and to make budgets work. Though I'm less interested if, like some tutoring jobs, it's just helping people cram for SATs, and especially if that's really seasonal work that only happens around SAT-time. So I wish you luck. :)

teach 15y ago

Yes, in my district teacher salaries range from $42,000 to $60,000 depending on experience (0 to 30 years of experience, respectively). My first year teaching I'd estimate I put in 70 hours a week. Now (with fifteen years of experience) it's 40-50, though it does spike up periodically. However, teachers of core subjects (esp. math, English and history) have so much more grading than I that they work a lot more hours.