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> Almost everyone who could teach is doing something that pays better instead. The US pays their teachers better than almost every other country in the world [

> Almost everyone who could teach is doing something that pays better instead. The US pays their teachers better than almost every other country in the world [0]. So while teachers aren’t the highest paid profession, in the US they make more than other countries. And the US has worse outcomes than those other countries that pay worse. That makes me think that teacher pay isn’t the problem. Or at least isn’t the biggest problem. #7 on this list, https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-salaries-by-country-2017-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/teacher-salaries-by-country-...

bluefirebrand 4y ago
Consider that the issue isn't overall teacher salaries, but instead how teacher salaries compare against other professions in other places. Have you ever seen Software Engineer salaries in the EU? Way less than America. Probably not much more than their teachers. So if teaching is making the kinds of income that your top earners are, it becomes a lot more likely people will go into teaching than trying to go earn more elsewhere.
- prepend 4y ago
  That’s a good point. But it also means we could do an h1b visa program for teachers and really clean up by scooping up all the best teachers from around the world.
  - red-iron-pine 4y ago
    Why would they come here to make shit-tier teacher pay? They'd have to completely uproot their lives, live in systems / cultures / languages drastically different from their normal, and in exchange get painfully median or sub-par pay? If I'm gonna schlep my ass to another country it had better be for a stark improvement in pay, bennies, and lifestyle -- not corralling brats so they can figure out what a Sin, Cos, and Tan means.
    - prepend 4y ago
      Because they’d make significantly more than they could in their home country. (The same reason programmers and nurses do it). The goal isn’t to convince you, but to convince the many others who would make 2-4x from in their home country (see the chart I referenced). And pay isn’t shit tier in the US even as it’s above the median salary. It’s not the highest paying, but it pays more than most jobs in the US.

bluefirebrand 4y ago

Consider that the issue isn't overall teacher salaries, but instead how teacher salaries compare against other professions in other places. Have you ever seen Software Engineer salaries in the EU? Way less than America. Probably not much more than their teachers. So if teaching is making the kinds of income that your top earners are, it becomes a lot more likely people will go into teaching than trying to go earn more elsewhere.

prepend 4y ago
That’s a good point. But it also means we could do an h1b visa program for teachers and really clean up by scooping up all the best teachers from around the world.
- red-iron-pine 4y ago
  Why would they come here to make shit-tier teacher pay? They'd have to completely uproot their lives, live in systems / cultures / languages drastically different from their normal, and in exchange get painfully median or sub-par pay? If I'm gonna schlep my ass to another country it had better be for a stark improvement in pay, bennies, and lifestyle -- not corralling brats so they can figure out what a Sin, Cos, and Tan means.
  - prepend 4y ago
    Because they’d make significantly more than they could in their home country. (The same reason programmers and nurses do it). The goal isn’t to convince you, but to convince the many others who would make 2-4x from in their home country (see the chart I referenced). And pay isn’t shit tier in the US even as it’s above the median salary. It’s not the highest paying, but it pays more than most jobs in the US.