4 ms·

Yes teachers do work hard and long hours. However, many people tend to forget that teachers also don't work year around. At least in the US, there is quite a le

Yes teachers do work hard and long hours. However, many people tend to forget that teachers also don't work year around. At least in the US, there is quite a lengthy summer break. In the compensation arena, (oregon) teachers have pension and pay nothing into FICA/medicare. With the average public school teacher making 45k (7k more than the avg wage in america), I have a hard time believing that they are underpaid. Teacher unions have done a swell job pounding this message.

teach 14y ago
Is that 7K more than the average wage of a person with a bachelor's degree? Or just the average person? I suspect the two numbers are not the same.
- brianobush 14y ago
  It was average wage in US. Not-specific to education. Better numbers can be found at http://www.bls.gov/data/ http://www.bls.gov/data/ Total compensation per hour for elementary/secondary school teachers: 56.59 (and avg wage is 38.39); far higher than any other public position (save administrators - they get cake too).
  - teach 14y ago
    I'm not sure I believe that number. I guess some super highly-paid regions are throwing off the average. Starting teacher salary in my district is $42,000 per year for a 187-day contract. Assuming the teachers only work 7 hours a day (which is insultingly low; my first year teaching I worked 60-70 hours a week): 42000 / 7 * 187 = $32.09 per hour. I think if you (wrongly, IMO) assume that all teachers in America work only the hours that they're on the clock in front of children, then MAYBE that number is believable. But that's not the reality of the teaching profession, in my experience. Edit: I see that number is "total compensation", which presumably includes health care and such. I don't know how to meaningfully add that to my estimate, but it would certainly increase it.
    - twoodfin 14y ago
      Most teachers (almost be definition) aren't earning the "starting" salary. Salary scales fairly nicely with seniority and "professional development" (those summer workshops and conferences).
jedberg 14y ago
> and pay nothing into FICA/medicare They also don't get any benefits from FICA and medicare. That pension they pay into is supposed to cover all of that but costs more than FICA and Medicare. And much like a teacher "gets off work at 3pm" they do in fact work year round. They may not be in the classroom, but in the summer they are usually going to workshops and conferences and doing long term lesson planning for the coming year.
- brianobush 14y ago
  The teachers I know must be total slackers. Workshops and conferences all summer long? Really? Fact remains that most lesson planning involves repurposing old material. It is never from a clean slate and now with testing pushed so much there is little time for a flexible curriculum. How many times are you going to rewrite the fractions lesson? Next response will state that teachers actually work more than 365 days a year as they have mastered time travel. I respect teachers, but blind statements that they work so much actually does more harm than good. Work smart, not hard. Which is why people are buying lesson plans than writing their own. And going on vacation instead of that boring workshop.
  - keithpeter 14y ago
    "How many times are you going to rewrite the fractions lesson?" If I 'teach' the lesson, not very often. If I want each and every student to understand the concept of proportion, and each student be able to use fractions and ratios effectively, I'll need to adjust the presentation, sequence, style and approach a lot of times, quite possibly on the fly in the classroom. Now, how many programming languages and code libraries do we really need?
sopooneo 14y ago
I left teaching physics after five years for a much higher salary in the tech sector. I work average 9.5 hours a day now. It is so much less draining than teaching. Working very hard here is incomparably preferable from a quality of life perspective, even with summer break taken into consideration.

teach 14y ago

Is that 7K more than the average wage of a person with a bachelor's degree? Or just the average person? I suspect the two numbers are not the same.

brianobush 14y ago
It was average wage in US. Not-specific to education. Better numbers can be found at http://www.bls.gov/data/ http://www.bls.gov/data/ Total compensation per hour for elementary/secondary school teachers: 56.59 (and avg wage is 38.39); far higher than any other public position (save administrators - they get cake too).
- teach 14y ago
  I'm not sure I believe that number. I guess some super highly-paid regions are throwing off the average. Starting teacher salary in my district is $42,000 per year for a 187-day contract. Assuming the teachers only work 7 hours a day (which is insultingly low; my first year teaching I worked 60-70 hours a week): 42000 / 7 * 187 = $32.09 per hour. I think if you (wrongly, IMO) assume that all teachers in America work only the hours that they're on the clock in front of children, then MAYBE that number is believable. But that's not the reality of the teaching profession, in my experience. Edit: I see that number is "total compensation", which presumably includes health care and such. I don't know how to meaningfully add that to my estimate, but it would certainly increase it.
  - twoodfin 14y ago
    Most teachers (almost be definition) aren't earning the "starting" salary. Salary scales fairly nicely with seniority and "professional development" (those summer workshops and conferences).

jedberg 14y ago

> and pay nothing into FICA/medicare They also don't get any benefits from FICA and medicare. That pension they pay into is supposed to cover all of that but costs more than FICA and Medicare. And much like a teacher "gets off work at 3pm" they do in fact work year round. They may not be in the classroom, but in the summer they are usually going to workshops and conferences and doing long term lesson planning for the coming year.

brianobush 14y ago
The teachers I know must be total slackers. Workshops and conferences all summer long? Really? Fact remains that most lesson planning involves repurposing old material. It is never from a clean slate and now with testing pushed so much there is little time for a flexible curriculum. How many times are you going to rewrite the fractions lesson? Next response will state that teachers actually work more than 365 days a year as they have mastered time travel. I respect teachers, but blind statements that they work so much actually does more harm than good. Work smart, not hard. Which is why people are buying lesson plans than writing their own. And going on vacation instead of that boring workshop.
- keithpeter 14y ago
  "How many times are you going to rewrite the fractions lesson?" If I 'teach' the lesson, not very often. If I want each and every student to understand the concept of proportion, and each student be able to use fractions and ratios effectively, I'll need to adjust the presentation, sequence, style and approach a lot of times, quite possibly on the fly in the classroom. Now, how many programming languages and code libraries do we really need?

sopooneo 14y ago

I left teaching physics after five years for a much higher salary in the tech sector. I work average 9.5 hours a day now. It is so much less draining than teaching. Working very hard here is incomparably preferable from a quality of life perspective, even with summer break taken into consideration.