5 ms·

Teachers have job security that is very rare in the private sector. They also have fully funded benefits of a kind that is rare in most occupations at matching

Teachers have job security that is very rare in the private sector. They also have fully funded benefits of a kind that is rare in most occupations at matching salaries. They also get a lot of psychic rewards from their jobs, and graduates of teacher-training programs are in large supply, changing the supply:demand ratio for that occupation. I would indeed be glad to pay teachers more in salary, but I'd also like to be sure that wherever your children or my children go to school, the friendly local school is hiring only effective teachers, not ineffective teachers. If teachers get behind public policies that ensure that, then I think they will see increases in pay. (See the links in my earlier post in this thread.)

wavefunction 12y ago
How many teachers do you actually know? I ask because both my parents were teachers and most of their friends are teachers and it's a lot of hard work for not much reward if any, whether financial or otherwise. Students arguing about their grades. Students refusing to write papers or read articles about subjects they cannot handle intellectually (because it "conflicts with their religion or politics"). Many students who simply don't care about the subject material or education in general. Poor pay and long hours spent gradings papers and tests. Administrative duties outside of their teaching duties. Low pay and patronizing moronic administrative staff. Pensions reduced so that state legislatures can give ill-advised tax breaks to the wealthy and corporations (but I repeat myself). Teaching is something done out of passion and while I can understand the passion I've seen derived from touching one life, it sure isn't the cake-walk you're alleging.