Teacher: ‘I love my students, I love my job, and I feel fulfilled. But I’m broke.’

Smitty

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Who gets 57,000?

There are only 20 states out 50 that average that and notice I said average.

http://www.teacherportal.com/teacher-salaries-by-state/

Average starting salary is 35,000.

A teacher gets about 1,000 a year bump in pay if any depending on school budgets.

The average salary in your state is 47,000 with a starting salary of 30,000.

To me it's not about a living wage it's about attracting the best and brightest yes you can live on these wages but can you keep and get the best teachers with these wages.
You don't need the best and brightest teaching second grade addition and subtraction though.

It's why so many idiots are drawn to teaching.
 

Smitty

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You are using 57,000 as the benchmark it's the average look at starting salaries and then yearly raises.

And if you go somewhere else what about the education system in California its not as simple as just move.
I have news for you... I am an attorney, I started out with $120k in law school debt, and my first job as a judicial law clerk paid me $32,500 a year.

Entry level jobs aren't supposed to pay living wages for families with two children. I had to get a second job just to pay for my own bills.

As a LAWYER.
 

Jiggyfly

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You don't need the best and brightest teaching second grade addition and subtraction though.

It's why so many idiots are drawn to teaching.
WTF are talking about?

This is the type of stupid shit that shows how little people really understand about teachers and the education system.

It's much more than 2nd-grade math.

You are an idiot.
 

Jiggyfly

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I have news for you... I am an attorney, I started out with $120k in law school debt, and my first job as a judicial law clerk paid me $32,500 a year.

Entry level jobs aren't supposed to pay living wages for families with two children. I had to get a second job just to pay for my own bills.

As a LAWYER.
So you just ignored the part about annual raises to rush in here and make a nonpoint.

AGAIN.

Would you like to compare how much the annual salary changes in a 5 to 10 year period Mr Lawyer guy.
 

L.T. Fan

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So you just ignored the part about annual raises to rush in here and make a nonpoint.

AGAIN.

Would you like to compare how much the annual salary changes in a 5 to 10 year period Mr Lawyer guy.
They have changed very little for government jobs in general. That includes retirement benefits as well. Any compensation from governmental sources are at a virtual standstill. Teachers are not alone. The exception might be city and county positions where the revenues are high but it won't be significantly larger.
 

Cowboysrock55

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Yeah there was a massive surplus only a couple years ago. But yeah, if schools are stuggling to find teachers they will have to increase pay. That's common sense. But increasing pay won't improve the quality of education. That is nonsensical.

So if your point is that there is a massive teacher shortage coming then I get it. But that wasn't the argument others were making. This is the problem with government controlled things. Wages are artificially set and rarely at the right amount.
 

Smitty

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WTF are talking about?

This is the type of stupid shit that shows how little people really understand about teachers and the education system.

It's much more than 2nd-grade math.

You are an idiot.
I'm married to a middle school math teacher so shut the fuck up.

Maybe you are the one who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. You ever consider that jackass?

Post another article and pretend that means you know everything about it.
 

townsend

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Seeing a lot of what people with doctorates have to due as adjuncts to barely make ends meet, I think there are worse things than the full salary, benefits, pension and 3 months off that teachers get.

But speaking as the son of a career teacher, it seems like a miserable job. Teaching 2nd grade is a lot more than knowing 4+4, it means you have to get a couple dozen kids under control, including the ones that are practically feral.You also get micromanaged, and are expected to do a lot of extra work, go out of pocket for a lot of work expenses, and frankly (since it's still mostly a pink collar occupation) you're still underpaid, since you're probably married to the family breadwinner.

The fact is (like universities) public school administration keeps cutting itself fatter and fatter checks, but expects teachers to do it for the warm and fuzzy feeling.
 

Sheik

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My wife is a teacher, she makes ok money I guess. Plus she gets to stay home probably 3 months out of the year, and gets paid for it.

Since she's started teaching, I've realized just how shitty parents are. She teaches 2nd grade and there are kids that don't know left from right. She asked a kid to fold it's hands the other day and the kid couldn't even figure out how to execute that monumental task. After fighting it for a minute or two, the kid finally laid one palm onto the other palm and called it good.

Parents need to step shit up a bit. By the time my 4 year old starts school next year, she'll probably be smarter than most 2nd graders.

They(teachers) could be paid a bit more I guess, but the gig isn't the worst in the world if you can pull down $50ishk and get summers off.
 

Jiggyfly

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I'm married to a middle school math teacher so shut the fuck up.

Maybe you are the one who doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about. You ever consider that jackass?

Post another article and pretend that means you know everything about it.
I am a middle school teacher jackass I know just what the fuck I am talking about.

But tell us again MR Lawyer guy how you and teachers have the same wage issues.
 

Jiggyfly

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Seeing a lot of what people with doctorates have to due as adjuncts to barely make ends meet, I think there are worse things than the full salary, benefits, pension and 3 months off that teachers get.

But speaking as the son of a career teacher, it seems like a miserable job. Teaching 2nd grade is a lot more than knowing 4+4, it means you have to get a couple dozen kids under control, including the ones that are practically feral.You also get micromanaged, and are expected to do a lot of extra work, go out of pocket for a lot of work expenses, and frankly (since it's still mostly a pink collar occupation) you're still underpaid, since you're probably married to the family breadwinner.

The fact is (like universities) public school administration keeps cutting itself fatter and fatter checks, but expects teachers to do it for the warm and fuzzy feeling.
There are definitley worst things .

I make Ok money but I am in the sweet spot of living in a rural area that pay is competitive and I have minimal dependents.

If I had a big family those things would change significantly.

It's not a question of being able to live a reasonable life it's about being able to live that life and have any cushion or disposable income.

I just get tired of people treating the job like its white collar fast food and only "unskilled" people do it and should be paid accordingly.
 

Jiggyfly

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My wife is a teacher, she makes ok money I guess. Plus she gets to stay home probably 3 months out of the year, and gets paid for it.

Since she's started teaching, I've realized just how shitty parents are. She teaches 2nd grade and there are kids that don't know left from right. She asked a kid to fold it's hands the other day and the kid couldn't even figure out how to execute that monumental task. After fighting it for a minute or two, the kid finally laid one palm onto the other palm and called it good.

Parents need to step shit up a bit. By the time my 4 year old starts school next year, she'll probably be smarter than most 2nd graders.

They(teachers) could be paid a bit more I guess, but the gig isn't the worst in the world if you can pull down $50ishk and get summers off.
How would that equation change if she was the head of household?

And no the gig is not the worst in the world, nobody is saying that.

Also how much of that 3 months is she actually off and how many hrs a week does she actually work?
 

L.T. Fan

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There are definitley worst things .

I make Ok money but I am in the sweet spot of living in a rural area that pay is competitive and I have minimal dependents.

If I had a big family those things would change significantly.

It's not a question of being able to live a reasonable life it's about being able to live that life and have any cushion or disposable income.

I just get tired of people treating the job like its white collar fast food and only "unskilled" people do it and should be paid accordingly.
I am not aware that anyone looks down on teachers. I have several friends who teach or have retired from teaching. I have family members who have been teachers none of which have had desparaging treatment. Everyone knows they are not paid high salaries but they also know why the pay is not commensurate with a lot of jobs.

If you have a circle of friends or acquaintances who treat you like an unskilled white collar fast food worker then I would consider a change out.
 

Cowboysrock55

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"Knowing" 2+2 vs "teaching" 2+2 are completely different and definitely a special skill.
I think it's more of a special skill to get a child to sit and pay attention. That's the difficult part in my opinion. 2+2 is the easy part.
 

Cowboysrock55

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In response to schmitty's post to not needing the best and brightest teaching, I disagree. You don't need the best and brightest mathematicians, but you still need the best and brightest teaching, which absolutely includes getting that child to sit and pay attention.
Yeah, I think he was talking more to the fact that you don't need a PHD to teach 2+2. It doesn't require a high IQ or great educational background to teach at that level. It takes someone who is genuinely good with kids.
 

L.T. Fan

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Yeah, I think he was talking more to the fact that you don't need a PHD to teach 2+2. It doesn't require a high IQ or great educational background to teach at that level. It takes someone who is genuinely good with kids.
Yep. There is not a PHD needed for that level.
 

Smitty

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So you think your wife is an idiot then. Noted.
That's not at all what I said.

Maybe you should read it again.

There are a lot of idiots in teaching. And my wife being a teacher is a first hand witness to this. Lots doesn't mean all.

She also has a degree in physics so she is probably way overqualified and certainly smarter than Jiggy.
 
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Smitty

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Yeah, I think he was talking more to the fact that you don't need a PHD to teach 2+2. It doesn't require a high IQ or great educational background to teach at that level. It takes someone who is genuinely good with kids.
Correct.

But that doesn't take a lot of intelligence. I know that's gonna offend Jiggy probably, but that's the word for it. You need something else to be a teacher... patience, people skills, charisma, whatever, but you do not need a ton of intelligence to teach low level grades and therefore you really don't need -- and won't ever be able to afford and attract -- the "best and brightest." If someone is really smart, they generally figure out how to do something that pays well. Math, science, medicine, law, etc. They don't get fucking english degrees (PS, I'm not saying all lawyers are smart either, I'm certainly not one of the "best and brightest" either).

I want my kid's second grade teacher to be a 50 year old woman who is better at wiping noses and putting on mittens than she is at calculus. Any trained seal can do the math and reading required at that level. If she's better at calculus than she is at explaining the concept of sharing then we are wasting her skills in that job.

However the skills required for that position just aren't gonna be high demand skills. Newsflash, that's why so many 22 year kids do it right out of college. It's not a position where you can or should be able to make a career and retire on that salary. It's an entry level or second family income job. It is not an investment banker, lawyer, doctor, etc, it's never gonna make 6 figures unless you rise to the level of administrator.
 
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