Mother Jones - Comments for "Are We Better Off: Reading, Writing, and Landscaping"

Sorry, but I find it totally

Sorry, but I find it totally insulting that a classroom teacher is going to have the nerve to say that, as a specials teacher, I somehow do less work than them. You try having a revolving door of students every 35 minutes. You try teaching every grade in an entire school. You try having 10 different classes to prep for each day. You try keeping 700-1000 kids' names straight. You try teaching off a cart. You try to fight against ignorant masses (like you, I'd venture to guess) that think that kids don't NEED music, art, PE and computing skills.

I'd love for you to walk up to a band director in marching season and tell them they should make less because you do more work than them. Those folks spend a good 80+ hours a week at school for their students, and their stipends aren't enough. Many, after adding up the hours, make less than minimum wage. I'd love for you to talk to any sports coach the same way. Or a elementary specialist. How do you think you get your prep? It's bad enough other classroom teachers are so high and mighty that they just consider us a prep dump.

Also, to the person talking about privatization, good luck. Apparently only rich kids deserve an education. Even vouchers don't work here. A person given 3k to spend on tuition will spend only that if it's all they can afford. That just means rich kids will get to spend 3k MORE than they are already spending. I'm sorry you feel that being poor makes you somehow less important. A privatized education system would leave us like our current health care system; people would have no assurance of a future. Let me know how privatization works out when the poor kids that can't afford school are robbing your house or stealing your car just to make ends meet.

Like the majority of you, I

Like the majority of you, I feel extremely frustrated that I struggle to make ends meet on a teacher's salary. I am a single parent with three children and I am living with my parents because I cannot afford to purchase a home.

Obviously, there are wonderful benefits to being a teacher. This is why so many of us go into the profession. However, the frustrating realities of teaching are mostly hidden until we actually enter our own classroom. Most prospective teachers have no clue what teacher salaries are like. Yes, they have a sense that salaries are lower than other jobs, but until they began receiving those salaries, and dividing each dollar up for taxes, insurance, monthly bills, food and gas etc. etc. they have no concept of how little they will be left with at the end, especially if they are young and fresh out of college.

Some have suggested that if teachers can't handle the low salary, they should perhaps find something else. Actually, this is exactly what is happening, and, until the crash last September, there was a teacher shortage in several states throughout the nation. This is exactly why some districts have opted to search for teachers overseas (not to mention that they can pay these teachers a much lower wage). If teacher salaries continue to put so many people in financial crisis, this can only have a negative effect upon our schools nation-wide (one side-effect may be that our children will emerge speaking tagolog!). It may take a little time but it will happen.

And, because public-school teacher salaries are completely tied to taxes, unfortunately there will always be a battle over those salaries. Who wants to pay more taxes?

teacher in NH

I am also a teacher - I found this article searching for yet another part time job to help pay my day care bill for two kids. I have a masters degree plus and am dreading the winter when I have to find a way to keep oil in the tank so we can be warm. Something has to change!

I would disagree. I'm a P.E

I would disagree. I'm a P.E teacher and baseball coach. We have a fall and summer season that we don't get paid for. This is not including our regular season during the spring. My stipend for the regular season is 2,200.

So you see why I don't think you should get paid more than any P.E. teacher. I teach in Arizona and would like to see go outside everyday when it's constantly 90 degrees.

A Different Opinion

I may be the only teacher out there who will ever say this, but I think it needs to be said: Teachers make plenty of money. Do other professions make more? Sure. But there are always going to be people who make more than they seem to be worth. (Look at celebrities!) Are teachers sometimes under appreciated? Sure. So are garbage men and mail carriers. That's life. Any teacher who has a job (especially one that they love) should be thankful. Because trust me, it could be a lot worse. You could be a teacher living in a state where it is nearly impossible for teachers to get jobs. You could be spending 3+ years working as a substitute teacher because it's your only way to get into the classroom. Think it's tough working two jobs so your family can maintain its middle class status? You could be working as a substitute, grounds keeper, tutor, and freelance writer just so you can afford to buy cereal for the two younger brothers you're raising. Welcome to my life. I'm not trying to whine, I just wanted to share a different opinion. I make less than half the starting salary for a beginning teacher, and I try my best to be grateful for that. So if any of you teachers making $30,000+ a year (plus benefits) would like to go try your hand at elevator repair instead, give me a call. I would be more than happy to take over your classroom.

Teach on

Education is one of those fields where real success is marked by your ability to move OUT of the classroom and into administration. That is why programs in "educational leadership" are blossoming: it's a way OUT of the classroom and into bigger bucks. Yes, I know there are fine administrators, so I don't mean to polarize; but the reward system is there and people are responding to it. Until we see real educational leadership as a successful effort to make teaching conditions optimal for every school, not just charter schools, and to reduce actual student burden so that there is little excuse for not giving students the individual attention they deserve and that good education requires, the dream of an excellent education for all will remain unrealized. Shrinking educational inequality should be a continuing project, always threatened by selfish attitudes that refuse to see that a lousy educational set-up anywhere hurts us all. The children affected are our own. George T. Karnezis

Teach on

Summer Workation - Helping Teachers Find Summer Opportunities

I started a site called Summer Workation that helps teachers find workation (working vacation opportunities). By making it easier for teachers to find meaningful opportunities over the summer we can start to address some of the challenges presented in this article. Check out www.summerworkation.org for more details!

A New Resource to Help Teachers Find Summer Jobs

I started a new site called Summer Workation that helps teachers find workation (working vacation opportunities). By making it easier for teachers to find meaningful opportunities over the summer we can start to address some of the challenges presented in this article. Check out www.summerworkation.org for more details!

Reading writing landscaping

I am a teacher in NJ. I teach in a urban district. I live in a very expensive area but feel our salaries are reasonable. However, The teachers union needs to rethink how teacher's get paid This would save money. A gym, art and music teacher cannot get the same pay as I do simply because they have the same degree. There should be pay based on the responsibility level Any reasonable computer art gym music teacher would admit that Math, Language Arts, Science teachers have so many more responibilities and documentation that we deserve more pay Then, There is entirely too much waste in our district. We used a very expensive reading program for a year! Then they changed reading programs. The district also just bought a computerized gradebook when many of the teachers I work with were using an online grade book that was free of charge I am not sure the district even investigated all the different "computerized gradebook" options before selecting a program. I am a teacher but also a tax payer and from my observation the spending is wreckless which cause teacher salaries to be less than many deserve

I absolutely agree. I love teaching. I do lesson plans and grade papers during conference period and lunch. I don't take work home unless it's towards the end of the grading period. I don't spend any money on my classroom. I sent a supply list home at the beginning of the year - and even though I only got back about 1/3 of the supplies requested -they have lasted me throughtout this year. My district is very poor and doesn't offer us a lot of supplies - but I make due with what I have and try to show the kids that having things isn't as important as knowing things. My daughter rides the bus over to my school and waits for me to finish my afterschool duties (about 30 min)- no afterschool childcare! I carpool with another teacher (gas prices cut in half!). We don't have cable at home.....but guess what WE DON'T MISS IT!! We play board games, read books, watch DVDs, and talk. I CHOOSE my bills. I don't buy a lot of extra clothes because I decided a long time ago to have a school "uniform". Black dress pants and blouses (since shirts are cheaper and the students have no way of knowing that I only have 3 pairs of black pants). I love having Christmas off, Spring Break and Summer. I love each of my students and feel honored that I am part of their lives. I only came across this website because I was looking for something partime in the summer to plan a trip for next Christmas vacation. For something "extra" - not necessary.