Posted on 05/08/2015 8:19:29 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Before declaring your major, make sure you're passionate about the subject you decide on, particularly if you're considering working with children.
Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforcefound in their recent report, "The Economic Value of College Majors," that education majors are paid the least, specifically those specializing in early childhood education, who earn a median annual salary of $39,000.
While the paychecks are not particularly enticing, people in education find a high level of meaning from their jobs. And the satisfaction from helping others tends to outweigh the lack of pay growth.
The education field is also unique in that it provides job security. "It's high security but low wages," Anthony Carnevale, director of the Center on Education and the Workforce tells us. "So you have to ask yourself what you value — security or wages?"
Human services and community organization ranked second lowest, with a median annual paycheck of $41,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Only if he finds out you’ve been bad...
I don’t see many teachers getting fired or laid off around here.
I guess if you had a declining child population, there could be layoffs, although there are teacher retirements each year as well.
But most counties in our state are still building new schools, so there is a steady stream of new low-paying jobs.
This is misleading, as a teaching job in public primary school is also not truly full-time. On an hourly basis, the pay is much higher-ranked. So in addition to job security, it is a good job if you like having more time off to do other things.
I’m thinking about trying to break into teaching when I retire from my real job, because it would be fun to be able to impart knowledge on a younger generation.
That, I think is another advantage of an education degree. Even if you think we will be able to reverse some of the wild spending sprees of government, there is almost NO political will to cutting back education spending for K-12 (there is some for college-level).
Since education appears to be deeply ingrained as a fundamental right for all children, and since we have at least a stable population of children, and maybe still a growing one, the need for teachers will be constant.
And you don’t lay off teachers in a downturn, because you don’t shut down your schools.
This is why i argue that teachers should NOT be measured by their salaries, because they have intrinsic benefits like security, job satisfaction, and a lot of free time.
My wife graduated in Music Performance, but was working as a secretary when I met her. I asked why she didn’t play for a professional orchestra and she said the university never helped her with career options. She was playing in a band, though, and made decent money doing that on the weekends.
She also didn’t want to do it as a career...she makes about 25% more per hour than I do, but only works 7.5 hours per week teaching privately (15 students). She’s constantly turning down referrals from existing students because she’s already taken on more students than she wanted and feels guilty about taking away time from our kids. That being said, she has very good students and has the luxury of only keeping those who practice and progress.
On the other hand, one of her sisters married a music major and a French Horn PHD. He works for $10/hr. selling sheet music and brass polish and her sister has to work very hard to keep their kids clothed and fed. She’s very industrious, but he needs to put off his passion and do something else to support his wife and children.
I would not recommend anyone study wymyn as you might catch one. And remember that catching one is a draw on your income.
I majored in History as well, but have never regretted it...it didn’t hurt that I already had a career in the computer field going into college though...that’s what gave me the freedom to study what I loved, rather than what was practical. That’s not for everyone, but it worked for me.
When I retire I want to be a teacher. Not for security but because it’s fun.
UUuuuuhhhh, what you mean: “...a draw...?”
Since teachers are paid typically very very good wages, it’s amazing that education majors dominate this list. Until you realize that it becomes a catch-all major for people who begin to recognize they can’t hack it in another field, and all they need to do is jump through assinine hoops to get an ed degree.
I have friends who are teachers...they make good money, plus they have a couple months off in the summer.
The other advantage is they can teach, yet be home when their children are home.
Yup. Mine’s on there.
It could pay off if she becomes John Williams...otherwise...
My husband and I were both music majors (voice). Neither one of us really worked in the field, though, mainly due to the low pay and job instability, especially once we had mouths to feed. Still, I earned my degree due to my love of music, so it wasn’t in vain.
I had somewhat of a similar career trek. I received my BA in Musicology, which for all practical purposes was a "ticket to graduate school". I wound up working for a while in Special Education, then in insurance, took an aptitude test and found out that musicians make excellent computer programmers (who knew they use the same part of the brain?). One thing led to another and I became a software engineer, and eventually that graduate degree, which was an MBA.
Long story short, I'm still extremely grateful for that undergraduate degree in Music lo those many years ago. I can still listen to a few bars of a classical piece of music and recognize the composer as well as the piece (I tend to be partial to the late Romantic, 20th century era French composers).
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