Posted on 05/03/2018 3:25:54 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch
The latest screamfest from the various teacher's groups is that they're "grossly underpaid."
Well, no.
First, let's not forget that teachers are paid for 12 months but work 9. Indeed the "standard" school year is 180 days. The standard man-year of work is 2,000 hours -- 40 hours across 50 weeks.
But 180 days is 1,440 hours, not 2,000, or 72% of a standard work-year.
And before you talk about "overtime" do realize that professionals don't get paid overtime. I never did as a professional writing code or building networks for other people. It's a professional job, and is exempt -- just as is being a teacher.
So that "horrible" $40,000 salary (which, I remind you, typically comes with 100% health care coverage for the entire teacher's family, an expense that is nearly always over $10,000/year) is actually $50,000 / 0.72 or approximately $70,000 in salary.
That's underpaid?
Uh, no. It's grossly overpaid, especially considering this:
Earlier this month, the 2017 National Assessment of Educational Progress, aka The Nation's Report Card, was released. It's not a pretty story. Only 37 percent of 12th-graders tested proficient or better in reading, and only 25 percent did so in math. Among black students, only 17 percent tested proficient or better in reading, and just 7 percent reached at least a proficient level in math.
Leave the racial disparity behind for a minute.
Exactly why would anyone get paid anything if only one quarter of those who were the "product" of that work met the objective requirements to be considered acceptable?
Why is not that the question put to these "teachers"?
Is there some "reject rate" acceptable in any production of anything? Certainly. Some percentage of parts made in a factory fail to pass inspection, some percentage of wafers in a fab don't make it into the final output as a computer chip, etc.
But if your success rate is only 25% on the basic facts that define the ability to function as an adult in society, say much less understand the physical and economic world around you then you have no right to be out pounding the street demanding more money.
You ought to be cleaning toilets with a toothbrush and the taxpayers should be taking up arms at the rank theft you demand from them to produce defective output on an everyday, every year basis -- and have been for decades.
This is not a new problem. When I ran MCSNet after a series of bad experiences with so-called "graduates" with nice, polished resumes who couldn't make change for a $20 without a computer telling them exactly how much it was it became obvious that (1) they didn't write their own resume and (2) they were functionally illiterate and innumerate.
Yet they had in their hand a credential that said they (1) could read and write and (2) could perform mathematics both at a 12th grade level.
Those credentials were lies.
I instituted two tests before you could get an interview; when you came in and presented a resume you were shown the conference room and given a pencil, piece of paper and the two tests; nothing else was allowed inside. The first was a request to write a basic business letter informing a customer that his account was disabled because he hadn't paid his bill, and to please remit the balance to continue service. The second was a four-function (addition, subtraction, multiplication and division) mathematics screening with 20 questions on it. You needed a 90% on the math to pass and the letter had to be grammatically correct and formatted as a reasonable business letter.
90% of the applicants failed one or both and more than half failed screamingly, either being completely unable to compose a business letter that could be read and understood as reasonably correct English or failing to get even half of the math correct. More than a few applicants literally walked out leaving behind two blank pieces of paper for "answers", unable to do any of it. A couple actually wrote things like "**** you" on the test before walking out, clearly unable to do any of it.
Most-alarmingly was the fact that more than a third of those who claimed to be currently enrolled in college, including at UofC, applying for a part-time job while in school, were unable to pass these screens.
I kept every single test and associated resume in a large horizontal file for what I expected would eventually be an inevitable allegation that I was "discriminating" in some form or fashion. This was downtown (2 Prudential Plaza) Chicago. Let me point out that of those who were unable to write said business letter not one of them could have possibly also written their own resume and as such they had already lied in the application process (and thus were not going to get hired) before coming in the front door.
The enabling liars who issued these people their diplomas are the same people pounding the streets right now. They were the ones who gave out the "As", "Bs", "Cs" and even "Ds" to these students -- but passed them instead of handing out well-deserved "F"s for years from one class to the next without actual achievement having taken place.
These very same teachers are openly and publicly being paid to commit fraud upon the taxpayer and the US marketplace on a literal daily basis. Three quarters of those who they deem "competent" through a 12 year cycle of fraud are in fact not competent and this number includes high-achieving areas.
In most major cities I assure you that the actual percentage of incompetent "graduates" is at or above 90% because it was in the 1990s and this report's statistics make clear that it still is.
Think about this folks because everyone's excuse is that oh, there are a few bad teachers, but most are good.
What are the odds of someone getting through 12 years of schooling, the first six or so taking place with one or two teachers for the entire year, then in the subsequent six year or so with a half-dozen teachers each, 75% of said students are incompetent when they graduate, and it is not true that basically every single one of them is guilty of fraud?
Let's put some math to it -- if three out of four students are incompetent at graduation then with a single teacher for a single year a minimum of 75% of all teachers must be committing fraud by certifying acceptable performance when it is not true.
That is, only 25% are performing honest work with a single year of experience -- that is, a single trial.
But it's not one year. It's 12 years, and for roughly six of them the student has a half-dozen teachers each year, not one. So we have 6 instances in the first six years and then 36 more over the following six, for a total of 42 instances, any one of which could fail said student and prevent them from going forward.
What are the statistical odds of running that gauntlet where only 25% of the teachers do honest work against 42 trials?
The answer is in scientific notation and has 25 zeros to right of the decimal. To put not-to-fine a point on it you're more likely to be hit by an asteroid while getting your mail this afternoon, then struck by lightning on the walk back to your house by a factor of several orders of magnitude than to encounter a string of honest teachers given these rates.
Bluntly: Essentially all are guilty of fraud upon the taxpayer and the public.
This is one of the largest and longest-running frauds perpetrated against the American population and taxpaying citizen ever and anyone in this profession deserves to be consumed by a rabid coyote.
Not only should every one of these "teachers" be fired they should all be criminally prosecuted and tossed in prison; the United States would be better off if the kids of this nation spent an hour a day in the library doing whatever they wanted instead of attending school.
It’s not salaries bankrupting budgets, it’s pensions and bennies. Teachers don’t really strike over salaries. It’s all about pensions and health bennies. Salaries are a red herring.
My biggest beef is the “Pro-D Day”.
When I was in school there was one or two through the entire school year. Now they are having one a month!
The two summer months when there are no classes to interrupt would be a far more equitable time for these classes for the teaching staff, wouldn’t they?
Classes are a total of 6 1/2 hours a day. If the teacher can’t get their grading done in the other 1 1/2 hours, perhaps they should find a REAL job, where 8-10 hours are considered NORMAL!
Does your school system get money from “The Feds?”
Did your school system sanction the “grass roots” ant-gun walkout?
If you answer “yes” either of these questions, the NEA/Democrat Party/Globalists have significant control over education in your school system.
My daughter is a teacher, her health insurance is 1300 a month out of her pocket. No free health coverage, etc. Then in the summer 2months, not 3, she has conferences she has to go to, early prep sessions for the next year, etc. none of that is extra pay so she works effectively 12months a year.
Writer may find that in Chicago schools but not elsewhere.
I never understood the teacher hatred some people have, if the author really believes what he writes, maybe he should try being for a teacher for a while.
Do the conferences add anything to the children’s education?
My husband was a teacher for 24 years, left teaching to start his own business.
I don’t know where this myth of great benefits began, but his were awful. When Obamacare first began affecting people’s insurance rates I heard many call in to a radio program giving examples of how much more they were paying for less coverage. We’d been paying even more than their new rates for even less coverage for years. I was stunned at how awful our insurance had been compared to others.
As for retirement, we couldn’t wait to pull out what he had paid into TRA (forced Ponzi scheme for teachers) and open an IRA. After 24 years of “investing” he got back less than he contributed.
Most teachers aren’t underpaid for what they do; science and writing teachers put far more time into prepping and correcting than others (my dad was a chemistry and physics teacher) so they might be. Coaches, however, are grossly underpaid yet it helps supplement a 72% salary. With coaching and teaching my husband worked about a minimum of 60hours/week (football) to around 75 + (wrestling). Plus there are weeks of unpaid time for camps and all the rest in the summer. That used cut into his summer construction income.
When I used to talk with other young moms, I couldn’t believe how much time they had with their husbands. They were home for supper most nights and on all day on Saturdays. I was jealous!
I think teachers are, in general, overpaid, and that their “deal” (the whole package) is much, MUCH better than most workers get.
But using outcomes of the “product” is unreasonable and unfair.
Education is not something you can GIVE, like a shot of penicillin. It’s something that a well-prepared and well-disposed student TAKES. There are schools all over the world, even in Africa, which graduate outstanding, well educated pupils.
But no school tasked with universal, mandatory education after age 11-12 can accomplish this unless it serves an exclusive community with much, much higher than average incomes. It’s much better if the population has a large representation of Jews and East Asians.
The reason the scores are so low is not the teachers. It’s the students. And that’s not a problem that teachers can, or should be expected, to fix.
End mandatory schooling at eighth grade, and everything will get better, instantly.
"I've been in the real world, they expect results."
No, it's a terrible article because it is miles away from the truth.
1. Teachers don't "..work 9 months and get paid for twelve." They work OVER 9 months and have the option of spreading their salary out over 12 months. My wife worked in education 30 years and her SHORTEST contract was 215 work days, not 180. Some years, she worked a 255 day contract. (That's all year.)
2. In Texas, there is no "free insurance" for teachers. Because it's in a pool, it's a bit cheaper, but not much. The only thing that makes it cheaper is because premiums are taken out of your check, it is an "above the line" tax deduction so you get to deduct it all. That's the ONLY real advantage. The quality of the insurance itself is not that great.
3. Talking about salaries, many years my wife had to contribute BOTH to Texas Teacher Retirement AND Social security along with regular withholding. Try taking those three chunks out of your paycheck and see what you have left.
Teachers these days have it rough, but I'll admit they did it to themselves. And, like doctors or lawyers, there are many teachers out there who have no business being teachers. But, if you think the job is easy, try educating your own kid. I'm sure there are many teachers out there who would appreciate the break.
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What’s wrong with it?
How is it inaccurate?
Could you be more specific?
Look at the private sector.
That is still a lower work load than an exempt office or plant worker at a comparable salary.
I worked over 1,000 hours of overtime last year for no extra pay. It is expected as part of the job.
Note, that is a 60 hour week, which is pretty typical. Some months I was there north of a hundred hours a week
My best friend and my sister-in-law both graduated from college with teaching degrees MANY years ago.
I asked them both the same question. Did your teaching degree teach you to teach?
They both replied *No*. They told me that you were expected to learn as you go when you started working.
My best friend also told me that getting a regulate degree in math would have been FAR more useful than the classes she had to take for the teaching degree. They were so dumbed-down that it was ridiculous.
Depends on where you live.
My wife is a teacher. Her benefits are typically better than mine (three school districts and four jobs for me).
That is in three Midwestern states.
And that doesn’t count comp time, medical leave (never had a job where that is paid), maternity leave (ditto), pensions, etc.
So yes, benefits for public sector workers are in my experience better in total than for private sector workers.
Consider the same teacher and an office worker. Both earn 40k per year. Both work 8 hours per day.
The teacher works 1,440 hours per year....the office worker 2,000 hours per year. Presume equal benefits.
The teacher earns $27.78 per hour and the office worker earns $20.00 per hour....for three months additional work.
Now who is underpaid??
You can’t compare coaches with regular teachers. Most coaches I knew received extra pay for coaching. Plus there were other benefits...especially if you won.
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