The Lie Factory on Education and Teacher Salaries

The latest screamfest from the various teacher's groups is that they're "grossly underpaid."

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

‘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.’ hmmm...standard instructional time by year in Texas is 180 days, as cited by the Education Commission of the States, or 900 hours per year in order to qualify as an instructional day. or 5 hours p/day...the above are minimums, perhaps some teachers are contracted to work more, but your post attempts to make it appear that 200 plus work days are standard across the board, which in fact, they are not...

Teachers put in many more days a year than just "instructional" days. It's easy to see for yourself. Just go on ANY reasonably sized school district website and look at the job offerings. They will likely tell you the length of the contract. And, you will also see MANY jobs in special ed and educational support staff that exceed 200 days/yr. And yes, these people hold teaching certificates (and greater) and are teachers. My wife decided she couldn't pass up a great job offer to go back to work short-term and is currently working with special ed students on an educational diagnostician contract for 215 days. She was offered one for 255 days.

‘They’re paid for 9 months. They’re not paid for a year.’

I said nothing about them getting paid for 12 months; I said that they are getting equivalent salaries to other professionals who work a full 12 months, while the teachers are contracted to work a far shorter period of time; the point being, of course, that a window of time for leisure exists for them that others don’t have, at no loss of income...what is difficult to understand about that...?

Theat’s a pointless equivalency that exists to perpetuate a lie.

Except of course they don’t really have that time for leisure. There’s lots of continuing education requirements, and other work related stuff they have to do in those months “off” everyone is so jealous of.

What’s difficult to understand is why people get so upset when teachers are treated like humanbeings. It’s one of the most important jobs in the world and all anybody does is complain that teachers get paid too much or get time off.

Teachers don't have the amount of free time you think they do. Time in the classroom is the least consumer of their time. Teachers have to grade quizzes/tests/labs/reports. Teachers have to create the aforementioned material. Teachers attend mandatory training meetings and seminars. In order to advance, teachers must constantly attend classes in college for additional degrees.

I retired form a 46 year career as an embedded engineer, where I designed microcomputer based instrumentation, and then wrote the software for it. Often I wrote the software that ran those instruments from PCs. I started with Skylab, and have made equipment for medical equipment to landfill equipment, and most everything in between. After all of that action, retirement was a dangerous letdown.

I started teaching a digital logic class in the evening Community School, eventually taking an Embedded Computing class in the local high school. I teach one class each day for $28 per day. This is the most difficult job I have ever had. Since it is a totally new class in the State, I have to create ALL of my class content as well as all of tests. It is a eight to ten hour per day experience, not counting all of the training sessions and other red tape.

I have seen first hand the administrative crap teachers are forced to endure, and they can't seek another job simply because a principle can pull their teaching certificate for almost any reason. They are not paid anywhere as well as you seem to think, and are forced to maintain numerous copies of all test so that students can retake tests as often as they wish or because they skipped class when a test was administered the first time or because they did poorly.

I have seen up close and personal that teacher's hands are tied in almost anything they do because the administration makes rules that placate the parents of lazy or brainless kids. Your view of the school system is terribly incomplete. I have worked harder as a part time teacher than anywhere else in my life, including to ever-present eight hour weeks in the engineering field.

Most of the educational rot is caused by parents who sue the school system because their child can't make good grades without such intervention. Since high-level administrators are political animals, they acquiesce to parents demands no matter foolish those people happen to be. Oh, and they think nothing of throwing teachers under the bus. It is a hostile work environment.

‘Except of course they don’t really have that time for leisure.’

no, no, of course not...smh...

There’s lots of continuing education requirements, and other work related stuff they have to do in those months “off” everyone is so jealous of.

ah yes...every single summer they are forced to take three months worth of continuing ed and other ‘related stuff’; is that what you’re stipulating...? cause you’re wrong if you are...

What’s difficult to understand is why people get so upset when teachers are treated like humanbeings.

think it might have anything to do with hamstringing the taxpayers with increased property assessments, while they walk off their jobs and suffer absolutely no loss of income due to their truncated work year...do other professionals get to do that...?

‘Teachers attend mandatory training meetings and seminars. In order to advance, teachers must constantly attend classes in college for additional degrees.’

this is not unique to the teaching profession; many other professionals are required to do the same, and are expected do so within a more limited time frame...and perhaps you can name a bona fide profession which enjoys more time off than teachers...

‘I have seen first hand the administrative crap teachers are forced to endure’

sorry, but again, this is not unique to teachers...

‘They are not paid anywhere as well as you seem to think’

I seem to think they are paid a wage commensurate with numerous other professionals needing certification of some sort; is that an incorrect thought...?

‘Your view of the school system is terribly incomplete.’

don’t know about that, but one thing we do know, my view is one you don’t like...

‘It is a hostile work environment.’

many other workplaces are hostile; are most of those who work in these other hostile situations government employed, unionized workers who up and walk off the job when something doesn’t please them, thus extorting taxpayers to come up with redress of their grievances...?

My stipulation is that anybody whining about teachers getting “time off” is just whining for the sake of whining. Intel employees get a sabbatical every few years that’s over and above their normal vacation, add a paternity leave in there and they can easily get a whole year’s pay on 8 months of work. Have you complained about them lately? Didn’t think so.

Problem is those increased property taxes often don’t go to the schools. Various layers of our government have grown very good at saying revenue increases are for the schools while not sending any of that money to the schools. That’s one of the reasons for the walkout in AZ, they slashed the budget back in 2008 because of the recession, and never brought it back, school budgets have remained the same for 10 years, while having the people approve various revenue increasing propositions that were supposedly going to go to the schools.

‘My stipulation is that anybody whining about teachers getting “time off” is just whining for the sake of whining’

well, no, it’s just noticing that every single work year teachers do in fact get months off from the job they were contracted to do; teach children...

‘Have you complained about them lately?’

I would complain long and loud if monies were extorted from me to fund their downtime...

‘Problem is those increased property taxes often don’t go to the schools.’

and yet those same ever increasing property taxes still come out of my pocket, regardless of their ultimate resting place...and I don’t get to walk off my ‘job’ of paying them in order to coerce lawmakers to make me whole...

Teachers are not unionized in my state. You are painting the issues with a wide brush, when lots of wide brushes are appropriate. Teachers have no recourse but to follow mandates from the administration.

The crap comes from above, not the teachers. Think about this: Principles and county level administrators advance by achieving goals set by the feds and state legislatures. Those goals are most easily met by changing grading and testing standards so that more kids graduate, whether they meet standards are not. Creative grading is forced upon the teachers. Teachers want to teach, administrators want their advancement points. While training in industry typically succeeds in improving the technical skills of the workforce, teacher training is largely used to set new standards and techniques which are designed to meet the numbers, not necessarily improve the learning environment. Oh, they will always claim that research has shown that these new techniques can teacher faster and deeper.

Your grievances with teachers as the bane of education is largely misplaced. Teachers cannot buck the rules because they will be black-balled statewide, loosing their source of income. Where does that happen in industry? Industry does not have such a hold on their workforce.

If you want to solve the educational failures in our Nation, aim higher.

‘and DID NOT CHOOSE TO TAKE IT FROM YOU’

of course they did; they knew how their salaries and benefits are funded when they chose the profession...

‘all because they get a couple months off.’

my ire is not due to their leisure time, but how they walk off the job and then extort remuneration from the taxpayers, which, btw, is the very same reason the author wrote this piece to begin with...

‘Sorry but you’re blaming the wrong people for the wrong reasons’

as stated, I’m griping about the very people who walked off the job on my dime...

‘just plain not understanding how your government is deliberately screwing the education system.’

I understand only too well how governments screw everything they get their mitts on, and how school administrations are merely political pawns...I also know a unionized labor force (NEA)is part and parcel of the governmental swamp...I would hope you agree with me that the only path forward is to privatize education after the eighth grade, give the competing high schools the capacity to eject disruptive students, and end federal funding altogether, except for selective scholarship allowances...

But they didn’t. They didn’t force the state legislature to increase taxes, the legislature could have balanced the budget in other ways. Again, in AZ the people had passed numerous bills to fund the schools through other sources, which the state legislature then spent the money elsewhere. State budgets are big, there’s a lot of money available if they’re willing to use.

Sometimes they have to walk off the job. AZ legislature has been glad handing the school budget for a decade, saying they’re going to fix it, getting things on ballots, and then doing nothing. At some point the BS needed to stop.

‘Sometimes they have to walk off the job.’

and by doing so thus force the lawmakers to raise taxes, which you claimed they don’t do...

‘At some point the BS needed to stop.’

BS in a lot of workplaces needs to stop; most people don’t have a public union advocating a work stoppage as a cudgel against the taxpayer...look, I get your point; the state governments abound in malfeasence, and are no doubt the primary culprit in this mess; so, lobby the legislators to privatize the system...then we’ll see how the teachers react...

‘Teachers are not unionized in my state.’

irrelevant to my point...

‘Teachers have no recourse but to follow mandates from the administration.’

and this differs from the workplace at large exactly how...?

‘The crap comes from above’

as it does everywhere...

‘Your grievances with teachers as the bane of education is largely misplaced’

my gripes result from teachers who walk off the job and expect me to dig into my pocket to bail them out...teachers who do not do this are not included in my griping...

‘Industry does not have such a hold on their workforce.’

are you joking...? Industry fires numerous people every year for not following rules...

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