Posted on 05/03/2018 3:25:54 AM PDT by ImaGraftedBranch
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.
This ping list is for the other articles of interest to homeschoolers about education and public school. This can occasionally be a fairly high volume list. Articles pinged to the Another Reason to Homeschool List will be given the keyword of ARTH. (If I remember. If I forget, please feel free to add it yourself)
The main Homeschool Ping List handles the homeschool-specific articles. I hold both the Homeschool Ping List and the Another Reason to Homeschool Ping list. Please freepmail me to let me know if you would like to be added to or removed from either list, or both.
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.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.