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Starting pay in west Texas for a new Teacher is 24,900 a yr. My husband makes $27,000 on retirement from GM. He did not even have to have a diploma when he started. But he makes more in retirement then I will make for the first 4 or 5 years as a teacher; as long as I am in west TX.

I find it hard to believe that you guys are getting down on teachers. They are not all bad. The majority.... above 50% but I have no idea how far above. Actually got into the field to make a difference in the students lives. I know there are many teachers out here that only got into the field to have the summers off. But that is not the case with the majority.

People in America that are not in the education field need to stop and think about how important teachers are to the well being of this nation. I am sure you have heard the old adage: "You get what you pay for." When teachers make less then a factory worker, they have a tendency to not care about the students they are teaching.

Maybe if they became a little more particular about the teachers they hire and pay them a little more (at least here in West TX) we will have higher averages for reading, writing and math scores across the country. I can see why you would complain about California and NY. Their teachers get top salaries. But when you take away those two states and re-average the average salary it will drop to somewhere in the 34,000 range.

I am not complaining about the money I make. It was my choice to join this field and I knew that the pay sucked. But I am in it to help students grow and learn what it takes to survive in this world. If all teachers in America made at least 47,000 a year then I would agree no raises were necessary.

Remember we are the ones responsible for building the foundation in every American so that they can become doctors, lawyers, judges, CEO's, owners of companies and so on.