Posted on 01/09/2007 8:12:11 AM PST by shrinkermd
...This is the most widely held myth about education in America--and the one most directly at odds with the available evidence. Few people are aware that our education spending per pupil has been growing steadily for 50 years. At the end of World War II, public schools in the United States spent a total of $1,214 per student in inflation-adjusted 2002 dollars. By the middle of the 1950s that figure had roughly doubled to $2,345. By 1972 it had almost doubled again, reaching $4,479. And since then, it has doubled a third time, climbing to $8,745 in 2002.
Since the early 1970s, when the federal government launched a standardized exam called the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), it has been possible to measure student outcomes in a reliable, objective way. Over that period, inflation-adjusted spending per pupil doubled. So if more money produces better results in schools, we would expect to see significant improvements in test scores during this period. That didn't happen...
...One reason for the prominence of the underpaid-teacher belief is that people often fail to account for the relatively low number of hours that teachers work. It seems obvious, but it is easily forgotten: teachers work only about nine months per year. During the summer they can either work at other jobs or use the time off...
The most recent data available indicate that teachers average 7.3 working hours per day, and that they work 180 days per year, adding up to 1,314 hours per year. Americans in normal 9-to-5 professions who take two weeks of vacation and another ten paid holidays per year put in 1,928 working hours. Doing the math, this means the average teacher gets paid a base salary equivalent to a fulltime salary of $65,440.
(Excerpt) Read more at frontpagemag.com ...
How come your school doesn't let the teachers have a summer off?
Just wondering.
Sounds like they make a good salary for a private school. Is the school accredited academically? Sounds like it might be, since the salaries are higher than many private schools.
Friend #1 graduated with a degree in Materials Science. He was earning more than his female friend (friend #2) who had a masters degree in social work. Friend #2 couldn't understand why Friend #1 earned more money. She was shocked and appalled.
It takes a lot of schooling to get that stupid.
A masters in ed is worth at least the paper it's printed on. Maybe more in some cases.
Here in Texas they have taken all of the Special Ed students and put them into regular classrooms. Having taught Special Ed, I am now retired, I thought this was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever seen in Education. I had students who were so severly retarded they could not tie their own shoes and had to have a personal assistant follow them all over the school. This student wasn't teachable, yet he was in public school. At least he was in a group of students who were all retarded and not in the regular classroom where he sticks out like a sore thumb, and has no earthly idea what is going on. I pity the teacher or teachers who have to deal with this new classroom setup. I am for homogeneous groupings. Another social experiment in Education, and you wonder why Johnny can't read.
Oh, I thought what you posted was the average teacher's salary! That's why I was asking about your school - I figured it must be an excellent private school to be able to pay the teachers that well. I only know of one nearby - in LA - that can afford to treat their teachers as well as the public schools do. But they charge $19,000 per year tuition!
Yes, your salary is low by public school standards for your education and your position. I see many private school teachers that are obviously doing a labor of love because they could make much, much more. (I also see many who aren't qualified to teach at all, but the nonaccredited private schools hire them anyway!). It's Caveat Emptor where private schools are concerned - some are worth their weight in gold and others just take the tuition money for little in return (I taught at one of those for all of one semester! I couldn't ethically stay there knowing the parents/students were paying so much and were being deceived).
Oh, I thought what you posted was the average teacher's salary! That's why I was asking about your school - I figured it must be an excellent private school to be able to pay the teachers that well. I only know of one nearby - in LA - that can afford to treat their teachers as well as the public schools do. But they charge $19,000 per year tuition!
Yes, your salary is low by public school standards for your education and your position. I see many private school teachers that are obviously doing a labor of love because they could make much, much more. (I also see many who aren't qualified to teach at all, but the nonaccredited private schools hire them anyway!). It's Caveat Emptor where private schools are concerned - some are worth their weight in gold and others just take the tuition money for little in return (I taught at one of those for all of one semester! I couldn't ethically stay there knowing the parents/students were paying so much and were being deceived. And by so-called Christians, no less!).
Oh, I thought what you posted was the average teacher's salary! That's why I was asking about your school - I figured it must be an excellent private school to be able to pay the teachers that well. I only know of one nearby - in LA - that can afford to treat their teachers as well as the public schools do. But they charge $19,000 per year tuition!
Yes, your salary is low by public school standards for your education and your position. I see many private school teachers that are obviously doing a labor of love because they could make much, much more. (I also see many who aren't qualified to teach at all, but the nonaccredited private schools hire them anyway!). It's Caveat Emptor where private schools are concerned - some are worth their weight in gold and others just take the tuition money for little in return (I taught at one of those for all of one semester! I couldn't ethically stay there knowing the parents/students were paying so much and were being deceived. And by so-called Christians, no less!).
You don't happen to be at a classical school by any chance?
Are you saying that American kids are just dumber than kids in other countries?
Anyway, the quality of public school education is inversely proportionate to the growth of the NEA.
Good citizens is what our educational system was set up to produce....
that does not mean we need everyone to be an engineer, a pilot, a doctor or a lawyer.... it means having parents know a thing or two about child raising....that doesn't take a genius.....
we need people to be able to read a voter's pamphlet and understand what they are voting for.....
so ...a job to earn money....know how to raise children...know how to vote.....
in all these cases, the schools have done very poorly.....
I'm not concerned with children learning which jobs pay the most. I think children should learn to follow their vocation in life. What I'm concerned about is their lack of understanding of basic economics.
That's what I was told too. But it's not true.
The truth is far more interesting, however tragic.
"You don't happen to be at a classical school by any chance?"
No, but I know of a few of those that are faith-based as we are and do an excellent job.
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