Posted on 11/01/2011 9:11:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Education Secretary Arne Duncan thinks public-school teachers are “desperately underpaid” and has called for doubling teacher salaries. In a new paper co-authored with Jason Richwine of the Heritage Foundation, I look into whether teachers really are desperately underpaid, or underpaid at all. Jason and I find that the conventional wisdom is far off the truth.
At first glance, public-school teachers definitely look underpaid. According to Census data, teachers receive salaries around 20 percent lower than similarly educated private-sector workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says teachers’ benefits are about the same as benefits in the private sector. But both the salary and benefits figures are dubious.
Most teachers have Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees in education, and most people with education degrees are teachers. Decades of research has shown that education is a less rigorous course of study than other majors: Teachers enter college with below-average SAT scores but receive much higher GPAs than other students. It may be that a degree in education simply does not reflect the same underlying skills and knowledge as a degree in, say, history or chemistry. When we compare salaries based on objective measures of cognitive ability — such as SAT, GRE, or IQ scores — the teacher salary penalty disappears.
And the real world bears this out: Contrary to teachers’ insistences that they could earn more outside of teaching, we show that the typical worker who moves from the private sector into teaching receives a salary increase, while the typical teacher who leaves for the private sector receives a pay cut.
If salaries are about even, benefits push teacher pay ahead. The BLS benefits data, which most pay studies rely on, has three shortcomings: It omits the value of retiree health coverage, which is uncommon for private workers but is worth about an extra 10 percent of pay for teachers; it understates the value of teachers’ defined-benefit pensions, which pay benefits several times higher than the typical private 401(k) plan; and it ignores teachers’ time off outside the normal school year, meaning that long summer vacations aren’t counted as a benefit. When we fix these problems, teacher benefits are worth about double the average private-sector level.
Finally, public-school teachers have much greater job security, with unemployment rates about half those of private-school teachers or other comparable private occupations. Job security protects against loss of income during unemployment and, even more importantly, protects a position in which benefits are much more generous than private-sector levels.
Overall, we estimate that public-school teachers receive total compensation roughly 50 percent higher than they would likely receive in the private sector. Does this mean that all school teachers are overpaid? No. But it does mean that across-the-board pay increases are hardly warranted. What is needed is pay flexibility, to reward the best teachers and dismiss the worst.
— Andrew G. Biggs is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
I have a degree in chemical engineering with a post graduate certificate from one of the most highly rated universities in the world. I needed government/civic courses to get in and get out. I also have two professional licenses. I thought at one time it would be good if I would be able to spend some time after retirement to help struggling students even without pay. After casually exploring what the system and union’s hoops I would have to jump through I gave up the idea. As far as I’m concerned unions of ‘public servants-all’ need to be quashed down to/for absolute societal necessities with corresponding pay.
And, the purpose for requiring an elementary level multi-subject credentialed teacher to know calculus I, II, and III would be ? ? ? ? What benefit would there be in requiring a high school English teacher to be able to pass such high level math courses? ? ? ? Should this also be applied to Physical Education teachers? If the desired outcome is to eliminate people from earning a teaching credential, then I might understand your line of thought. But, requiring such a high level of mathematics for people obtaining a degree where such mathematics are not used makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. But, I can understand given that so many people who are so critical of education have never spent a single day in the shoes of a classroom teacher. If they had they might have formed a different opinion.
I will check to see of my granddaughter still has any of the math worksheets from 6th grade, and if so, I’ll give you some examples. I won’t be able to check until Friday, so this will be in-process till then. Ping me if I don’t get back to you by early next week as my schedule is hectic and I don’t recall as well as I use to.
As I offered to Hodar, I will offer to you . . . I will check to see if my granddaughter still has any of the math homework worksheets from last year and provide some examples. I won’t be home until Friday, and in case I forget by then, ping me to remind me about this.
No problem whatsoever ... I’m curious as to how something as simple as 6th grade math could be made complex. Are they factoring? Such as factoring by Prime numbers?
Example:
16 x 12 = (4 x 4) x (2 x 6)
= ((2 x 2)x(2 x 2)) x (2 x (2 x 3))
= 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 3
=2^6 x 3
= 64 x 3
= 192
The issue isn’t with simple math calculation problems as in your example. It is with the language that is employed in the problem. And, much of what is sent home has no corresponding examples that can be utilized to compare to the homework problems.
Purpose:
It would prove that they weren't bringing math phobia into the classroom and subtly communicating this phobia to their students.
It would be one proof, among others, that were smart enough to merit being paid tax dollars.
It should apply to all socialist school teachers for the above reasons.
While many have not been socialist teachers, many socialist school teachers have never spent a day working a serious job in the private market.
forgive me if I don’t get overly concerned about their plight.
Exactly. I've never met a teacher who didn't think that they were the most picked-on, overworked, underpaid, under-appreciated person in their job in the entire world. To me, the similarities among the teachers I know (and I know a dozen or more) are bizarre. That mindset must come with the territory. Heck, even my M-i-L, who was a teacher, but has been retired for almost 10 years, still whines about how lousy her job *was*.
I've no doubt that many teachers work hard in a demanding job, but so do you and I and plenty of other people. Sez me, if you hate what you do, find something else.
I don't always love my job, but more-or-less, I don't particularly mind it. And, I don't bitch about it to everyone who'll listen.
And WE pay for that mindless crap.
Let's be plain about this.
Would a “good” teacher ***willingly** seek a job that teaches children to think and reason godlessly? Huh? Would a “good” person do that? Yet, ALL of our nation's socialist schools do exactly that! The religiously worldview of every one of our socialist schools is GODLESS. The child **will** think and reason godlessly just to cooperate in the classroom. EVIL teachers would take a job that works to destroy the faith of a child. Useful idiots too.
And....All government schools in this nation are socialist. Just by attending children learn that government can use the threat of police action to **force** children to use the socialist schools and to **force** citizens to pay for it. Well?...Gee!...If government can give a child socialist schooling, why not thousands of other socialist goodies? Do “good” teachers **willingly** take a job that would teach children to be comfortable with socialism? No! Of course not! Evil teachers do. Useful idiots do.
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