You people all need a wake up call. These are college educated individuals. There are definitely some poor teachers. However the sad fact is that many people avoid or leave education because of the lack of funds.
My wife has taught 5th grade for 22 years in Leawood, Kansas. It is a school in a wealthy suburb so for the most part the parents and students. The hours and planning they have, especially with all the new testing , has them working much more then 40 hour weeks. It is funny that other professions with 4 plus year college degrees would be appalled at $34 dollars an hour but some how teachers should be "happy" with the pay.
I admittedly thought teachers were paid alright until I got a first hand glimpse with my wife. Today teachers also have to be part counsellor, deal with parents that "know more" then the teacher. Any problem the child has is "the schools" fault.
I am a big proponent of school voucher systems and making schools perform, thus the teachers. However all of you need a wake-up call if you think teachers pay is fair for their responsibility. Now if we could get the NEA out of the school system we would really be doing something!!!
There is a little something called course of study and requirements. Most of the people I knew years ago became teachers by default. With a lot of them having a major in partying. In short all those survey course are really hard. Please note I never said all. :)
"You people all need a wake up call. These are college educated individuals."
So what?!? I have a friend with a masters in psychology. He's lucky if he can get a job making 25K working full-time, year round. A degree entitles one to nothing but your whole post seems to be about some entitlement you feel is deserved because of some degree your wife has. This, "Oh poor me, I work 2/3 as much as everybody else and get paid the same. Boo-Hoo". Pardon me if I hang on to my hankerchief.
Welcome to everybody else's world, pal. I've been working ias an IT professional for 10 years and I don't make $34 an hour. I have to fly all over the country and be away from my family for weeks sometimes. I commute 50 miles to work and have 40K miles a my 1-year old car. I leave at 6:30 and get home 13 hours later. I'm not sure what my house looks like in the daylight.
So spare me, OK.
I agree that these people are college educated individuals; however, I don't think that there are many people that would be "appalled" with $34 an hour.
In a "typical" job, $34/hour amounts to around $70,000 a year. That's a dang good salary, especially for just a four year degree. The point of this article is that there are architects and economists and other "professionals" that DON'T make $34 an hour.
I agree with the rest of your post, though. Vouchers=good. Get the NEA out.
Incidentally, my wife is a chemist with a Masters degree. She doesn't make $34 an hour.
Part of the "issue" with teachers pay is the retirement. A teachers deferred compensation is rarely discussed. If your wife teaches for 30 years, what is her retirement pay? If I do 20 years in the army, i get 50% of my base pay. If I do 30 years, I get 75%.
How many white collar jobs do you think pay someone over 50% of their retirement pay?
I also understand that this does not apply to every teacher in every school district. Some teachers are not compensated well and have to pay for their health benefits. However, there are some teachers who are paid well, pay little for health benefits and get a great retiremet (say 90%) of their what they earned when they were teaching.
Because one has a college education does not mean someone should get a high salary. What was the major of the person who received their degree? A math, engineering or other science degree is different than a degree in Radio, Television and Film, Political Science, women's studies or Hispanice studies.
Sidenote off topic. As a person with a Hispanic background, I told my wife I will not help our kids with their college cost is they get a dgree in Hispanic studies.