Teachers earn more than editors & reporters

email ^ | Craig J. Cantoni

[hsmomx3]

The Summer 2003 edition of the education journal "Education Next" has statistics on teacher pay from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that match my own research. To quote: "Teachers earn more per hour than architects, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, statisticians, biological and life scientists, registered nurses, university-level foreign-language teachers, and editors and reporters." The statistics exclude benefits, which are far richer for teachers than for private-sector employees.

On a related note, the web site of a private citizen has great graphs and stats on government spending. One graph shows how education productivity has declined by 70 percent over the last 40 years, based on the ratio of SAT scores to inflation-adjusted per-pupil spending. The graph can be found at:

http://mwhodges.home.att.net/education.htm

Regards,

Craig J. Cantoni

Capstone Consulting Group

480-661-8175

Fax 480-661-8155

[supercat]

If teaching is so lucrative, for so little work, why do so many young teachers leave the profession after just a few years?

Politics. Mediocre teachers who have been around for æons don't want some young upstart making them look bad, so they seek to discourage less senior people from doing to well. The teachers who might threaten the status quo are also, quite conveniently, the ones most likely to leave in disgust.

[cincinnati65]

So if the school were open 250 days a year, you'd work 20% more days for the same pay willingly?

[netmilsmom]

>>I think your husband should have figured out he should go into teaching ,instead of hearing you whine about the differences in pay <<

I'm not whining, I'm stating facts. It's some teachers that are whining.

[ladylib]

The state tests that kids take in the 4th and 8th grades. And they weren't so bad -- in the 90% and above range, but other towns did better and paid their teachers less, $10,000 less in some cases.

I live right next door to the middle school. The parking lot is empty at 3:30. The kids get out at 3:05.

I'm not that upset about it, but some people are and have written to the local paper about it.

[mathluv]

I'm pretty sure that Texas teachers don't earn more than the people in the professions you mentioned. Of course, we don't have unions negotiating for us, either, and we couldn't strike if we wanted to.

Teachers are certainly not paid on the level of administors. Texas teachers are still ranked around #35 in the nation.

[Renegade]

No. I would be paid per/diem on the extra days as certified in the contract . People have choices in life to enter the profession of choice . I highly recommend YOU look into the teaching profession. If you are able to qualify you will also reap the benefits.

[Renegade]

Please state your husbands qualifications, career, and time spent on the job compared to the teachers number of years teaching .

[netmilsmom]

>>Probably a teacher with 30 years experience makes more than the professions stated at entry level. However, a 30 year carreer in the mentioned professions will far outpay the teacher who spent the same amount of time at the job.<<

1.) How about a link to the facts of this?
2.) I would agree with you about this if you stated that those in the other professions stayed with the same employer. No guarantee if they switched employers.

[mathluv]

WHAT? My sister earns 54,000 a year for 180 days a year. My husband earns 50,000 and works 250 days a year. I would really like it if he got three months of vacation for that money. Divide it however you like.

Pay is regulated by the state, or the local district, or a combo of the two. In union states, teachers do get paid more. In the south, the pay is low.

[Diva Betsy Ross]

Show me a statistic that MOST Americans are patriotic these days. What a lame attempt to dis-credit what I wrote. Most teachers are glorified civil servants , there are no statistics needed. Every thinking person knows this to be true.

We don't hear about anyone else crying about their benfits and pay like teachers do.

MOST boys dislike the color pink, Most grocery stores sell milk, most race fans like to see fast cars.Most teachers are self cerntered cry babies, who get perks and wages similiar to real hard working people. It is a cushy job. Good teachers are going to work at private schools or homeschooling their own kids. Some of the old school good teachers are just hanging on waiting to get out from under the NEA and just get away.

A young person with the desire to teach can find many other forms of employment rather than taking hand outs at the government schools.

[Renegade]

I am a teacher and the amount of $$ spent on teaching is not directly related to the achievement of the students . You can have a school full of the world's best teachers and have low test scores if the children don't have the willingness to learn . The district you stated as doing better probably has a higher number of functional families than the district you live in . Parent involvement is a BIG plus in a child's education.

[Renegade]

All I want is for you to validate a statement . Is it valid or a value judgement of your own ? Simple and to the point.

[lizma]

This teacher gravy train must be de-railed.

It's just not the teachers, it's the whole system.

The national average in the public school system is one administrator for every teacher!

We are paying for a bloated bureaucracy on top of funding the incompetent, all thanks to the teacher's union. The union is what needs to be de-railed.

[Diddle E. Squat]

This posting is a blatant unionist attempt to win sympathy.

Comprehension dyslexic?

The article's point is the opposite of what you conclude.

[Renegade]

You hit the nail on the head. If a person in another profession moves to another employer they usually increase in salary. Not so in the teaching profession . Many teachers never leave the district if they amass ten or more years because of the pay cut they have to take to transfer somewhere else . SOOOO , the longer you stay in the same district the more you will make .
Profession example . My son just started a job with a Microbiologist 1 rating at a starting salary of $35,000.00. If he takes advantage of the educational percs offered by the company to further his degree he can attain a Microbiologist 4 rating and earn close to $90,000.00/year by his fifth year on the job . NO teacher will jump from $35,000.00 to $90,000.00 even with a Master's degree after five years on the job.

[mathluv]

Every thinking person knows this to be true.

I guess anyone who does not agree with you is not a 'thinking person'? And I don't agree. You get what you pay for. Some teachers are great, some are good, and some should be somewhere else. The latter would not be good employees anywhere.

[netmilsmom]

>>Please state your husbands qualifications, career, and time spent on the job compared to the teachers number of years teaching <<

My husband has been a computer engineer for 10 years. He holds a BS degree from Michigan Tech. He works 9 to 10 hours a day, weekends off, two weeks vacation for a medium size Sun Systems supplier. He loves his job.

My sister from Cleveland Public Schools, also with a BA from Baldwin Wallace College works 180 days a year and has three months off in the summer. She started at 50,000 a year and has gotten a raise every one of the three years she has been there.

Right at the moment we are in a pay freeze and have not seen even a cost of living increase in those same three years. I am not complaining, I am stating facts.

At our local elementary school, the Kindergarten teacher is tenured. The parents have been working to get rid of her for years. This year she lost a child on a field trip. She is scheduled to teach next year. There is no way to compare that to the private sector.

[ladylib]

My brother just entered the teaching profession, and he works very hard. Leaves for school at 7 and home after 5 and spends time correcting papers and developing lesson plans. He does a lot of work during the Christmas and spring breaks also, but he works it around his free time. He has the summers off, but will work at a language school.

He was complaining to my brother-in-law about the hours he works. My brother-in-law had very little sympathy. My brother-in-law is the vice president of a pediatric care agency that provides nursing and medical services to very sick children in their homes. He's basically on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He and my sister probably take about 3 weeks vacation a year.

Most people work very hard today. Nothing is 9 to 5 anymore. Why should it be 9 to 3, 9 months a year?

[Eva]

Do you honestly think that most white collar employees spend only forty hours behind a desk? The problem with teachers is the union attitude. A professional union is an oxymoron.
A professional is someone who follows a career which necessitates a university education and places public service above financial remuneration. Do you see the conflict?

The quality of public school education is inversely proportionate to the growth of the NEA. I have a plan to fix the union problem if you are interested.

[Principled]

teachers aren't paid to babysit. they're paid to help kids learn. many kids don't give a shee-ott. teachers struggle to get them to give a carp.

the system is problematic.
a monopoly will never be as successful as a competitive industry.
a bigger problem than teachers is the lack of parental care

How can a teacher be successful helping a kid learn who hasn't eaten or slept in a few days (except at school)?

How can a teacher be successful helping a kid learn who has been told his whole life to turn 16 and get a job at the mill? kids believe their parents more than some teacher.

1) get government out of education
2) implement user fees (tuition) to a significant extent