This came across my desk today. Looks like a great place to go after more big govenrment spending...teachers..unionized swine, "not real jobs" as some on here say, basically just a bunch of guys and gals with their hands out. Whatdayathink? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day*maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET’S SEE*. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries). What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute - there’s something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student-a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!
Unfortunately teachers will never be paid what they are worth. They can't be. You have to really want to be a teacher, if they all of a sudden started making tons of money then all sorts of people would do it for that reason only. Sad, really really sad.
teachers unions are powerful because the government always sides with unions. and this ruins our education system because they teachers are not held to any real standards. this is why charter schools are superior. teachers dont need to be paid much, because people will do it for cheap. there is no such things as paying someone "what they are worth". you can either find people to work at a certain salary or you cant. if teachers are "worth more" they should work somewhere else. and the problems isnt about money, what the teachers are paid, it is that teachers refuse to be held to any objective standards.
having lots of people want to do a job is a good thing because then you get to hire the best ones. you dont say "it sucks that surgeons make so much becase everyone wants to be a surgeon just for the money". you should actually require them be competent. but because the government has stupid rules regarding the way unions get leverage, you cant make teachers actually do a good job.
I was just yanking Loco's chain when I said that. I have many friends who are dedicated teachers and I know what they put up with.
Actually surgeons are in the same boat just a little different. Getting through med school can't be all that easy. Sure they get paid a bunch but I'm betting not many of them are doing it for the $$$. If teachers all of a sudden started getting paid like they should be you'd have a lot more people wanting to teach. Hell, good salary with the summer off? Where do I sign? You wouldn't know a good one until you've seen the finished product, which happens to be our future. Not something I want to take a chance on. Hell we already have obama, we don't need to make it worse
The teacher accountability programs in Louisiana are a joke because they are run by the administrators of the schools where the teachers work... Thus the good ol' boy network kicks in. I am teacher and I have never joined a union. I do not disagree with the stance that the unions have taken on many teacher issues (increased pay and benefits, less paperwork, more freedom within the classroom to accommodate individual teaching styles, etc.), I just cannot bring myself to join a union for two reason: recruitment based on fear-tactics and political contributions. Unions promote membership by basically saying, "If you do not join a union, you will get sued by someone and lose everything you own." I have a problem with this. Instead, they should argue their stance on issues and the work that they have already done for teachers. Unions dues will always, always, always go to a Democratic candidate because Democrats believe that the solution to all problems in education is to throw money up in the air and down will fall higher test scores and lower dropout rates. Republicans cut education spending and say "do more with less". Personally, I believe that education is a damn good investment for tax dollars, but I see firsthand how it is spent and, believe me, much of it is wasted on useless programs, technology that will be obsolete in 2 years (and out of warranty, at which point it is shipped to a warehouse to collect dust). You want better test scores? You want lower dropout rates? Hire more teachers. Every study done on classroom size shows that a lower teacher-student ratio will almost always increase achievement due to more individualized instruction. Its a fact. We don't need all of the Activboards and 5 computers to a class. We need smaller class sizes... I am fortunate this year with my classes. My biggest is 27. I know teachers at non-inner city schools (who receive much less funding) who have classes in the mid to upper 30s. You think little Jimmy is getting his individualized assistance in that class? No, he is getting lectured to because that is the most efficient way for that teacher to give instruction. Oh, and the original pay equation that was posted... what about when you teach 150 different kids (8 classes of 23-27 each)? (The irony of my rant is that I am at work right now. Benefit of block schedule and having all of my lessons and materials from last year.)
