[klarabelle]

I saw this on FB and thought I'd share.....

[chalkdusty]

I was listening to one of the NPR talk shows yesterday during my drive. The topic was the teacher shortage and the lack of interest in the profession in the current college students. Having recently retired, I agreed with every point that was made in the discussion.

Teachers are under incredible amounts of stress and have been maligned by the general public. Why would anyone want to take that on with the low pay in relation to other degree programs?

I saw that meme the other day...the one that states that "teachers don't get into the profession for the income. They get into it for the outcome." And at times that meme just makes my blood boil. Teachers should be paid better. Don't negate our value.

[klarabelle]

It has always bothered me that people have no problems paying hundreds for entertainment tickets to make people million/billionaires but don't want the people who are with their children for most of the day to be paid for their work. I think it is a sad statement about our society. I think if women weren't the majority of teachers, we would see a decent wage for the profession.

[SusaninNJ]

I had this experience a few years ago. I was teaching a class connected with my church and a young girl was assigned to assist the class. She was wonderful with the children... patient, encouraging and very engaged. I asked her it she was considering teaching as a career. She looked horrified and said no. I was sad but not surprised.

Saddest of all was the attitude of some of my school colleagues who actively discouraged their own children from becoming teachers. One superintendent told me that his daughter expressed an interest in teaching and he told her to reconsider, that she saw how hard her parents worked.

Who will be left?

[Haley23]

Saddest of all was the attitude of some of my school colleagues who actively discouraged their own children from becoming teachers. One superintendent told me that his daughter expressed an interest in teaching and he told her to reconsider, that she saw how hard her parents worked.

My parents are both lifelong teachers. My mom is still subbing and my dad got a "retirement job" teaching in a much easier private school; he's on year 39 now. They both have been telling me for YEARS that I need to figure out what my "second career" will be, that no one teaches for 30 years anymore. My mom was very insistent that instead of buying my house, I should have gotten a PhD so that I could run my own "reading business." She's also pestered me over the years to improve my Spanish so that I could do something with interpreting if I wanted.

I saw that meme the other day...the one that states that "teachers don't get into the profession for the income. They get into it for the outcome." And at times that meme just makes my blood boil. Teachers should be paid better. Don't negate our value.

I feel the same about that meme. Earlier this year we were, no surprise, having a hard time filling a 1:1 para position for a student who is deaf. I asked how we can expect someone to do that job when they can make more than $3 per hour more working at the Chick-fil-a down the street. The DHH teacher said, "Oh, we have to find someone who is in it for the heart, not the money." No! "Heart" doesn't pay bills!

I've seen the tide somewhat turning in my area as far as more support for teachers and paying more (salary vs. COL in my area is abysmal). Our big city district went on strike in the past couple of years and got what they wanted, and I feel like the public support was a huge reason why. Unfortunately, with the pandemic and everyone having economic hardships, I don't know if this will continue. Especially with people being upset about schools being closed for in person learning. You'd think that would make people see how valuable school is, but of course that's not really how it's coming off...

[teachnkids]

It is sad te wat the teachers are viewed, yet I don't see any improvement soon.

If the minimum wage goes to $15 per hour nationally, a full time burger flipper will make slightly less than a teacher in my state. Let that sink in! No college degree making $5-8k less than the college graduate who have thousands in loans. Flipping burgers is looking good!