http://now.msn.com/kim-ki-hoon-south-korean-teacher-earns-4-million-dollars-annually My son just landed a full-time high school teaching position..... an online teaching position..... and a part-time teaching position at a local community college. He graduated in May with a Masters degree in Math from USF to go with his teaching degree from Western Michigan. BUT.....members of our family and myself ( quietly ) questioned his decidion not to become employed in the private sector instead because half of this country thinks teachers are scum.... not to be paid well bums. Thank God for the other half......
:twisted: what half of the country think that about teachers. No one I know. and Not the majority of Californians. Just send them my way I will straighten them out real fast.
:idea: As a math teacher, he can write his own ticket. Nearly every district in this state will hire him walking in the door. As for money, there is some out there. Every district has it's own pay scale, with many (ex. Chaffey, Claremont etc.) paying more than $100,000 per year. Los Angeles Unified pays $110,00 and health care is free. The highest paying state is Connecticut where teachers average over $150,000. Nobody will get rich this way, but it's adequate pay for most people and it's a perfect job for those who want to raise their own kids or run a small business on the side.
Congratulations to your son as well Dave, I agree with everyone else on the importance of teachers and have always felt they are the bedrock of any society and vastly unappreciated.
As someone who taught for 5 years I appreciate the skill it takes to be a good teacher. That being said, I'm appalled at the expectations of today's teachers. I can't recall a teacher strike that wasn't about money. The class size issues were always a ruse. Mandatory union dues make them perpetual supporters of the Democratic party that always makes sure that teachers get what they want. Recent changes in Wisc. and Mich. have shown how many teachers bail on their union when they get a chance to. When my 2 youngest daughters were in high school, I was concerned with their classes in traditional learning. Instead they were learning about "alternative" lifestyles instead of American History. It's no wonder that so many young people are brainwashed into thinking that gay marriage is a Civil Rights issue. I know a number of retired teachers. They're all liberal politically and enjoying their inflated pensions.
Well.... in general I see that many of you do support our teachers. My son is a brilliant....centered kid with solid values.... a smart, educated wife and beautiful baby girl. He is a dedicated... hard workin kid who will be a success anywhere he chooses to work so if teaching is where he wants to be I guarantee you many kids will see the benefit of his guidance. America needs more teachers like my son but who can blame kids like him or their families from shying away from such a thankless oft criticized occupation that doesn't even pay well to start with while at the same time many conservative Americans are clamoring for them to take even more cuts and give back even more. More and more of America's best and brightest are not going to hope to be teachers and as a nation we should be appalled that we have created such a piss poor learning environment and that we have devalued our education system to such a large extent.
In one sentence, too many of today's teachers tell kids what to think instead of teaching them how to think.
I say too many tend to generalize and make minority samples the representative sample. Wow.... thank you Rush you friggin idiot for driving home my point: "The whole educational system has been co-opted by people who have found an easy way to a good living, and they realize it and they don't want to give it up without a fight. It's always about the money, particularly from people on the left who claim they are motivated by everything but money. They're motivated by good intentions, by their big hearts. They're inspired and motivated by their desire for good works. It's always about the money -- and as easy money as they can get. "Yeah, let's form a nonprofit! Let's form a little charity here. We'll start asking people to donate to our cause and we'll siphon some of it off and call it 'salary,' and that will be our living and we'll convince people we're oriented toward good works and a good cause."
:cry: funny I know a lot of teachers who give a whole lot more of their time money and effort than they make in income to teach the youth of today. Struggle to make ends meet sometimes are the families income. but you wont hear them complain except about the parents who don't give a damn.
Less Than A Third Of NY’s Public School Students Passed Math, Reading State Tests Last Year How’s that Nanny State working for you, Governor Cuomo? Via NY Post: City results on state math and reading tests plummeted last year – confirming warnings that testing kids on tougher educational standards would shock the school systems from New York to Buffalo. Fewer than 30 percent of public school kids in grades 3 to 8 passed the state math exams last year, while roughly 26 percent passed the exams in reading, according to the Wall Street Journal. That’s down from pass rates of 60 percent in math in 2011 and 47 percent in reading. The poor results were prompted by New York’s adoption of higher learning standards known as Common Core, which was embraced by 44 other states and Washington D.C. But New York was one of the few states to have already changed its exams to reflect the new standards – meaning kids, teachers and principals had less time to prepare to meet the higher benchmark. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/less_than_third_reading_exams_public_gGQdfTWObFecMAsHsnti3I
I bet those NY students know how to use a condom, which bathroom a transgender individual can use and know that playing with a squirt gun could get you suspended from school for bringing a firearm.
In the last week we have had two 25-30 year old female teachers ( both very attractive ) arrested for felony sexual assault in different school districts here at the shore. Seems both were having sexual relationship with 15 year old boys. We did not have perks like that when I was a high school freshman. 8)
Not that we didn't all have at least one female teacher that we dreamed about when we were 15 but really..... is this phenomenon something on the increase? It seems like it but maybe it always existed.... but wasn't so scandalously covered by the media. In any event maybe the solution for NY to pump up those math grades is to get tough on it's teachers.... take away a few bennies.... cut some pay... lay some of them off and have the state GOP take the credit for stupendous budgetary magic and then go out after all that and attract some real top notch teaching talent..... no....wait.....yeah right. :wink:
Meanwhile the average wage in America has gone from $6186.00 in 1970 to $42979.00 in 2011 .... a sevenfold increase. But damned these greedy teachers for trying to keep up with average....the bastards. Apparently new teachers fell woefully short in 2011: http://www.nea.org/home/2011-2012-average-starting-teacher-salary.html "These days, brilliant women become surgeons and investment bankers — and 47 percent of America’s kindergarten through 12th-grade teachers come from the bottom one-third of their college classes (as measured by SAT scores). The figure is from a study by McKinsey & Company, “Closing the Talent Gap.” Changes in relative pay have reinforced the problem. In 1970, in New York City, a newly minted teacher at a public school earned about $2,000 less in salary than a starting lawyer at a prominent law firm. These days the lawyer takes home, including bonus, $115,000 more than the teacher, the McKinsey study found." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/13/opinion/13kristof.html By the way.... my son scored 1360 on his SAT and 31 on the ACT.... and yet he chooses to teach in spite of half of Americans swallowing the Rush Limbaugh Koolaid on the subject. He has a newly earned earned Masters Degree... a wife and baby but apparently does not earn the average salary in America from 2011... But why don't you bust his teacher chops for what he does make.... :roll: F@@K Rush Limbaugh!!
Uh...I don't think you are using adjusted dollars, as my graph was. Could you ever make a post without insulting everybody else and trying to tell them what they think and how nasty they are? Instead of posting something proud about your son you turn it into a diatribe against everyone else. My mother was a wonderful high school teacher (with a Master's degree in psychology). She taught English, Sociology, Economics, Psychology, and even a year of Latin when the Latin teacher got ill and retired. I am very proud of her and her career. She never felt underpaid...oh, and guess what, she lost a lot of friends when she crossed a teacher's union picket line (because it was not legal...I don't remember the specifics.) My sister was a special ed teacher until she retired. It was a labor of love but she never felt abused or underpaid. The experience served her well when she had a special needs child of her own...my niece...who overcame her own problems to become....a teacher...oh, and who just got her Master's degree. We are very proud of her. Many of my friends are teachers...they are doing just fine, thank you very much. I truly am happy for your son...it sounds like he is off to a great start and is a sharp young man who will be very successful. I would be touting his accomplishments and very happy for his career choice, were I his father. I hope that when he teaches he does not have the cynicism that his father seems to exhibit, at least on this board. Be nice.
Make no mistake Stu... I am very proud of my son now and I will be proud if teaching is his lifelong profession because our country needs good teachers like I am sure my son will be. Unfortunately so many don't feel the same way. My sister-n-law is the Comptroller for a school district up in a Detroit suburb and her first reaction when told about his new job was " ugh.....why did he settle for being a teacher"..... And yet.... all you hear from the right is the horror stories of how teachers are ripping off the taxpayer. :roll: My sister-n-law is as conservative GOP as you can possibly get and yet.... she knows the truth about teaching. She sees the salaries of every single teacher in her district and she knows what a thankless... underpaid job it is.
I don't know anyone who thinks that teachers are scum. Hell, in my post in the other section you obviously missed the point of our situation here in Alabama. You have about one half of the teachers who are incredibly well compensated and enjoy all the best perks that they would never get in the private sector. They are shielded from all that. Then you have the other half who are teaching but treated like private sector employees. Come election time, the Union trots out those teachers THAT THEY DO NOT REPRESENT OR EVER MAKE ANY ATTEMPT TO HELP as 'those teachers they are fighting for' only to turn around and take that new money right on back to the teachers who they do represent. As for this: I couldn't agree more. I had teachers from middle school all the way through college who did this. My son has teachers who do this. 2 children, 3 generations apart and 3000 miles between school systems yet only one constant. Now Gip makes his experienced, anecdotal claim which mirrors what I've seen. We could all do this. Perhaps it's more of an issue than you are willing to recognize.