$85,000 salaries: Teaching pays off

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ^ | October 26, 2003 | D. AILEEN DODD

[Labyrinthos]

I'm reminded of the old saying: Those who can't do, teach. Those who can't teach, teach Gym.

The version I heard is "those who can't do, teach, and those who can neither do nor teach go into politics."

[pepsionice]

I was told last year...when I expressed interest in getting into the teaching profession...that Georgia was desperate for teachers. People would go into the state system....realize that they could make a better salary in Atlanta...and dump the teaching job after five years. The state was desperate to keep their teacher positions filled and were constantly recruiting non-teachers to come in and take positions. My guess is that the state has raised the pay level every year over the last ten years to help stop the exodus of teachers into the Atlanta job market. And this is the result of that effort. You've got people who are making a heck of alot of money (probably the ten-year veterans of the teaching corps)....and they have way too much money on their hands.

[ralph rotten]

Here in CA when a teacher retire from teaching They stop puttng there age in the paper----WHY!!!!!----

[valkyrieanne]

By the way, I disagree that you get a better education at private schools. We had some kids transfer in to my high school from private schools and god, were they ever stupid.

We have a lot of teachers with advanced degrees teaching in our district at the high school level, and they're generally very good. I don't see that private school education is necessarily better around here, either - certainly not for $6000 to $8000 a year per kid tuition.

[valkyrieanne]

In Oregon, we voted down a tax increase, despite the hand-wringing ads run by the corrupt teachers' union, but they managed to get the governor and legislature to sign a budget to raise taxes, so they can have an even fatter budget. Now, as we collect signatures to reject that increase, teachers are using their classrooms to indoctrinate children into begging their parents to not sign the petition, and giving them propaganda printed up by the teachers' union that summarizes their position.

You don't have a school problem; you have a problem with your state laws. In Missouri, NO taxes can be enacted without a vote among those affected, and school taxes (not bond issues) require a supermajority. It's also illegal for school personnel to lobby for tax increases in school, although they can put out brochures that only discuss budgetary issues.

[valkyrieanne]

Put up, or shut up. I am standing in front of High School classes for 5-6 hours a day ...

I for one am glad to hear teachers on these threads, which otherwise usually degenerate quickly into nothing but public school bashing.

[valkyrieanne]

Those comments were a direct response to your contention that teachers are only in front of students for 4 hours a day. Did you expect to make that assertion and have it go totally unchallenged?

Yes, maybe if they work part time. But four hours? Please. Our high school starts at 7:50. Most of the teachers are there an hour early to do planning *and* to help students who need it. They are teaching classes all day *and* many are involved in evening and weekend things like school plays, debating, clubs, etc.

At the grade school level, our children's teachers were always there at least 30 minutes before school started, and stayed at least 30 minutes afterwards (I know because if I ever needed to call after school, they were there!) In grade school that teacher has to be *on point* the whole day.

[Reeses]

Janet Bass, spokeswoman for the Washington-based American Federation of Teachers. "If a teacher has a number of years of experience, a master's degree or a Ph.D., that teacher should be well paid. Just like in any profession, the more credentials you have, the more you are worth to the company, and in this case the more you are worth to the student."

This is union talk. A Ph.D. in education has become almost a ceremonial degree, its primary purpose to make more government money. Education students are often the bottom of the academic barrel and have one goal in life: to get a government job.