Teachers are professionals who need to be paid for all they do each day for our children.Teachers, especially elementary school teachers do much more than teach how to solve a math problem or how to read. They take care for the emotional, physical and intellectual development an dwell being of each child in their class. They console, nurture and are expected to lead by example. They are very important role models for children and sometimes spend more time with them then the parents.
Many times teachers have to spend time preparing and organizing materials needed for lessons and do not get compensated for this extra time. The state should value a teacher’s profession much more because first of all, they earn it, and secondly this will motivate a teacher to do even more for their students and the schools would not be short staffed as they are today.
The salary for teachers today is seriously ridiculous. Teachers have to have a BA degree plus all required training and certifications to be qualified. In addition teachers attend workshops periodically to keep up with changes to the education system. It’s no wonder that there aren’t enough teachers and the student teacher ratio is incredible with one teacher having to teach 18 kindergartners.
Teachers are professionals not babysitters, they don’t need to be getting paid less than chefs. The starting pay for new teachers in Texas is about 38,000 a year.
According to the Texas education system the average teacher salary in Texas is about $45,000 a year. This needs to change if we want teachers to enjoy coming to work every day to care and teach our children. Teacher salary in California is about $65,000 which should be our goal.
Legislature in Texas and school districts need to pass a bill urgently or face a even greater teacher shortage in the near future.
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Catalina,
ReplyDeleteI’m not wholly convinced that the current crop of teachers in the state of Texas deserve one. Texas educators have provided less for our children when compared nationally. We fall behind the national average in the most basic testing of fundamental skills. I don’t see that giving an across-the-board raise to part-time poor performing employees is needed.
If I went into college with an expectation that I’d eventually get a part-time job at the State, why wouldn’t I expect to get paid less than any professional in the private sector? Teachers have a shorter work day than other professions with the average being fewer than 38 hours a day. I understand the argument that they also take their work home with them, but many other professions mimic this. They also get the perk of having an entire season off, which many professions envy. All of these items equate to a part-time position. Why then would I pay a full-time rate?
Attending recertification exams and additional training is not mutually exclusive to teachers. Many professions also have to attend to classes in certification. Computer specialists frequently have to keep up with new technologies or programs by attending training classes or completed certifications. Nurses, medical technicians, and coders have to submit to tests every year to prove that they are still capable of doing their jobs. I just don’t see why teachers being subjected to training suddenly make them more deserving than everyone else.
I do agree with you on the importance of the profession. I can’t argue that they are instrumental in shaping a child’s emotional and mental state during development. Unfortunately, I can only name one out of the many teachers my son has had that I would say was the “ideal” teacher. Most were new teachers just waiting to hear back from a better neighboring school district or alternatively burnt out from dealing with troubled kids. I believed my case was an anomaly, however the more I talked with parents it became the norm.
The educational system in Texas is poor. My personal views have been colored by bad experiences with the primary education system. Increasing funding would go a long ways in attracting a talented work force that would actually care about our kid’s education. However I believe the current pool does not deserve a raise. Examples of low standard test scores in math and science and an extremely high dropout rate reinforce the fact that the state has a serious issue in their educators. Like any other job, if someone’s performing poorly there would be no reason to reward that person.
Catalina,
ReplyDeleteI agree whole heartedly that teachers are much more that just professionals who instruct our children in reading, writing and arithmetic. Catalina makes a good point that teachers our with our kids for 8hrs of the day and we rely on teachers to shape our children's young minds, personalities and behaviors. An increase in pay will help to attract those teacher candidates who might otherwise go into other professions if the salary wasn't as competitive. For those reasons I do agree that we should pay these important professionals more. However, with more pay shouldn't we expect more out of our teachers?
If we are to pay these teachers more we need to hold them to higher standards. Teachers should be tested on a regular basis to ensure that they continue to develop in their respective field. The progress of their students should also reflect how effective the teachers methods of instruction are. The last thing we need to to have higher paid teachers with a laissez-faireattitude. Let´s give our kids the best, and if that means recruiting better teachers with a higher pay scale, then so be it. That is, as long as we make sure those teachers remain the very best.
In Catalina's well thought out post, she states that "Teachers are professionals who need to be paid for all they do each day for our children." I absolutely could not agree more with that statement. I like to believe that the more people are paid to do something, better results are produced. The future of the nation lays on the shoulders of our youth, and some of their most important life lessons are given to them by their school teachers.
ReplyDeleteCatalina takes time to address the fact that not only do elementary school teachers teach how to solve math, or to read, "they take care for the emotional, physical and intellectual development and well being of each child in their class." She also takes time to assess the time it takes to prepare and orgainize the different materials needed to teach the kids. Constantly working at home, teachers always have something to be doing, weither it is grading tests and assignments, or coming up with new activities to keep the kids attention. Catalina is right, Texas does need to start paying teachers more. If so we can attract the attention of more talented college students who don't into to teaching because of the ridiculously low pay. She also provides a link to the statistics used to further prove her point. All around it is a well written post with a very important message and theme.