Teacher Shortage

Discussion in 'Education, Teaching and related degrees' started by Kizmet, Aug 10, 2015.

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  1. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  2. Rich Douglas

    Rich Douglas Well-Known Member

    Hmmm...long hours, horrible pay, crumbling systems, no support from parents, being blamed for everything that goes wrong with the kid's learning, and being held accountable for outcomes you cannot control nor achieve. Oh, and being demonized in the press and by right-wing politicians.

    What's not to love?
     
  3. Koolcypher

    Koolcypher Member

    Oh boy, oh boy! Where do I sign up? :You_Rock_Emoticon::fing02:
     
  4. nyvrem

    nyvrem Active Member

    is the pay that bad ? I was checking Texas, teachers get about $50k starting.
     
  5. Mighty_Tiki

    Mighty_Tiki Member

    Not here in NM, 30K...With a low max out ceiling. Totally different when I was in MA, I have friends that are 10 year teachers making 75K in good districts with their M. Ed.
     
  6. Messdiener

    Messdiener Active Member

    That sounds about right to me. Glad I got out after only a few years!
     
  7. Maniac Craniac

    Maniac Craniac Moderator Staff Member

    I work directly with public school teachers. What I see, with my very own eyes, is dramatically and rapidly decreasing freedom for them to demonstrate their own teaching style, plan their own lessons and have control over anything at all that happens in their classes. In order for them to keep their jobs, they have to tow the line and become less like educators and more like paper pushers. Some of them dreamed of becoming teachers for many a noble reason, but have found their dreams being stolen from them with each new year and the packet of new regulations that come with it.

    Not ONE of the teachers I work with would recommend the job to anyone else. That is... amazing... and not surprising. Not only do they have to do exactly what they are told by the administration, but they are blamed for when what they do fails. Yep. They follow orders, the orders result in disaster and the teachers are held culpable for the disaster.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 11, 2015
  8. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Maybe everyone should follow Texas? High property taxes mainly for local independent school districts? While maintain no state income taxes?
     
  9. novadar

    novadar Member

    Yes this does produce highly funded school districts which offer generous salaries and benefits but it still does not guarantee high quality teaching. The district where my kids attend schools has the highest starting salaries in the San Antonio area but the teachers are only focused on test scores. My oldest, starting 3rd grade, already has slight test anxiety due to the extreme importance the teachers and principal place on testing. Is that really the best way to teach for learning? More money does not solve that sort of misaligned priorities.

    Most of the teachers I know live for the weekend and their long summer vacations not because they are lazy but because they can barely keep their wits about them.

    I realized while an undergraduate that high school teaching was not for me soon after staring my first Curriculum and Instruction course. It takes a certain type of person to put up with it, God bless them all.
     
  10. Neuhaus

    Neuhaus Well-Known Member

    I'm reminded of the Harvard professors who protested the change to their health insurance that took them from zero deductible to a $250 deductible. That's a pretty killer benefit and non-academics would kill for it. But within the world of academia it was a pretty big slap. The problem, I think, that teachers face is that it is difficult to garner much sympathy because of many perceived perks that a lot of people simply don't have. I remember some years ago in PA some teachers went on strike because they were losing their fully funded health insurance and would have to start paying premiums. The quote that seemed to make the local editorials explode was the local union president who said "How can we be expected to contribute toward our own health insurance on only $42,000 per year?"

    A Harvard Professor protesting a $250 deductible isn't going to find sympathy with the bartender who is paying a few hundred bucks a month for a plan with a $5k deductible. And a teacher is unlikely to find much sympathy for having to pay health insurance premiums on only $42,000/year in an area where the average salary is $25,000 and everyone who has health insurance is paying premium.

    That doesn't mean that those teachers weren't justified in their anger. And $42k for a position that likely requires a Masters isn't a whole lot (even for a 10 month position).

    So basically, in the internal world of education your situation isn't ideal. And the outside world doesn't care about your complaints because they perceive your lot in life to be "privileged."

    What's the motivation to be a teacher? It sounds like you'd be an easy target for abuse by a flawed system. You'll have very little sympathy from the general public. Your union has been vilified more than any other collective bargaining unit (besides, possibly, the teamsters). All for a salary that can be beaten by a physical therapy assistant, an apprentice plumber and even some waitresses and bartenders.

    But hey, you get all those bank holidays off, so you've got it sweet, right?
     
  11. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    I assume so, look at Carroll Independent School District, teacher salary starts at high as well. The majority of properties in Southlake, Texas have value between $500,000 - $3,000,000.00 range. My property is value is $289,000.00 and I am paying $8,800.00 for property tax, and I pay to Keller ISD. Just imagine how much do you pay for a property value $1.5 million.
     
  12. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

    Hey, if there is a teacher shortage, you raise the pay rate offered until you start getting qualified applicants.
     
  13. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  14. Ted Heiks

    Ted Heiks Moderator and Distinguished Senior Member

  15. BrianH

    BrianH Member

    Certain areas have plenty of applicants like elementary, PE, and Social Studies. In Math, Science, Home Ec, Special Education, and some other areas it is brutal. Sometimes only one or two applicants.
     
  16. Kizmet

    Kizmet Moderator

  17. mizan

    mizan member

    Thanks for informing us this useful information.
     

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