Dear Pamphleteers:
I want to thank you so much! I am still reeling from the realization that well educated professionals such as teachers make so little money--and, their benefits packages do not really compensate for this.
Pamphleteers--I love you! Others may call you sneaky cowardly base, contembible, devious, double-dealing, stealthy, tricky, underhanded, yellow-bellied, gutless skunks--but I love you! I really really do!
Hope I didn't hurt your feelings!
But, my goodness, what does it say about you, and all your "troll" friends that you don't have the courage of your convictions? Oh, that's another "Love Letter" isn't is?
I am sooooooo glad that you pointed out the low salaries of teachers! I was forced to do some research--I just love research. My mother was a teacher first and then a librarian! I love punctuation, too--don't you?
20 REASONS TEACHERS IN WISCONSIN SHOULD HAVE LARGER COMPENSATION PACKAGES:
1. All teachers have bachelor's degrees and over 50% ofWisconsin teachers have master's degrees. They should make more money because they are better educated.
Fewer than 25% of Wisconsin residents have college degrees and even fewer have master’s degrees, yet critics of teachers’ salaries constantly compare the salaries of this highly educated population with the general population ofWisconsin .
They are not overpaid when their education and years of experience are taken into consideration.
Those with master's degrees make less than in the private sector but their benefits compensate for the lower salary.
2. Starting salaries inWisconsin are 49th in the country and should be raised to make Wisconsin competitive with Illinois —or Wisconsin school teachers will flee to IL.
3. A four year college degree costs about $80,000 at a state school inWisconsin and $200,000 at a private university. Scholarships & even loans are very difficult to come by. Opportunity costs raise that another $40-80,000—teachers give up an annual income of at least $10-20,000/year to attend college.
1. All teachers have bachelor's degrees and over 50% of
Fewer than 25% of Wisconsin residents have college degrees and even fewer have master’s degrees, yet critics of teachers’ salaries constantly compare the salaries of this highly educated population with the general population of
They are not overpaid when their education and years of experience are taken into consideration.
Those with master's degrees make less than in the private sector but their benefits compensate for the lower salary.
2. Starting salaries in
3. A four year college degree costs about $80,000 at a state school in
So, teachers with only a B.A have invested a minimum of $120,000 in their education and as much as $280,000 – 300,000 just getting the basic requirement to teach—a B.A. degree.
In order to recover just the cost of the education alone, a teacher would need to make over $8,000-20,000 more over the entire course of their careers than they would if working in another field!
In order to recover just the cost of the education alone, a teacher would need to make over $8,000-20,000 more over the entire course of their careers than they would if working in another field!
Teachers cannot even recover the costs of their education—the pay is too low.
4. Failing to compensate teachers competitively will result in a "brain drain"—the most competitive & qualified teachers will begin leaving the field or not enter it or leave Wisconsin to teach in other states that are "friendlier" to teachers. Web-sites rate states according to the pay scale, benefits, scheduled raises, etc.
5. Public education is the final common denominator in our culture. If we despise our schools and our teachers, we despise ourselves. Our schools reflect our culture and are the one experience most of us share.
Most children will attend public schools. Relatively few will attend private or home schools.
Public schools are required to accept all students: those with devoted parents and those with negligent parents; those who are well-behaved and those with behavior problems; those with mental illness; those with learning disabilities and those who are gifted and talented, etc. Public education is not comparable to private education.
Teachers do not create our social problems and do not have the power to solve our social problems. They have no choice over their "client" – They have to take all comers. They have to play every hand that is dealt them year in and year out. They deserve generous compensation for this.
6. Teachers work independently, using their own judgment, without close supervision. This is in no way comparable to factory work, office work, or clerking in a store and they deserve compensation for this.
7. Children are, quite literally, the single greatest resource of any person, family, or country.
4. Failing to compensate teachers competitively will result in a "brain drain"—the most competitive & qualified teachers will begin leaving the field or not enter it or leave Wisconsin to teach in other states that are "friendlier" to teachers. Web-sites rate states according to the pay scale, benefits, scheduled raises, etc.
5. Public education is the final common denominator in our culture. If we despise our schools and our teachers, we despise ourselves. Our schools reflect our culture and are the one experience most of us share.
Most children will attend public schools. Relatively few will attend private or home schools.
Public schools are required to accept all students: those with devoted parents and those with negligent parents; those who are well-behaved and those with behavior problems; those with mental illness; those with learning disabilities and those who are gifted and talented, etc. Public education is not comparable to private education.
Teachers do not create our social problems and do not have the power to solve our social problems. They have no choice over their "client" – They have to take all comers. They have to play every hand that is dealt them year in and year out. They deserve generous compensation for this.
6. Teachers work independently, using their own judgment, without close supervision. This is in no way comparable to factory work, office work, or clerking in a store and they deserve compensation for this.
7. Children are, quite literally, the single greatest resource of any person, family, or country.
If our educational system has problems, we must solve them. But, those problems will not be solved by competing with McDonald's for employees.
The people who are responsible for our next generation of physicists, doctors, lawyers, engineers, and mechanics deserve our utmost respect and compensation. If you do not value the people providing the education of your OWN children, shame on you!
Your corporations, your research labs, your armies, your hospitals are worthless without well educated population to work in them.
Compete in a global economy? Go to war? You want to pay the people that teach our children peanuts and yet have the gall to talk about a global economy?
I submit that Republicans have no money sense at all--and haven't had for years. They are "penny wise and pound foolish." Oh, look it up, for Gawd's sake!
8. Teachers are "on" all the time they are not on a designated break. They cannot chat on their cells, take long potty breaks, or snack when no one is looking.
9. They have to be in the room with OTHER PEOPLE'S SPOILED BRATS all day long. Pay them a lot, I say!
10. Teachers grade papers, make bulletin boards, read, attend seminars, etc—all on their own time.
11. EVERYONE should have a family supporting wage, health care, and a retirement plan.
If you are envious of teachers’ compensation packages and union benefits, go to college—it’s never too late! Get a job requiring a college degree or a union job. But, don’t try to cut teachers down to your size.
12. We love and revere Thomas Jefferson don't we? An educated public is necessary to a democracy. There is no more important job in a democracy than that of a teacher. We cannot claim to value education and then refuse to pay for it.
13. Did YOU teach YOUR own children to read or teach them math skills? Why not? Enough said.
14. Education as an industry is a powerful economic engine. Every dollar taken out of the salary budget for education is a dollar taken out of the local community’s economy. If you want teachers eating at your restaurant, buying cars at your dealership, shopping at your store, pay them.
15. Fringe benefits are not “free.” They are part of the compensation package that teachers receive. Is there something about “compensation package” that you don’t understand? Grinches, learn to use "Google" for goodness sake!
8. Teachers are "on" all the time they are not on a designated break. They cannot chat on their cells, take long potty breaks, or snack when no one is looking.
9. They have to be in the room with OTHER PEOPLE'S SPOILED BRATS all day long. Pay them a lot, I say!
10. Teachers grade papers, make bulletin boards, read, attend seminars, etc—all on their own time.
11. EVERYONE should have a family supporting wage, health care, and a retirement plan.
If you are envious of teachers’ compensation packages and union benefits, go to college—it’s never too late! Get a job requiring a college degree or a union job. But, don’t try to cut teachers down to your size.
12. We love and revere Thomas Jefferson don't we? An educated public is necessary to a democracy. There is no more important job in a democracy than that of a teacher. We cannot claim to value education and then refuse to pay for it.
13. Did YOU teach YOUR own children to read or teach them math skills? Why not? Enough said.
14. Education as an industry is a powerful economic engine. Every dollar taken out of the salary budget for education is a dollar taken out of the local community’s economy. If you want teachers eating at your restaurant, buying cars at your dealership, shopping at your store, pay them.
15. Fringe benefits are not “free.” They are part of the compensation package that teachers receive. Is there something about “compensation package” that you don’t understand? Grinches, learn to use "Google" for goodness sake!
Articles criticizing teachers’ salaries frequently refer to them as free: “Teachers receive free health care,” etc. These benefits are part of a total compensation package. If an employer can purchase an insurance plan for $10,000 that would cost me $20,000—or which I could not buy at all on the non-existent “open market” for insurance—then I am better off taking the insurance in lieu of a higher salary.
16. Articles criticizing teachers salaries usually compare teachers with master’s degrees and years of experience (and include their total compensation package) to the “average worker” who does not have a bachelor’s nor the same years of experience. Comparing apples to apples, teachers are slightly underpaid.
17. Teachers buy supplies with their own money. Some of my elementary school teachers bought Christmas presents for every poor child in class every year.
18. Parents are required by law to send their children to school or to register as a home school. We cannot require our schools by law to provide a service and then under-fund them and the people who provide that service.
19. Did you educate your own children? If you think you can do a better job, do it. Go ahead. Walk the walk. And, while you are at it, please teach a Sunday School class and be a Big Brother or Big Sister. Were you at the PTO meetings? I didn’t see you. Teachers carry a heavy responsibility for your children's future.
20. Teachers change children’s lives. Teaching can be a spiritual calling. Teachers hold the hearts of our children in their hands. They are responsible for the emotional, intellectual, and physical well-being of our children. They can change the future. They should make at least as much as our politicians.
16. Articles criticizing teachers salaries usually compare teachers with master’s degrees and years of experience (and include their total compensation package) to the “average worker” who does not have a bachelor’s nor the same years of experience. Comparing apples to apples, teachers are slightly underpaid.
17. Teachers buy supplies with their own money. Some of my elementary school teachers bought Christmas presents for every poor child in class every year.
18. Parents are required by law to send their children to school or to register as a home school. We cannot require our schools by law to provide a service and then under-fund them and the people who provide that service.
19. Did you educate your own children? If you think you can do a better job, do it. Go ahead. Walk the walk. And, while you are at it, please teach a Sunday School class and be a Big Brother or Big Sister. Were you at the PTO meetings? I didn’t see you. Teachers carry a heavy responsibility for your children's future.
20. Teachers change children’s lives. Teaching can be a spiritual calling. Teachers hold the hearts of our children in their hands. They are responsible for the emotional, intellectual, and physical well-being of our children. They can change the future. They should make at least as much as our politicians.
Grinches, what if your children cannot read the directions on their new handgun box because their teacher (who cannot make it in the REAL WORLD) left to work at McDonald's for higher salary?
Raise the salaries of teachers to insure the quality of education remains high--just as you would in that heavenly place called "the private sector!"
Grinches, let's cherish public education more! Join the PTO! Raise teachers' salaries! Send your children to school every day! Do their homework with them! Don't let your children be bullies--or be bullied! Require them to respect their teachers--and education! Teach your children to read BEFORE they go to school! GASP! GARGLE! Why, we could all teach our children etiquette! OK, now I'm getting carried away...Breathe, Vivian, breathe...
I love you. I really, really do. But, if you want an educated population... well... you have to educate your population. And, nothing in life is free.
Your friend,
Vivian
I love you. I really, really do. But, if you want an educated population... well... you have to educate your population. And, nothing in life is free.
Your friend,
Vivian
Thank you. -a teacher and blogger in Wisconsin
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