It Might Not Be So Bad Starting Off

I was recently directed to a blog entry that talked about teachers being underappreciated.  I have no disagreement that teachers are underappreciated.  They carry a major responsibility in the education of our children.  Unfortunately in some situations, they carry the sole responsibility of education (when parents do not do their parts).

Here is the site I was referring to - http://www.upworthy.com/the-real-number-of-hours-teachers-work-in-one-eye-opening-graphic-3

I take issue with this because of the accuracy.  I feel like I have as much authority as anyone who is not a teacher can have on this topic.  I have been a son, nephew, grandson, cousin, brother, friend, and husband to people of the teaching profession.  I have also worked as a substitute teacher and passed all exams and observation hours toward my teaching certification.  I have seen firsthand the number of hours that teachers work outside of the classroom.  This article/blog was an extreme exaggeration, though.  Yes, there may be days when a teacher works 12-16 hours, but it is not the average.  Of course some teachers probably work those hours every day, but this argument is dealing in averages.  The number of weeks "working" in the summer was completely off base as well.  I do not think any honest teacher would disagree with that.  I am sure I will have at least one teacher friend read this and claim that they do work every week during the summer getting ready for the next year.  That could be true, but I bet the majority of your co-workers do not.  Again, we are dealing in averages.  Exceptions can always exist.

Therefore, I decided to compose my own statistics based on the number of new teachers that I see complaining on my Facebook newsfeed about having to go back to work after having time off and about not making enough.  Again, you chose the profession, and I am completely grateful for people like you.  However, a new teacher should not complain about being underpaid, especially in the North Texas area.  These comments are usually made by people who have never worked in a corporate environment and think that everyone makes six figures and works exactly 40 stress-free hours every week. 

**I want to remind readers that this is talking about STARTING TEACHERS/RECENT COLLEGE GRADUATES.  Unfortunately, though, the salaries do not increase very significantly with more years of experience.  I am in complete agreement that experienced teachers make less that than of those in other fields with equal years of experience.


Your first objection to the math might be that I used a nationwide calculation in one and a local in the other.  Yes, but I worked with the information I could find.  This is not the Wall Street Journal.  It is my blog.  I do not have millions of readers or a lot of time to do my research.  Therefore, it will have to suffice.

Basically my math shows that if you look at a per-week indicator of wages, a new teacher has no room to complain.  Wait a few years, then complain.  I will give you that.

Again, I appreciate teachers very much.  I am well-educated, and I have my teachers (who were mostly my mom's friends) to thank for it.  I just wanted to do the math for my own justification.  Even though the figures might be off slightly, it shows that given the experience level, teaching is not a horribly paid profession for someone coming right out of college (in some parts of the country).