At the base of every profession lies the information and skills we learn from our teachers. Yet teachers get paid close to one hundred times less than the professional athletes used for entertainment. Teachers help kids and teens learn basic curriculum as well as important life skills they use throughout their lives. Without the knowledge a teacher gives us we lack good doctors, lawyers, government officials, engineers etc. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the average high school teacher makes about $57,200 annually, teachers deserve much more for the job they do. (“High School Teachers”)
According to Monte Burke’s article, “Average Player Salaries In The Four Major American Sports Leagues” the average NFL player makes $1.9 million a year. MLB players make on average $3.2 million a year, and NBA players make about $5.15 million annually (Burke). A high school teacher makes less than 1/50 of that. They take home about $4,435 monthly (“How Much Money”). For a single adult without children the monthly living cost averages about $2,372. With one child that rate jumps to $3,946,
…show more content…
This experiment took place at a school in Manhattan. At this school the teachers received a salary of $125,000 with bonuses, but that came with high expectations. It required the teachers the work longer hours and teach larger classes. Throughout this experiment students test scores improved. THe students also performed better during the experimental period. In exchange for the high teacher salary the class size increased, administration decrease, and the principal's salary dropped. This ensured the best teaching results from the teachers. The experiment showed that when the teachers receive a higher salary, the students tend to perform at higher levels because teachers have an extra motive to be a better teacher
Barber calls the reader 's attention to the low salary of teachers and how their wages need to rise. Although many people know about the salary issue for teachers, they often overlook
High school teachers’ average salary varies across the world. The United States is said to be one of the richest countries in the world, yet our teachers are being paid one of the lowest amounts. The Education Intelligence Agency, author of the article “Ohio Teacher Overcomes Union’s Tolerance” published an International Teacher Salary Report ranking the fifty states by “how much the average salary exceeded per capita personal income.” According to the Education Intelligence Agency Ohio’s percentage rate is only fifty- five point one percent. According to the Education Intelligence Agency the lowest state percentage is in South Dakota at twenty- three point six percent and the highest state percentage is Alaska at one hundred and one point five percent. Teachers are a very important part of our society. Teachers’ jobs consist of more than just sitting behind a desk for nine months and having paid summers off. There are many extra tasks that teachers have that most people don not consider. Teachers in public schools work hard for a low salary and should be more appreciated; public school teachers shape the world’s young people, serve as role models, and work long hours.
Some people believe merit pay creates competition and favoritism. They seem to think school systems will pay some teachers more than others and create a “battle” for money. In Merit Pay: Good for Teachers? By Gary Drevitch, one interviewee states, “I know it’s worked in some places, but I shudder at the idea of teachers being in competition with each other.” None of these problems will occur if school districts implement a successful, unbiased system. Another issue society presents when it comes to merit pay comprises of differentiating a “good” teacher from a “bad” teacher. School districts can easily evaluate a teacher’s ability to educate students by the work teachers put into helping students. Student’s reactions to a teacher’s class can also help evaluate teachers. More often than not, students will love a class where the teacher clearly demonstrates lessons, explain procedures, and adds elements of fun. On the other hand, students typically dislike classes where the teacher only comes in for a paycheck. This attitude is displayed by their lackadaisical teaching style. Other people argue that money should not be the reason why people go into teaching. Richard Barbieri, author of Merit Pay? argues that money is not an external motivator, but the substance of a teacher’s motivation. Financial incentives will cause employees to work harder
Now Mr. Roberto Hinojosa contends that professional athletes are overpaid. Citing U.S. Household Income stats for 2012 he explains that teachers,
With the low expectations of teachers, students are limited in their ability to learn. As discussed before, it is difficult to predict how well a teacher will do at their job before they begin working. This creates doubt when hiring anyone, and employers may not know if who they are hiring is the right choice. If teachers are judged by not only the basic requirements met, but also their interpersonal skills and how well they are able to teach in a positive manner, there will hopefully be less mediocre teachers hired. In the same way, both an advanced teacher and an average teacher are paid the same wages, which creates a flaw in education. Even more, there should not be average teachers in the workforce if all teachers are paid the same. Though this harms the advanced teachers, who deserve more than they earn, it also harms the students, as they are taught at a lower level by the inadequate teachers. Gladwell mentions these flaws in his article, but he also explains the traits good teachers should have, which brings a strive forward in this issue. Because of this, it is clear America must be more selective and strict when hiring
Last year, Lebron James gained about a lifetime worth of money on the scale of an average nurse’s salary in a year. Professional athletes are making a ton more money than people who have difficult or life-saving jobs. In addition, nurses and doctors who save lives, teachers who educate us, and the president who makes difficult choices for the good of our country, don’t make half as much money as skilled athletes who play sports. Are they any less talented?
Every year millions of students sign up to take the American College Test program, ACT or the Scholastic Aptitude Test, SAT for college. For a chance to get accepted to a school and for the possibility of scholarships. So for students who do not make the minimum score to go to a university, lose the chances to get a scholarship or even to go to a university. The ACT and SAT have several sections within the test. The two tests predict how well a student will do in college, even though they measure how much the student remembers from his previous classes. The readiness of a student cannot be determined by a test score. When considering a student for admission, a university looks at the student's ACT and SAT scores along with his GPA. The ACT
When was the last time that you saw a teacher sporting off a brand new Lexus? Or when was it that you heard of a teacher owning a ranch? The answer to this question is probably never. Although material possessions such as owning a luxurious home or driving an extravagant car might be chump change for people like the rich and famous, for teachers this kind of spending is literally an arm and a leg. Even simple necessities are out of reach with a teacher’s salary. The reason for this problem is due to our nation’s budget. Teachers along with others in the school system are underpaid and are not being adequately compensated for their services. Instead of rewarding teachers with higher pay the government is undermining their work. As a result, teachers are unable to buy that expensive car or even pay off that Honda that they bought when they were in college working for their teaching degree. School budgets must be increased immensely in order to insure the educational growth of students and the professional development of teachers. There are four main reasons that are discussed in this paper, as to why more money should be spent on education.
There is no more critical role in our current society than that of a teacher’s. Teachers help shape the minds of the future. Tomorrow 's engineers, scientists, politicians, and educators are all greatly influenced by today 's Instructors. Without teachers society would not be anywhere near where it is now, and only a select few would have access to learning. Sadly however important teachers are in human civilization, they are still drastically understated, unrecognized and under paid. Although some people may argue that performance pay is good, performance/merit pay is bad because it will result in teachers doing much less personalizing of the curriculum, and spending that time doing only what things need to teach in order to keep their student’s
All in all, teachers need to be viewed as professionals and not as simply pay babysitters because most do care about the students. Teachers tolerate the low wages, long hours and repetitive disrespect because they desired to place attention on student success. Teachers should not enter that career for the money, but for the devotion they will place on the students. Luckily there are ways to make teachers more valuable in society. Teachers should be given the right equipment to teach the subject that corresponds to them, the two-year skill evaluation should be more precise and by surprise, so no one knows. Also, students should be allowed to evaluate the teachers to provide feedback. Also, teachers should be aware of the surrounding cultures. In conclusion, teachers should motivate students to reach levels they themselves never thought they could attain.
There are many ways to compile data on a teacher and determine that person’s performance. Teacher performance can be based upon classroom observation, a teacher’s continuing development and education, and students’ standardized testing scores. The controversy centers around using student test scores to determine the performance of a teacher and thus her pay. Scott Andes, a research analyst at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation voices the merits of performance based pay with his article “Getting Serious with Education: Why Can We Measure Students but Not Teachers?” High School English teachers, Jordan Kohanim and Ashley Ulrich vehemently state why there is no merit with performance based pay with their article, “No Merit to Merit Pay Arguments.” In each article both sides debate how performance based or merit pay will affect students, teachers, schools, and com...
When addressing the value of entertainment, there is without a doubt, that we as a society value entertainment highly. But there is no reason that these athletes, who are here to merely entertain us, get paid higher wages than those that save our lives and teach us such as medical doctors and teachers. I find it ridiculous that players make millions of dollars a year, and yet demand more. The entertainment that these athletes provide is solely entertainment; it is not essential to the function or productivity of society. If I were to become a professional football player I would not complain about my salary for many reasons. I am playing the sport that I love and getting paid for it. The minimum wage for football is well over $100,000 a year, as is for many professional sports. These reasons by their lonesome are enough to warrant that the salary professional athletes are paid is suffice.
The majority of teachers get paid a middle class salary, live a middle class life and harldy ever get looked at as major influences to kids; however, just because a sports player plays a game like no other they could be famous, a millionaire, and looked at as a hero to people across the country or even worldwide. Even when off the field that phenomenal sports player might never do a thing for their fans they are hardly ever looked at negatively for not paying attention to their fans. A teachers job is to pay attention to each and everyone of their students they deal with students day by day and year by year compared to the sports player of having a ten year at most length career. Is it fair that two people born with a gift, one has the gift to play a game like no one else and the other has a gift of teaching.
We have to admit that humans often need incentives. For most people, money is a driving force which can inspire them to make progress (Barbieri, 52). If by performing better, you could earn more money, I think most people would gladly perform well and strive to achieve better results. Teachers are also human beings, and the vast majority of them would feel the same. Higher wages can increase the enthusiasm and motivation of teachers. At the same time, merit pay can improve teachers’ motivation, not only because of the money, but also because of a sense of accomplishment (Honawar and Olson, 26-27). When a teacher, through his or her own careful research of teaching strategies, passion, and devotion to teaching, help his or her students get better grades and is also rewarded by the schools, he or she will be filled with a sense of purpose. This will make that teacher know his or her effort is worth it, and in following lessons he or she would strive to expend even more energy and time to improving his or her teaching level and quality. Meanwhile, outstanding teachers will also become role models for other teachers who do not get bonuses. In this case, in a school, it will form a healthy competition among teachers. Everyone will be more diligent and strive to improve the level and quality of their
Strauss, Valerie. "Why teachers’ salaries should be doubled now." The Washington Post. N.p., 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 5 Apr. 2014. .