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"I would have to ask if teaching is a full time job or a part time job?" Ask any teacher and they will tell you. If you even think that teaching is a part-time job, shame on you.
2) "If you consider it a full time job than you must say that you can easily make 30K to 40K a year with 9 weeks or more of paid vacation in the summer and weekends off...not a bad job." Not everywhere pays $30 to $40k a year. In the rural county where I attended school, and where my MIL teaches, teachers only make about $25k a year, b/c that is all that is in the budget. A little more for a grad. degree or longevity, but nowhere near $40k.
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You can also say this about any other job. People make more money in an urban setting than in a rural setting. Waitressess make more money in Omaha than in Western Nebraska. Similar jobs have different pay scales in different areas. This is not specific to teaching.
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3) "If you consider it a part time job (paid for 9 months but checks spread out over 12)..." This isn't even the definition of part-time. This is simply a way to ensure you always get a check every month, which makes it easier for many families for budgeting purposes. Part-time deals with the number of hours you work, not when or how often you get paid. Let's keep that straight.
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An earlier post said that teachers were paid for 200 days a year. With 52 weeks in the year and 5 days in a week that means there are 260 days that one could work in a year. Therefore based on your definition this would be a part time job. I prefer to think of teaching as a full time job with the advantage of many weeks of paid vacation in the summer.
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4) "...than 30K to 40K with the ability to get another part time job in the summer and probably add another 10K - 15K to your income for the year is a also a pretty good job." Hmmm... let's look at this for a minute. Let's say a teacher wants to earn the minimum $10k on your scale, and has 9 weeks to do it in (which is becoming the normal summer break for many districts where I live). That means they have to gross $1,111 per week for each of the 9 weeks. Working a full-time schedule (40 hours), the teacher would have to earn $27.78/hour to earn that much. Over a full year (40 hours/week x 52 weeks), earning that much an hour would equate to an annual salary of approx. $58k, far more than the $30 or $40k you say is easy to make as a teacher. Based on this, I ask you, what kind of PT job do you have available paying $27.78/hour? Please let me know, b/c I'll be happy to work there after my FT job is out for the day, earning that kind of money!!
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First of all I will have to say that there are more than 8 hours a day and more than 5 days in a week. There are teachers in our school district that have painted houses for years during the summer. You can easily make 1000.00 painting a house. If two people paint 2 and 1/2 houses a week that is 1250.00 each
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5) "Our school district, which is a smaller district in Nebrakska, had 6 job openings for this fall and there were over 200 applicants which tells me that it must be a good job." If a McDonalds has 6 positions open (let's say 2 fry cooks, 2 cashiers and 2 janitorial positions), and they post an ad in a town where 200 people need a job, and all 200 people apply, does that mean that working at McDonalds is considered a good job? Or might it mean that 200 people need a job, perhaps any job they can get? Might it mean that in Nebraska, there are 200 teachers looking for work, not necessarily that it's a great job? Let's think about that one.
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McDonalds is an excellent job for some people. It may not be a good job for someone with a college degree but for some people that may not have the skills or education to work elsewhere I am sure that it is a very good job. I don't think it is a
valid comparision.
_____________________________________________________6) "My complaint would be that there are a few teachers that feel that there job is the only important job and constantly complain about everything relating to the job. 'I don't get paid enough, I have to work at night, I have to go to meetings, etc.' I think that those teachers need to realize that all of the things mentioned here are things that nearly all people have to deal with in regards to their job. I work in sales..." Do you make $30 to $40k a year in your sales job? I would say you probably make about double that, at least. At that level, increased money means increased responsibility, as well it should. More money equals more responsibility and more work in most every job. However, as you say, teachers have to do that too, but I think they're complaining b/c they have the same responsibilities, time constraints, meetings, etc... as we do, but they're only getting paid $30 to $40k (at best, as I've illustrated) to do it, so they often feel a little short-changed. And I think they are.
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According to the census the average teacher makes 44,700 dollars per year. This is the average so certainly many people make much more than this. That is a very respectable salary.
Here is a link:
http://www.census.gov/Press-Release...cts_for_features_special_editions/001737.html
.
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7) "If you want a job that doesn't have responsibily that extends past the work day and work week than you should find one but you will also find that these jobs generally don't pay enough to allow trips to Disney." Gee, I think you just made my entire point in these few words. Teachers have the responsibilities, but not the pay to correspond.
8) "Again I will say that I think that almost all teachers are wonderful hard working people that love what they do and don't complain but there are a few that believe that being a teacher entitles them to special privlages and they always seem to be the most vocal." I would agree with that, but let's not use the vocal few to categorize the hard-working majority.
My point is that they are vastly under-appreciated, and that many of the arguments presented here are invalid on their face, as I've pointed out. Let's give teachers a break. Maybe if we paid them more, we could hold them to a higher standard, but since we don't, let's at least let them vacation when they want to. Keep in mind that it is often cheaper to vacation outside of the summer months, due to decreased hotel rates, so maybe they're trying to use their money wisely to stretch it as far as possible. [/B][/QUOTE]
