03-12-2003, 06:51 PM
Hi,
When I went back to school in '68, I ran across a number of K-12 teachers that were going back to school to get out of the classroom. While a few complained about salary, most did not. Their complaints were, basically, that a teacher was no longer able to do what they wanted to do most, namely teach. I don't think that has changed much in the years since.
Two things, more or less unrelated. Looking strictly at teacher's yearly salaries gives a false impression. Even allowing for the time it takes to prepare for teaching and for grading and correcting, the number of hours a typical teacher works per week is about the same as any other professional (55 to 60). The difference is in the number of weeks worked per year. In most states, the school year is 180 days, or 36 weeks. That gives most teachers a 38 week work year. One needs to increase teacher's salaries by about 35% to get a fair comparison. And, yes, teachers often have to take courses on their time and at their expense. So what? I've yet to meet a K-12 teacher who has put in ten years of post secondary education that most of the scientists and many of the engineers I've know have put in. And yet, most of them have had to spend years as post docs and average, over their lifetime, less than do teachers with much worse benefits. The salary issue is a red herring, IMO.
Second, I'm looking for some world data on how much countries are spending on education. Per student would be nice. And as a fraction of the average wage would be nice, too. Also of interest is the fraction of the educational dollar spent on teaching as opposed to building nicer buildings, playing fields, etc. I saw some data not too many years ago that showed that the US and Canada were amongst the highest spenders on education per student, yet neither showed much success in educating their populations. And that they had the highest percentage "overhead" in education.
I think that all these other issues are at least as important as what a teacher gets paid.
--Pete
When I went back to school in '68, I ran across a number of K-12 teachers that were going back to school to get out of the classroom. While a few complained about salary, most did not. Their complaints were, basically, that a teacher was no longer able to do what they wanted to do most, namely teach. I don't think that has changed much in the years since.
Two things, more or less unrelated. Looking strictly at teacher's yearly salaries gives a false impression. Even allowing for the time it takes to prepare for teaching and for grading and correcting, the number of hours a typical teacher works per week is about the same as any other professional (55 to 60). The difference is in the number of weeks worked per year. In most states, the school year is 180 days, or 36 weeks. That gives most teachers a 38 week work year. One needs to increase teacher's salaries by about 35% to get a fair comparison. And, yes, teachers often have to take courses on their time and at their expense. So what? I've yet to meet a K-12 teacher who has put in ten years of post secondary education that most of the scientists and many of the engineers I've know have put in. And yet, most of them have had to spend years as post docs and average, over their lifetime, less than do teachers with much worse benefits. The salary issue is a red herring, IMO.
Second, I'm looking for some world data on how much countries are spending on education. Per student would be nice. And as a fraction of the average wage would be nice, too. Also of interest is the fraction of the educational dollar spent on teaching as opposed to building nicer buildings, playing fields, etc. I saw some data not too many years ago that showed that the US and Canada were amongst the highest spenders on education per student, yet neither showed much success in educating their populations. And that they had the highest percentage "overhead" in education.
I think that all these other issues are at least as important as what a teacher gets paid.
--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?