I was tempted to say, how about $5000 LESS than the starting salary for
an elementary school teacher? Just kidding--in part. I guess the
rationale in the example offered is that the museum educator has 5
years' experience, and how much is that experience worth? But comparing
the two jobs is an apples/oranges situation. In my book, classroom
teacher is a far tougher, more challenging job in many ways than that of
museum educator--and certainly a more important one within the sphere of
education (say, it's getting hot--I can feel the flames already).
Seriously, I think that comparing these two jobs within the framework of
"education" may be to the disadvantage of the museum educator. I think
it's more a question of how the educator fits into an individual museum
situation and how should that role be compensated? Perhaps it's
comparable to the curatorial scale. (Whatever happened to the title
"curator of education?")

--David Haberstich