Might I suggest to the group that you cannot band the
term "teachers" into one group for comparative
purposes?

What they earn is going to be a byproduct of their
union, their district, their state, and whether
they're private or public school teachers.  It's going
to depend upon the grade or subject they teach and
whether or not they are tenured/experienced.  If they
take on additional projects, i.e., mentoring a peer or
editing the yearbook, there is additional
compensation.  It's patently illogical to compare the
salaries of one geographic locale with that of another
if you do not factor in the standard of living.  If
all else fails, take the salary comparison tool in the
Topics section of my employment file (see my sigfile
below for the link).

But to argue that teachers may work less in-school
hours but do so much more in their nonworking days
fails to recognize the fact that so, too, do many of
the other classifications of employees.  Pursuing
one's education is pretty much a prereq to advancement
in many a field.

Argue if you will that teachers who start out make low
pay, but so, too, do most professions.  Consider the
amount of education it requires to be a teacher
against that of many a higher paying profession and
see which one ends up with more college debt.

At best, a teacher works 10 months of the year.  That
excludes weekends.  It also discounts the fact that
there are two weeks at Christmas, a week in Spring,
and countless days in the middle.

Depending upon the district, a teacher may grade
papers into the night or (s)he may have an aide who
does it.  Once a set of lesson plans is crafted, a
teacher's job is sometimes redundant.  You have the
variable of the specific child(ren), but a 3rd grade
teacher is apt to teach the same thing over and over
and over again.  If this is the third week of January,
then the less on is . . .

Consider some of the other professions where education
is required.  You don't find the same kinds of "ruts."

Should they be paid more?  Probably.  Will they be
paid more?  Probably not.  Why?  Are you willing to
pay more out of your paycheck for the taxes it's going
to take?

Teaching is like being a museum professional.  You
don't do it for the money, you do it for the love of
the job.  Possibly, for teaching, you do it for the
hours.

You can't stereotype teachers as all being overworked,
underpaid martyrs.

Take a group of children involved in after school
enrichment activities (Scouts, Little League, etc.).
Assume the parents all work.  Now guess which parent
is least apt to step up to the plate and serve in a
guidance capacity to those children, including his/her
own.  That was my experience time and again when I
worked more than 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, and
raised two kids in a private school.

My stepmom is a now retired school teacher, and I
spent a good deal of time around the schools in my
younger years.  Teachers are valuable, but I'm not so
sure given the hours required that they're underpaid.


Check out some of the salary surveys online with
respect to their profession and research it yourself.

Some of the articles I read included:

Inflation remained in check in 2001, rising only 1.6
percent. Teacher salaries improved faster than
inflation for the fourth time in five years.

Teacher salaries vary considerably across the states.
Connecticut had the highest average salary at $53,507.
The other top five states were California at $52,480,
New Jersey at $51,955, New York at $51,020 and
Michigan at $50,515. South Dakota had the lowest
average salary at $30,265.

Average Salary Table of Teachers
http://www.aft.org/research/survey01/tables/tableI-5.html


Now here's what teacher surveys don't show you:

Salary averages don't show regional and national
variations among states' average salaries.

Salary averages don't show the variation of salaries
within an individual state.

Salary averages don't show differences in the cost of
living.

Salary averages don't show the highest degrees earned
by teachers and the proportions of different degrees.

Salary averages don't show teachers' years of
experience.

Salary averages don't show the effects of retirement
patterns.

Salary averages don't show the expanding numbers of
teachers.

Salary averages don't show the length of teachers'
contracts.

Salary averages don't show the cost of employee
benefits.

Salary averages don't show priorities for quality.

http://www.edweek.org/ew/ewstory.cfm?slug=16gaines.h20



--- "Fonda, Suzi" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Nicholas,
>
> Please re-read Deb's post about teacher hours.  The
> oft-repeated canard that
> teachers only work 180 days per year is patently
> false.  I come from a
> family of teachers and have worked with teachers
> very often in my museum
> career, and I can tell you that a great deal of that
> off-time is spent on
> professional development, curriculum writing,
> tutoring, grading papers, etc.
> Teachers also don't get down time as many of us do
> in our jobs.  They are on
> the go the entire time they are in the building, not
> even having time to go
> to the bathroom.
>



=====
Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

Looking for a Job?  Try Got Links?, Your One-Stop Portal
http://victorian.fortunecity.com/stanmer/414

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Search - Faster. Easier. Bingo.
http://search.yahoo.com

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).