Time to Raise the Wages

If you were to ask most teachers the question why do they want to become a teacher? Ninety- five percent of them would probably say they didn't come into the profession for the love of money. Through talking with many teachers most of them normally state they teach, "because they feel they can make a difference, they love teaching children, and they have a strong need to give back to their community". In today's society we place actors, actress, athletes, lawyers, doctor's and everyone else that make a substantial amount of money up on a pedestal. It is time for this to stop. It is time to stand on the National and state Capitol steps to help get some type of legislation passed for teachers to receive higher salaries. In addition to an overall salary increase for all teachers; those few teachers who go above and beyond the call of duty should be entitled to some type of incentive pay.


I personally think the system works totally against teachers. I say this because most teachers don’t go into education profession for the money they generally teach because of the love for children. Since in the past money wasn’t a major factor, it was easy to get a way with paying teacher such small salaries. But with the cost of living skyrocketing and the loss of good teachers leaving the profession; wages are starting to become a serious problem. How can it be justified that teachers are responsible to educate the next generation and they are literally being paid scraps to teach. I would think that this in itself would put most people on board, to fight for higher teacher wages. Also in today’s society, just like all other profession, teachers are being required to obtain more education and training than ever to receive licensure. So why shouldn’t theacher's be paid more for their services?


Many on the opposite side of the isle seem to argue that teachers make enough for the time they spend working. Some preach that teacher’s work from nine to three daily, but that is totally false. Teachers spend countless hours putting together lesson plans, grading assignments, and conducting conferences with parents and administrators. Not to mention, all of the after school activities they have to help coordinate and assist with such as PTA, sporting activities, school dances, etc. So anyone who believes a teacher job is complete at three o’clock should get the facts straight before than began to speak. It is also often said teachers only work nine months out of the year therefore that constitutes why their salary is so low. I have spoken with many teachers that have been teaching for years and they all have said “it’s a lot closer to ten months than nine”. Think about this as food for thought. Have you ever been to a Thanksgiving or Christmas day parade and witnessed the different schools marching. Be aware that the teacher's that are out there supervising, who aren't being paid, voluntarily gave up part of thier holiday so that your child can march in one of the two parades. Do you think the same can be said for anyone else who helped prepare for the parade? Or the Police Officer who will conduct securityfor the event? I like to tell all the critics that someone sees the need for change because; The American Teacher Federation conducted a survey in 2007 that concluded that the average salary for a public school teacher’s rose above 50,000.00 for the first time ever.


Every since I was a small child I have heard numerous amount of people who say “don't go into teaching, because teachers don't make any money”. This way of thinking has been going on for too long. There are too many good teachers leaving the profession and too many good prospects not becoming teachers because wages are too low. If this trend continues and we don’t start paying teachers more this powerful country will start to decline.