After all, I dropped out of the debate team in high school after one week*, and Chris Jeub flies all over the country with his (students') debate team. So I guess if debating could best be described as "liar, liar, pants on fire!", he is the expert.
The 25,000 Wisconsin teachers would have my support, perhaps, if they rallied for higher educational standards. But for benefits? Six-figure incomes for classroom teachers? This is what motivates them to rebel against their school district and their families and ultimately the children they teach?
Six figures, Chris? Is there any possible place you could have gotten an implied quarter of a fucking million dollars other than your ass?
Let's check. According to Teacher World, which Chris links to when called out on this on Facebook, the average starting salary for teachers in Wisconsin is $25,000. That's not much more than I make, and that's for people that have Bachelor's degrees, are required to keep up with continuing education and put up with other people's children all day. You would have to multiply that by 4 to get into "six-figure[s]".
Well, that's starting salary. What about average salary? Maybe they get some rockin' pay raises. Nope. Average salary is $46,000. You'd have have to get together 2 teachers and the spleen and liver of another to get into six figures.
Where ever did the Debate King get $100,000 (minimum)? Well, the highest possible starting salary is $68,000- still not six figures- but that's for someone with decades of experience and enough continuing ed credits to qualify for a PhD.
Chris Jeub, you are a liar. I'd recommend not wearing pants anytime soon.
*"Buncha arrogant pricks!" was my reason. And then I got a blog. And sometimes I think, "So . . . how am I different from from the arrogant pricks now? And then the part of my mind that handles self esteem pipes up with "It's totally different!" And I go with that, because life is short and I like blogging.
My dad's a high-school teacher. He makes significantly less than the average you give there, has a 4-year bachelor that damn near killed him to get, and his job is the stuff of nightmares. Seriously: there are few jobs that terrify me more than actually trying to teach kids who would prefer to be literally anywhere else, with the posssible exception of "inside a woodchipper."
ReplyDeleteAnd he's teaching manual arts. You know: the class with the hammers. And the chisels. And the band-saw.
I repeat: trying to teach >20 bored dumb idiots with chisels. Having a University Degree. Getting paid less than your average programmer.
Go to hell, Jeub.
[shudder]
I was in the teaching program my first year at WIU. I discovered that I really, really didn't want to do it. The only reason I'd chosen that path was because it seemed like a marketable fallback.
ReplyDeleteNow I work a corporate job where the only children I have to deal with are certain co-workers. And I get paid noticeably more than the average teacher in Wisconsin. Probably way more than the average teacher down here in hell. I mean, Texas.
Seems like I chose right...
i've NEVER understood why we so greatly underpay teachers [it's one of the few places where i disagree with Heinlein. he thinks, in general, those "feeding from the public trough" shouldn't complain about what they make. and for MANY "public servants", i agree. for instance, "congressperson". or "metermaid" [don't quote me on metermaid.] or, i don't know, all the people who are "public servants" who don't WORK. but teachers? they LITERALLY have THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN THE WORLD, after "Parent", and THE MOST IMPORTANT PAID JOB IN THE WORLD.]
ReplyDeleteit just makes NO SENSE to me - i must know at LEAST 30 people who have said "i wanted to be a teacher, but there's no way i could live on that salary". and teaching, unlike SO MANY other jobs, doesn't give one TIME to have a 2nd job - your second job is grading and recording and making new tests and etc. most teachers actually WORK a good 80+ hours per week, are only PAID for 40 [if they're lucky] and it's shit pay, at that,
fuck, *I* want to be a teacher. it's not physically possible, but even if it WAS, it's not FISCALLY possible. sure, teachers have health insurance - and my meds run over $3,000 a month. 10% deductable [which is what i think it is, here in ohio, as the meds co-pay for teacher's insurance] is $300 a month
if i were a teacher, at salary, of 30grand a year, i'd PROBABLY [if my math is correct, given taxes and etc] take home about 1600 [30000x.7, assuming i am taxed at 30%. this may not be accurate - at my last job, where i made minimum wage, i was taxed 30%] which is 21,000 a year, or 1750 - but doesn't include state and local tax, medicaid and social security "tax" [it's not a "tax} sigh] and it doesn't include health insurance cost, union cost, and any other cost i can't think of.] i'm probably being GENEROUS to say i'd take home a full 1600.
so, of that 1600:
my [cheap, small, basement apt, and i'd SO move] is $550. say i move [further away, but cheaper.
rent: $600
power: $200 [average.]
Gas: 100 [average, if i have - if not, power is more]
car insurance: $100
Phone and internet $100
meds: $300 [at least. possibly more]
Co-pays: $100 [as far as i know, it's a $20 co-pay, 4 appts/month on average]
i now have a WHOLE $100 to eat, get gas, buy clothing and teaching supplies, etc. except... yeah.
now, i'd be a BIT better if i weren't disabled - but, seriously, who the HELL thinks $1600 a month is a LOT [but DAMN, i wish i had it!!! erm. i'd lose medicaid, and i'm not sure it's worth it, given how much my care costs - and it costs MEDICAID a TENTH of what i'd pay otherwise... sigh]
but SURE, teacher's shouldn't be paid more. HA!
they NEED to be paid more! lots more! at $30 a year, they're making LESS than $12/hour! what the FUCK is that? [an entry tech position makes $12 an hour! teachers make more than a brand new tech support person who has NO DEGREE and probably NO TECH SKILL!!!]