Teachers Earn Too Little

Teachers Earn Too Little

In a perfect world, the more meaning an occupation has, the better it is paid. However, in reality, the reverse is sometimes true. In the case with teachers, salaries are too low so that many good educators have to give their career up and look for a higher-paid job to keep the lights on.

How Much Teachers are Paid

There is no doubt that teaching is one of the most important occupations and, unfortunately, it is one of the lowest-paid ones as well. Little less than 90 percent of those working in kindergartens, primary and secondary institutions ensure that what they make improves society, but all of them complain about their salary which is less than forty-five thousand dollars per year.

Since an average household income in the country is slightly more than fifty-three thousand dollars, a family of two teachers would earn enough money; however, why school educators are considered as a low paid workers?

They Invest More Than They Get

Before one can start teaching, it is necessary to obtain a decent education, which has never been free. Every state has its own requirements, but usually, all candidates should earn a bachelor’s degree diploma and get a license. In some cases, the latter requires a candidate to obtain a master’s degree.

In fact, it is a long way to become a teacher, which includes completing a state-approved educator preparation program. And before one can do that, there is no way to get paid. While most prospective educators have to earn a bachelor’s degree diploma, in some areas, a master’s degree is either required or desired.

Most prospective educators have to spend about six years to get prepared for their job, and this is in the time when the tuition fees are rising at a faster pace than their salaries. And those ending up with a master’s degree are forced to get a job that doesn’t pay as much as they deserve, indeed. For example, other jobs requiring a master’s degree diplomas usually pay a lot more: an average salary of database administrators is slightly less than 70,000 dollars, while soft engineers earn almost 8,000 dollars more.

Even though there are programs, which are meant to repay a small part of the debt loan for educators this is not enough, when it comes to the sums measured by thousands of dollars that prospective educators usually spent on education annually.

Women-Dominated Jobs are Paid Less

Historically, most jobs held by female employees have been paid less than those held by men. Moreover, those professions focused on making the world better have been more likely to get less than those bringing profit for a business. Here is a question: is it because of the historical aspect or social one that teachers are underpaid today?

Usually, an average teaching staff primarily consists of women, especially when it comes to pre-schools as well as elementary and secondary educational institutions. High schools typically count of the equal numbers of male and female educators. Meanwhile, surgeons are slightly less than 80 percent male and earn ten times as much as teachers do.

These two professions shouldn’t be compared anyway: those who want to become surgeons will never go into teaching, and vice versa. Nevertheless, is the one who wants to become a teacher is about to be lured into a trap? Such a high-value profession, which is meant to change our world to the better, is considered as a women-dominated occupation and thus pays so little.

When Geography Counts

As with all other professions, geography matters when it comes to salaries for educators. This is mainly because of the cost-of-living index, which varies from one state to another. For example, in Montana, it is almost forty percent less than in Federal City. One can say for sure that the teachers’ salaries along with their living standards vary greatly, depending on the state.

Most educators complain about how hard it is for them to keep a balance between teaching and their second job: they usually start coaching or provide other types of services, such as term paper writing help and so forth, so that they can make ends meet.

Unfortunately, an increased number of teachers are forced to leave their occupation because of relatively low salaries. No one can deny that the growth of their salaries gets far behind the rise in the cost of living. Many educators and those who have already decided on leaving teaching are emotionally and financially drained. This gave a push to many protests demanding higher salaries in unfavorable states.

The salaries for teachers have started to fall since the 90’s. At a slow pace, as the economic conditions in the country improved, schools began to engage more educators. But very few want to go into educating nowadays. Therefore, many colleges witness a decline in enrollment in the relevant education programs. Most students are simply looking for better options offering higher salaries. Education has a positive effect on our economy; therefore, it is of a great importance to increase salaries and implement some incentives for teachers so that more young people will put their mind to going into teaching.