Book project looking for people who passed on teaching because of salary

[Democat]

T E A C H E R S A L A R I E S

826 Valencia and McSweeney's continue to be busy with our book about the effects of teachers' absurdly low salaries. Right now, we're looking for two types of people with stories to tell:

- Once upon a time, you thought about becoming a teacher, but when you realized how little you'd be paid, you decided it just wasn't worth it and went on to a more lucrative and manageable career.

- You're a teacher and you've got a great story that illustrates just how busy your day is (you don't get to go to the bathroom until 1p.m., and then it's a sprint to make it before the bell; you've forgotten to eat lunch for an entire semester).

If you have a story like this, please send an email to Daniel Moulthrop at [e-mail]. In your email, please include your name, age, where you live, where you taught (if applicable), and a brief rundown of the story you'd like to share.

http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/826nyc/salaries.html

This should be an interesting project when completed. Think of how many great people didn't go into teaching because it just didn't pay enough.

[RoyGBiv]

1. Interesting...

But what I'd like to see more is a study of people who didn't go into teaching because of the insane bureaucracy.

Here's a controversial statement: I dropped out of the teacher education program because I wanted to teach. I know many others who either did the same or didn't even go into it for similar reasons.

And no, that's not bitter fruit, that's a reflection of reality. I am, without the PhD qualification, a historian, and I wanted to teach history, but I was told time and again that in order to do that I had to agree to a particular historical interpretation that would allow me to help my students pass a standardized test based on that interpretation. Furthermore, I would need to spend some significant amount of time learning how to coach a sport, preferably football. What does coaching football have to do with teaching history?

Nothing, of course, but history is not considered important in the modern education system, only a particular version of history that is used to infuse a particular patriotic sentiment into this nation's children. I can't be that hypocritical. So, I "do" history on the side and try to earn my living in other ways, all the while listening to people who tell me how my education is worthless.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Yep that is me

I just refused to play the game. MA in History, but I cannot
teach at a lower level than oh Junior College because
I do not have a Credential? THis is a way to keep qualified
people off the classroom... and this is both the Union (and
I usually love Unions) and most importantly the bureocrats.

How do we know you are truly qualified?

Oh and the pay, yep it is low, but as many other careers
where women dominate, the pay is LOW... and this is ON PURPOSE

::grrr::

[RoyGBiv]

4. MA in history....

Interesting isn't it. You have more qualifications in the subject matter than most of those who actually do teach it, yet you're considered less qualified.

My line of demarcation was when I really looked at the qualifications and realized the teacher's ed concentration required fewer history classes than the generic history degree. For all intents and purposes I could have minored in history -- actually considering my prior knowledge not have taken any classes at all -- and acquired a history teaching certification if I'd jumped through the proper hoops.

I think teaching theory is important, but without expertise in the subject, essentially worthless.

And I think you're right about the rate of pay being a result of the profession being women dominated. This was something my grandmother, someone who had three separate degrees and a MA in Education and yet was never paid even as much as a male administrator with a generic business degree, harped on incessantly.

[Lorien]

2. I'm one of those

I turned down a teaching position at a local university because it only paid $2,300 per credit hour per semester (about eight credit hours was a full week of work) I love teaching, but at the time my commercial art job was paying me $2,500 a week- so there was no contest.

[oblivious]

5. Hong Kong's just the opposite now.

When I came here, I started in industry, but I had a teaching cert so jumped to secondary school teaching when I realised it paid more - about US$40,000, but after two years they gave me a senior position which doubled my salary to just over US$80,000. And the max tax rate is just 17%. At that time they were having trouble recruiting teachers because the economy was booming. Now it's just the opposite. After a few years of serious recession, engineers, accountants, business and IT majors are all competing to get into a PGCE program so they can apply for teaching jobs. They pay better and they are more stable. How things have changed, even with teaching pay having dropped about 10% in the last 4 years since I stopped teaching at the secondary level. I think it's the stability of teaching here that is attracting people from other professions, even more than the salary.

[no_hypocrisy]

6. Interesting. I was passed on teaching BECAUSE OF salary. I was

"over-qualified" with a Master's Degree, and hence my scale of salary was $2-2,500.00 more annually than a Bachelor's Degree and no experience. The money saved by hiring the latter went to better purposes such as administration, etc. I watched lesser qualified applicants get teaching positions while I waited. I was willing to put up with the bureaucracy that gets in the way of teaching, the parents, the banal textbooks, and yes, the salary. I would still teach if given the opportunity. Ironically, I was coveted as a substitute teacher as my classes actually did work instead of taking a "vacation day" while their regular teacher was out.