Teachers’ low salary has been brought to attention as World Teachers Day draws near. The situation is dire to the extent that it is believed that no one joins teaching due to the low pay.
According to a former North Carolina math teacher, he made the same amount of money walking dogs as he did in teaching.
Teachers low salary is the primary cause of being shunned by quite a number of young people. When it comes to choosing a career, you should not have to decide between meaning and money. Money might be equated to meaning to most people, but a lot would still want to pursue teaching for the good it brings.
For example, surgeons earn over $300,000 a year and 96 percent of them proudly say they “make the world a better place”. Other professions do not have that much endorsement from their practitioners but teachers would say, theirs is a “noble profession”.
Indeed, there is a significant disparity between pay and meaning. Due to that disparity, some professionals, like teachers, end up in other professions, with much heartbreak as they really love to teach, but for the low pay.
Teachers’ financial freedom jeopardized
According to a Tennessee teacher, she was forced to drive a 1996 van because she did not have the capability of affording any other.
This sentiment shows the way teachers’ purchasing power has been hindered by the low pay they receive.
As a result, many of them struggle to make ends meet in spite of the critical role they undertake in society.
Dana Goldstein, an accomplished author, argued that teaching is not viewed as a lucrative profession because of the feminization of the early 1800s.
During this time, women were brought into the education sector in their droves. As a result, teaching became more of a romantic calling or philanthropic vocation as compared to being a career. Teachers low salary should really be given much thought in a society which demands quality education.
Goldstein stipulated that the impact of this early stereotype has been detrimental to the present day. She believes that this is one of the primary reasons why public school teachers are drastically underpaid in many states. This trend is higher in women who account for 76%.
Teachers’ salaries getting worse
Many experts have aired their concerns about the way teachers’ wages are becoming worse off, despite them being a longstanding challenge.
The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) presented a 2016 study that revealed that teachers low salary has been an old issue. From the 1980s, teachers earned less compared to similarly educated workers.
The low pay subjected to teachers has made many of them seek a second job. Unfortunately, a large part of US teachers in preschool and high school need a second job to support their families and cover their expenses.
