Since I moved to Ohio 5 months ago, I have had a unique opportunity to discuss wages with factory workers, construction workers, sales consultants and many others who's jobs require no college. Their salaries are quite often in the 40-60+ K range.
So, what kind of salary does someone deserve in the private sector after completing 9+ years of college?
What if this includes being certified for their occupation at graduate level, having experience and a proven track record?
What if their job can not realistically be done in less than 50 hours a week? (Often much more.)
What if the job expectation is to spend even more time volunteering to work for committees and attending late night functions and early meetings?
What if the job in question constantly requires juggling several tasks at once, out of thousands that must be completed in less than a year?
What if the job requires supervising and directing 20+ untrained, immature, unmotivated and independent workers at once?
What if the job in question legally requires additional training and education on a yearly basis, much of it at the employees expense?
What if the job implies that the employee needs to spend 5 to 10% of his/her yearly salary on unsupplied material?
What if the job requires documenting every &%#*@ task that the employee does.
What if the job requires being micro-managed by: politicians, administrators, "experts" and "specialist", members of the community, etc. all with conflicting ideas of how the job should be done, because "they know what's best" even though THEY'RE NOT ACTUALLY DOING THE %&*#@ JOB, AND HAVE NEVER ACTUALLY DONE THE &*%#$@ JOB!!!!
What kind of salary should this job bring?
Well, obviously we are talking about teaching here, what else would fit this job profile? And we all know what teachers make!
One of the first things that I always hear when a discussion of teacher's salaries comes up is:
"But you get the summers off!"
This is true, but you would not believe how much time myself and other teachers spend getting ready for the next school year. Preparing and organizing our classrooms, planning lessons and units, creating materials, fixing stuff that the school district should have, taking classes, etc. Heck, I even painted my classroom one summer (at my own expense, of course).
When it comes to education, the question becomes: "What's the least that we can pay certified people to do this job?"
And if the taxpayers are particularly cheap, the question becomes: "How much do we have to lower our standard requirements and expectations to get enough people to work at this pathetic pay, and under these pathetic conditions?"
So, what was my salary last year?
Less than 28 K.
This was fine when my wife worked. But now we have kids, and I'll be damned to put them in day care. And I'll be damned to not see my kids grow up because I'm always at work. I don't mind driving an $800 car for the past 6 years, wearing clothes from the Salvation Army, playing AH on an old P-II 350, but I'm not going to raise my kids in an apartment complex in a bad part of town.
I can't afford to be a teacher... I'm done.
eskimo
