This is a post I just had to write… no matter where you sit in the debate over teacher’s wages, please read this… it REALLY puts the argument into perspective! And then remember that these people our society seems to place such little value upon are the people nurturing the growth of knowledge in tomorrow’s leaders!!! Perhaps if we paid teachers better, we could ensure a higher calibre of teacher for our children… if we could ensure a higher calibre of teachers, that would ensure a higher calibre of education for our children!!! And if our children received a superior education… the possibilities could be endless!!!
I saw this on a friend’s Facebook status – it really helps put the teacher’s pay dispute in perspective!
Teachers’ hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It’s time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do – babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That’s right. Let’s give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:…00 PM with 45 min off for lunch and plan– that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day…maybe 30? So that’s $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day.
However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET’S SEE…. That’s $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master’s degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute — there’s something wrong here! There sure is!
The average teacher’s salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student–a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!! Make a teacher smile; re-post this to show appreciation for all educators.
If our children received a superior education, perhaps tomorrow’s politicians would stop doing such ridiculous things and become more collaborative in working towards what is best for the country rather than that which will ensure their re-election… just saying.
On a serious note though, please support ACT teacher’s currently fighting for pay equity with NSW teachers! The discrepancy means ACT educated children are not getting the same quality of teachers as NSW educated children… simply because teachers need to live too, as a profession they are already so lowly paid – who can blame them for preferring the higher paid teaching jobs? They have families to support too!
You can find more information on the issues involved here.
