TEACHING RAINBOWS (Part 7)

Let Us Not Leave the Teachers Behind

There is no more important profession in our society than education. Yes, policemen are necessary, secretaries are important, computer programmers are essential and the military is vital. But we entrust our children and the future of the world, to teachers. You want the very best people for this task. Right? Well, this is not happening in the United States.

According to at least one 2007 study, teachers put in 15.5 hours per workday. That is, double most occupations. Yes, there are long summers, or at least there once were, in Hawaii. Plus teachers don’t toil and sweat, like a construction worker, although very few college graduates do, anyway.

Then, too, when I once taught in college, and that was about thirty years ago, the State Legislature became concerned that professors only spent 6 hours per week in the classroom, so we had to undergo a comprehensive review, providing a log of our personal activities. I don’t remember how many hours the report indicated we spent on educational activities, and we all of course padded as appropriate, but, nothing came of it and we have not since then been bothered by such nonsense. Mind you many, if not most, faculty members do spend more than 60 hours/week on work related activities.

I do vaguely recall, though, that the average faculty member did not spend anywhere close to 80 hours/week (multiply 15.5 hours from above by 5... and you get something close to 80). How really valid was this survey? I ran a Google check, and the best I could find was that teachers in 1991 spent 46 hours/week on school related matters. I suspect some teachers work 80 hours/week, and many settle on something closer to 46 hours/week.

How well are we paying them? Read the book, How Does Teacher Pay Compare?, written by Sylvia Allegretto, et al. It says that recruiting has become a serious problem because teachers are moving into higher paying, or less stressful, means of livelihood. Further, the claims of the National Compensation Survey—showing that teachers, in consideration of their fringe benefit bias, are actually well compensated—are prejudiced.

The National Education Association (NEA) reports that in the 1940 to 2000 period, teachers lost ground and status:

o For college graduates, in 1940, male non-teachers earned 3.6% less than male teachers, and female non-teachers earned 15.8% less than female teachers.

o In 2000, male non-teachers made 60.4% more than male teachers and female non-teachers made 16.4% more than female teachers.

Lost ground is a gross understatement, for from male teachers earning 3.6% more than their fellow graduates in 1940 to now earning 60.4% less, who would want to enter teaching? So you say, 75% of K-12 teachers are female, and they earn only 16.4% less than their counterparts, with the advantage that these teachers have schedules better suited to being good mothers, and you kind of know why this occurred. As an average, those who go into teaching earn 53.5% less than their classmates, which actually understates the gap, because many teachers go on to earn master’s degrees. Women with some graduate education now earn about 40% more than female teachers with a master’s degree.

Should their pay rate be increased? Heck yes, and by at least 50%, if not doubled! Ah, but there is a zero-sum game at play here, and the existing priorities only mean that the prevailing sentiment is that this is the best society can, and therefore, wants, to do.

Where was the National Education Association during this tragic transition? Well, they kept bringing up this crisis, but no one listened. They regularly published the sort of information you read above, and the public just did not care enough. I kind of relate this toothlessness to my warning decision-makers (in Book 1) that the sky could be falling regarding Peak Oil and Global Warming, but I can’t seem to convince anyone. Why does the public react so strongly to swine flu, but care little about the the coming doom or teachers' salaries? I guess, it is mostly a matter of what personally affects them and their immediate family now.

K-12 teachers, or certainly those at the K-6 levels, have a compelling wild card to use. If they don’t teach, something has to be done about taking care of all those children suddenly abandoned. But I guess most educators are above it all, or are satisfied enough, which is somewhat my take on why nothing has been done about the coming energy crisis. Our political and governing system is influenced by voters and the public at large. We get what we want!

Finally, I would like to share a lament:

o There is an emergency in education—140,000 teachers left the profession during the past year. They were replaced by young or incompetent teachers.

o The great majority of those who left did so for better pay, reflecting ambition, intelligence and progressiveness.

o The only solution is better pay for teachers.

o Children—our future women and men—deserve our best efforts and unstinted help.

This was written by W.C. Canterbury, Secretary of the Oklahoma Educational Association, on May 6, 1920.

You might say that nothing has changed today. A successful teacher, nevertheless, is confident, enthusiastic and imaginative. Self-assuredness is easy as you know more than the student. Some people have more passion than others, but all can lean in the direction of being energized, for learning can become contagious with the right approach and style. While we don’t pay our school teachers enough, a sufficient number of them exude the above attitude that our products turn out to be okay. This is almost a terrible statement, but if society never gets around to improving teachers’ salaries, our national future might still be secure. We’ll later see why.

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At this writing, the Dow Jones Industrials are up 55 at 9682, with world markets mostly in the positive. Oh, in case you missed it, the recession is over, that according to Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. Oil shot up more than two bucks to $71/barrel and gold six bucks to $1008/toz.

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Wow, Super Typhoon Choi-wan is at 155 MPH, and will soon become a Category 5 (156 MPH and higher) monster. Yet, the prognosis is for a gradual shift to the north and west away from Japan. Again, though, if the current pathway and strength are maintained, my plane won't be able to land at Narita, for the airport will be gone.

Nothing much to worry about in the East Pacific and Atlantic.

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