Are Teachers Overpaid Essay

The average beginning teachers’ salary in the 2012-13 school year was only $36,141 (SOURCE). With the cost of living in the U.S. being between $25,000 and $43,000, it is nearly impossible for a teacher to live completely independent (Gould). For years teachers have been over-worked and under-paid. They do so much work in and outside the classroom in order to teach children to the best of their abilities. Forbes magazine featured an article titled “Are Teachers Overpaid?” in March of 2011. This article was a reaction to the thought that teachers are merely “glorified babysitters.” The author did the math and the numbers were shocking. If a teacher was paid $3 per child for 8 hours a day that would be $24 per student. There are about 25 students in an average class so that would be $600 a day. Teachers are in school for 180 days, that doesn’t include nights, weekends, or summer vacation. With all those numbers added up they should be making $108,000 a year for “babysitting” their students (Meyer). But in reality they are making less than that to do a lot more work.
The book, 50 Myths and Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools by David C. Berliner and Gene V. Glass shows just how concerning the salary of teachers is. In New York City in 1970 a …show more content…
They are grading papers, holding conferences and meetings, and continuing their education in order to make sure what they are doing is supporting and helping their students as much as possible. Teachers spend a great deal of time outside of the school day working. With the salary that teachers have they have a very difficult time living independently and even a harder time supporting a family. Because of this 1 in 5 teachers rely on a second job for income (“Teachers Taking Second Jobs”). Having a second job at night or on the weekends takes away from time they could be spending on creating valuable lesson plans and new ideas for enhancing the