A real education: The plight of teachers

Since 1996 inflation-adjusted pay for a public school teacher has actually fallen, and nationwide about one in five teachers has a second job during the school year to make ends meet. Fury over those flat and falling wages helped spark a movement over the past 18 months in which tens of thousands of teachers walked off the job, but thousands have also been forced by economic conditions to give up their profession. "CBS This Morning" co-host Tony Dokoupil talks with New York Times education reporter Dana Goldstein, and with Oklahoma teachers who have struggled with low pay – including one, Carri Hicks, who turned her frustration into a run for public office.

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[triciaroy]

Administrators — too many of them and they all make 6 figures or more. The corruption is at the top.

[karenfeldman]

Teachers are trained, certified professionals just like accountants and engineers. They hold college degrees plus teaching credentials and many have advanced degrees. Most have completed extensive coursework in learning theory and educational practice and are required to continue their education throughout their careers. They deserve to be fairly compensated and treated as the professionals they are.

[lynnturman]

One of the consequences of the obsession over standardized tests is that it has completely robbed teachers of any classroom autonomy. Teachers are told what to teach, when to teach, and how to teach it. And every year more "programs" get added by the district that teachers are expected to implement, which is basically a way of getting teachers to do more work but for the same pay. And each year it gets worse & worse. You can only squeeze so much blood from a stone. At some point something's gotta give.

[hempzstar]

My husband left teaching because how he was treated everyday. There is NO SUPPORT

[aimeeromley]

I have no idea how teachers do it. Almost every teacher I talk to says they love teaching but the paperwork and discipline issues are getting to be too much. Let these highly trained, well educated people do what they are trained & educated to do! Administrators and politicians need to get out of the way.

[Cape]

I left teaching (18 years!) because of the poor treatment not because of the pay. It’s a battle EVERY SINGLE DAY. Not worth it.

[jaclynb_]

The biggest issue I have as a teacher is that we are constantly being told how to do our job by non- professionals. Every day we have people that know nothing about education making decisions for us and our profession just like the senator in this story (who probably hasn't stepped inside a classroom in over 30 years.) What's worse is that the public knows we're being treated and paid unfairly yet does NOTHING to change it simply because it's not happening to them. No one would ever tell a doctor how to do their job but EVERYONE is quick to tell an teacher that they're not doing their job correctly.

[nanoc.]

I was a student teacher, I loved my students. We would laugh while learning geometry, I would sit with groups listening to them debating over different methods to solve a problem, I would hear their stories and relate to them with my own experiences. It was so damn rewarding. But I had to stop a month before the school year ended due to horrible burnout....I had so many lesson plans to write, create activities, listen to critique from my supervisor, etc... I was and still am so exhausted, there were so many responsibilities required from the school, parents, the math department, students, and my supervisor. I value teachers 1000x more now than ever before.

[phatrickmoore]

"You can read this because of teachers" - I think that says it all!

[Youtuber-qbrx]

In many countries, teaching is considered a prestigious profession that is highly paid.

[Blitznstitch]

Teaching should be a highly paid profession.

[jaycampbell]

That "average' teacher salary is grossly exaggerated. Someone is fudging the numbers in order to dupe more people into going into the teaching profession. I started in teaching in California in 2006 at 40, 000. I stayed in the system ten years and had worked up to $60, 000 but only by moving to the Silicon Valley area, where rents were out of control. By living in that area I was far above average. I then moved to another state, because California is corrupt, and no, I do not vote for those same policies in my new home. But in my new state, I was offered three teaching jobs at 26, 000 per year, 28, 000 and 33, 000. I taught for two more years until I could transition out. I was willing to try to work at the 33, 000 per year job. But I easily found a job earning 10, 000 per year more and now I literally work from 9-5 instead of 7:30-4:30 or 5:00 like I did as a teacher. And I am not asked to chaperone dances or sporting events because no parents are willing to do it. And I get a full hour lunch break, and two 15 minute breaks each day. I had a number of students tell me I was the best math teacher they ever had, but after serving 4 years in the military and 12+ years in education, I have done my part. I wish I could have stayed on and retired as a teacher but its not even just the low pay, its the corruption in the system. I took a lot of flak from administrators trying to pressure me to lower my standards and pass a failing student. I don't want to be in that place anymore when its clear most parents don't care. Young people should stay out of teaching; the system is not going to improve until it gets bad enough to grab the public's attention.

[goodtalker]

I grew up in a very small town in the California desert. I graduated from high school over forty years ago. My teachers were excellent. I don't know how they fared economically, but I do know this: they were EXTREMELY RESPECTED by everyone and thus very effective at their craft. Today, I don't think you could pay me enough to teach in my hometown. It's such a shame.

[sophiasummer]

I’m a teacher entering my 5th year in dc public schools and I’m already considering leaving the profession. Even though in dc the salary is pretty high but the demands are ridiculous.

[nparksntx]

I quit after 10 years and homeschool my kids. I enjoyed teaching, but I wanted my children to be educated and not schooled in an institution. The testing was my biggest complaint.

[peglegable]

Common sense would say; "Why would anyone in their right mind want to work as a teacher in a public school? Forget the pay...think of it as a job that is now considered dangerous.

[BearingMySeoul]

At the very least, public school teachers should have their student loans forgiven after 5 years. People say, "Thank you for your service" to the US military. They need to be saying that to public school teachers for sure!!!

[ericacrady]

I'm not one of those teachers whose 1st job was teaching, I worked retail "full-part time" for over a decade before entering the classroom. The thing ppl don't understand that I wish they did about the weekends, holidays, and summers off thing is that it's nigh impossible to leave work at work. Even if it were possible to have my 'to-do' list done for school, the mental baggage is relentless. I can't leave it at school b/c teaching comes from the heart and I take that home. Teaching is a lifestyle choice. At many jobs you can "hide" for a bit..smoke break, check facebook in the bathroom, "look busy", disappear into your own thoughts for a minute, zone out...that doesn't happen at school. You are ALWAYS "on" from the minute you get there.

[melikesleepy]

I taught for one year in rural Missouri during the 2010-2011 school year and my starting salary was just under 27K a year. I looked around at my colleagues that had been teaching 20 even 30 plus years with one, sometimes two graduate degrees and they were only making around 35K to 40K a year. Most of them worked second jobs just to support their families. Our art teacher had to buy her own supplies for her classes, in fact all of us had to work around the lack of funding in one form or another. My 10th grade World History books were from the 1980's and still had the USSR in them! That one year was enough for me, and I heeded the advice of all the veteran educators around me and got out after one year to make a better future for myself. I wasn't the only one to leave education out of my 2010 graduating class, hardly any of my college classmates remain in the profession for the reasons mentioned above and many more.


It's sad that there is such a lack of respect and funding invested into our national education system. As a nation we will be reaping the negatives of these ill thought out decisions for years to come.

[Shetasen]

As a student I never understood why parents, administrators and the government are so terrible to teachers. Even as a high schoolers a decade ago, I saw how parents saw school as a cheap babysitting service and would have the gall to demand their class skipping kid get an A or demand personal texts for updates. All the while i knew half my teachers had second jobs and didnt deserve the treatment they had. I would gladly pay higher taxes if it was a guaranteed that they'd go to the school district and to the teachers and not some weird and lying town/city/nation "yeah yeah we got money" flex.