Many people make fun of teachers for several reasons, only one of which I will say here: they don’t make enough money.

Is it a teacher’s job to get rich, or make tons of money? No, it’s not. It’s a teacher’s job to give the gift of knowledge to their students, to repeat the knowledge learned onto them to the students. It is a cruel joke, often made solely because teachers don’t have nice houses or apartments, but it brings to mind the possibility that teachers really aren’t paid well.

The highest average national salary for a teacher between 2001 and 2002 was $54,348 and the lowest at $31,383. The next comparison (between 2002 and 2003) wasn’t much better; the highest average national salary was $55,693 and the lowest was $32,414. Even the best paid teachers had a mediocre salary, at best. Is that fair? Is it fair for a teacher to be paid so little for passing knowledge on to the next generation? I don’t think so.

Okay, so the rate rose, right? And it’s fair to assume that if the change went up over a year, it’ll continue to go up, even if a bit, right? But if it goes up at that rate, then you can still see that the average will be around $60,000 by now, still only “okay” by money standards.

And for those of you who aren’t sure what a good salary is, think of it like this (I’m giving rough estimates, so don’t quote me): $0-$40,000 is “poor”, $41,000-$69,000 is “okay”, and $70,000-anything higher is “wealthy to rich”. That’s only my opinion, but I think I’m sort of right, at least in the right area.

Anyways, back to the teacher problem. It’s likely that there are at least a few people saying that the salary given to teachers now is pretty fair. What do they do? They just walk around a room, blathering information memorized, giving out worksheets, and all around making kids miserable, right?

One word: wrong.

Teachers not only give knowledge to the students, but now, contrary to popular belief, they try to make class more bearable, if not fun, for the students. Yes, I know that some teachers…they’re not so great, but you get the point; kids are getting an education, like it or not, and they’re starting to like it.

And there’s the biggest thing: time. Teachers devote endless hours to their students so that they will be able to comprehend what they are learning in a way that isn’t too boring. Hey, fellow students, ever noticed that the teacher is usually still there when you leave and already there when you arrive at school? That’s known as devotion, something that we should take pride in for our teachers.

So, to sum: teachers give lots of time to make sure their students can learn, and they get squat for it money-wise. And hey, let’s be real; our values and morals are of top importance, but material things are still second-place.

So with all these new ideas for bringing more money to teachers, not giving them any more money is just dumb.

Source for teacher salary: America Federation of Teachers
Resource.educationamerica.net

Link to salaries: http://resource.educationamerica.net/salaries.html