Why did I become a teacher? Like my colleagues, I enjoy teaching, and I enjoy working with kids and youth. But let's be honest; I do it for the paycheck. So why do I feel like the only teacher infuriated at the talk of raising teachers' wages?
Raising teachers' wages is a smokescreen, a red herring, a cover-up to the real problems. For starters, I have four degrees (including a master's) and even a Utah teaching license. Yet in seven years of teaching, I have never been qualified for my positions in Utah. Can you explain that? All the pointless hoops to jump through to get the license, and it's been harder to maintain.
Then there are the teachers unions who want a cut of my money. Where are the better working conditions? Where is fairness in education? What’s that, you say? They got me 10 days sick/personal days off work? Why does a teacher need that kind of time off? Two months of summer, three days for Thanksgiving, two weeks for “winter break” and another week in the spring isn’t enough? I would take three sick days and call it good if they would address the real issues in education.
Let's face it: No matter how politicians and “educators” spin it, the five-year turnover rate in teaching has nothing to do with salary (we knew our salaries long before starting our degree programs). It has to do with poorly thought-out education laws, unnatural requirements and pretended authority we deal with.
Dave Wolfe
Roy