Because the system is screwed up!

Priorities Someone who can shoot a basketball makes better than those who educate. Plastic girls with synthesized voices make more than brain surgeons.

This will probably be a VERY unpopular answer. I have raised 4 children, they have all gone through, and graduated from, the public school system. In all those years, I have only met 3 teachers who I think were underpaid. The rest were automatons going through the motions who couldn't even pass their own tests, or spell correctly on comments made on progress reports. Until a reliable way is found to weed out these bad apples, the few (and I mean few) good teachers will suffer along with the bad ones.

I doubt this is all the reason why, but to play devil's advocate... Can you imagine if teachers were paid millions? People would be flocking to the profession...including people who really shouldn't have such a huge impact on children's lives. Those plastic girls and those guys who can throw balls could potentially be standing in front of classrooms shaping our future, instead. Maybe salary IS a way of weeding out at least a few of the bad apples.

My teacher gets paid $1,500. I don't think that's bad pay.

Teachers may not be the highest paid profession, but they do make a decent enough living to get by and usually do than many others. The thing to remember is teachers may not make a lot starting out, but with retirement benefits and yearly raises, they can usually retire by 55-60. This isn't the fact with all teachers since pay differs from state to state and district to district, but the pay is usually an indication of the wealth of the region they teach in.

I don't believe that public school teachers are underpaid. I base this upon a comparison between my pay and my sister's pay. I am an Accounting Manager, with a bachelors degree and fourteen years experience in my field. She is a high school Math Teacher with a bachelors degree and 10 years experience in her field. I work an average of 240 days per year, and she works an average of 180 days a year. I usually work 9 hours a day, and at certain times of the month/year work 10 to 12 hours a day. She usually works 8 hours a day including prep time at home. Based on this, I estimate that I work about 2400 hours a year. She works about 1440 hours a year. As a result, her hourly wage scale works out to be about $6.00 an hour more than mine. In addition, she rarely has to work nights, never has to work weekends, gets the entire summer off, gets a week off in February, gets a week off in April, gets 10 days off at Christmas, gets 4 days off at Thanksgiving and never has to work a holiday. The last time she complained to me about how much more people in the private sector were making, I did this calculation for her. I haven't heard her complain since then. In addition, since the majority of teachers are paid with tax money, higher pay for teachers means higher taxes for the general public. I am pretty liberal, but I still would think twice about voting to increase my tax burden so a teacher who makes $6.00 per hour more than me could get a raise.

What teachers make varies a great deal from place to place. I have read these responses and can appreciate many of them. I know that teachers have a 180-185 day contract, depending upon where they are employed. And I understand that they also have time off for spring break and summers. Keep in mind that many work off and on thru the summer to prepare for the coming year. Curriculum changes, so their plans must change. Also, what many people do not understand is that the accountant can expect a certain level of competence from coworkers, and is only responsible for his/her actions and performance. A teacher, in contrast, is responsible for the learning of 20? to perhaps 200? students depending upon what level, the school, grade level, and subject matter. A teacher must make accomodations for those who are gifted learners, and those who are several years behind, all at the same time. A teacher must do the impossible, and mold people, somehow, into successful, responsible, critically thinking consumers and members of the community, who might later become that accountant. And above all else, that teacher must make a difference. Like any other profession, there are those who should probably find another line of work. Heck, some days I think myself a good teacher, and other days I wonder just what the hell I'm doing!Sometimes I feel like I'm a lousy teacher. But then each day, I potentially can be broadsided by one child whose life is in a shambles...and I still must make a difference and keep my chin up, while moving on and keeping pace for the others, and simultaneously playing social worker, substitute-parent at times, and being human above all else. Sometimes the teacher provides the only stable environment a child can count on. So whether teachers are well paid or not, they make a difference. That is what they make. I've heard it said that those who can-- do, while those who can't --teach. Great, well chosen words...by people who would not and could not last one day in the classroom. Those who would say this only feed a system that undervalues the teacher, and makes a problem bigger yet. Perhaps it's because of these folks that teachers don't make much for what they do, because they seem to view the teacher merely as a babysitter. They have no idea. Perhaps folks should spend some time in a classroom today before criticizing teachers. Those that think it's easy just haven't a clue.

High School teachers with a Master's do get paid well. The less lazy the teachers are, the more they will get paid. For example, one of my teachers has a Masters + 30 college credits, and many years of teaching experience. I would say around 20-30 yrs. She gets paid a lot being a teacher (she teaches 1 AP class and 3 honors classes). But she also does outside tutoring (one student's parents paid her $70/hr to tutor which I thought was pretty amazing). She does other things in addition to this (she also teaches night school, I think). She spends A LOT of time teaching/tutoring as well as taking college courses and supplemental teaching courses.

It is Supply and Demand 101. Teachers, sadly, are not the best and the brightest. It is inside work with no heavy lifting. 3months vacation with 2 weeks for Christmas, 1 week for Thanksgiving and 1 for Spring Break. Additionally, there are generous days off and sick leave. In college the courses are easy and non-demanding. The system is screwed up, mostly by the teachers unions. Giving them more money will not make them better teachers, just richer ones. Our schools are not "our schools". The are run and controlled by the federal courts. The administrators are afraid to go to the bathroom without some federal judges approval. If they even think about making the teachers pass a qualification test, the NAACP would have them in court so fast they couldn't see straight.