Why does everyone think that “schoolteacher” is the most noble profession ever?
It is “detrimental” to raise teachers salaries to that of investment bankers because only investment bankers would be able to afford the local taxes required to pay them.
Even if you do not feel that providing financing for businesses to grow and merge and go public with IPOs is as noble a profession as teaching, surely medical doctors must be close. The simple reason that teachers do not get paid as well as doctors, lawyers and investment bankers is because performing a teacher’s job requires nowhere near the same level of training, education and intellectual horsepower as those other jobs. It is a waste of time and resources to have a Wharton MBA or a Harvard Law JD or a Johns Hopkins MD babysitting a room full kids teaching them 5th grade algebra, social studies, or science. Their talents would be put to far better use doing something much more challenging.
And let’s dispense with the “low livable salary” myth. Teachers get paid around $35,000-75,000 depending on location and experience. It’s not Wall Street money, but it’s still better than the average national income. And no one forced those people to choose teaching as a profession. If they want to be paid better, there are certainly other professions with higher salaries.
I am not arguing the nobility of any profession. I am saying that most teachers go into the field for non-monetary reasons. Most bankers do not. Therefore teachers salaries can be lower because the money is not the only reward. Depending on location and specialty, most teachers spend just as much time in school as an MBA. There are many jobs that require an equivalent level of training, effort, and ability but pay more. If the only motivation for anyone was how much salary they could make, we would either have to pay more or lower qualifications.
It is no different than any other cost/reward calculation. An engineering job in San Jose could pay twice the salary of a similar job in Akron, OH. The difference is no engineer would work for that salary in CA because the cost of living is so much higher.
My point is that schoolteachers make about what they deserve to make.
Schoolteachers also don’t have to work 80+ hour weeks like I-bankers often do.
Yes and based on a complex series of factors including job market, education, work/life balance and everything else, schoolteachers probably make about what they deserve to make.
Deserve is a subjective term. I think it is more accurate to say that they are paid what they are willing to work for. Anything beyond that, we are talking purely opinions.
The fact of the matter is that there are more people willing to be teachers at the pay offered than would be willing to be doctors or lawyers. Even then, there are doctors and lawyers that work for peanuts doing charity or nonprofit work.
I am not arguing that this is a good thing, but the fact is that if communities could not get teachers at the salaries they were offering they would have to raise them or accept worse teachers. Around here(SF bay area), teachers get higher salaries in at risk schools because many teachers are willing to take a pay cut to work at schools in better areas.