Teacher shortages

Interesting and alarming:

Several districts across Oregon have upped the daily pay for substitute teachers, in response to an overall teacher shortage. We never got back all the teachers who retired during the pandemic. And we're not getting enough new graduates. Class sizes are swelling. While we pay teachers overall more than most states, we still don't pay them what they're worth. 

A college student choosing a career will know that she will be able to earn a modest living at best by teaching, even though the job takes at least six years of college to prepare for. It's probably the lowest-paying highly professional job in the country.

I wonder why that is. Teachers aren't very high up on the social ladder. I blame conservative propaganda that squawks "wokewokewokewokewoke" and accuses every teacher (every teacher) of indoctrinating her students--even if she's teaching conversational Chinese!

As a substitute teacher, I benefit from all this. I only work two days a week now, but I have my pick of assignments. Oregon is unique in that subs are, by law, paid at least 90% of what a first-year teacher makes. Most get paid more. And we don't have to work nearly as hard as regular teachers; we don't have to take any work home with us (teachers spend 10-15 unpaid hours per week on grading and prep).

I can only imagine what it's like in red states like Arkie-saw, where substitute teachers earn $14 an hour--about what McDonald's pays here. No wonder red states produce so many drooling MAGAs--shitty public education.

Anyway, if you have any friends who want a change of pace, tell them to come to Oregon and teach. All you need to get a license is a bachelor's degree, in any subject. The license costs $230 and you can easily make $250 or more a day. If you already have a license, that can be $290 a day! And it's easy work compared to being a regular teacher.

It's real easy work for a regular teach as well.  Paid appropriately for all the off time and the big fat pensions.  

What you apparently don't realize is that a teacher's work week is 55 to 60 hours long. Most workdays are from 7:30 to 3:30, but there's often after school tasks like clubs or parent meetings. Then there's lesson creation and homework and grading, none of which can be done during the regular school day.

Nobody ever sees that at-home work, so since people are stupid, they can't imagine it. They just think that teachers stroll home and kick off their shoes at 3:30.

And yes, those 60-hour weeks are somewhat balanced out by a couple of months of paid time off. But it works out to a net work week average of about 45 hours.

And I don't know where you got the silly notion that teachers' pensions are "fat." They're actually far less than what other trained professionals make.

So how long did you teach, Jerry?  You must have taught, or teach right now, to know so much about how easy the job is and how much teachers get paid. 

Jerry must have been a teacher, or maybe has family that are/were teachers to know how easy the job is and how much teacher's pensions are.   And while the workday is 7:30 to 3:30, there are those of us that get there before 7am and don't leave until 4pm.  My wife doesn't leave until 5pm some days, and she actually teaches T-K, the 3 and 4 year olds.  But, it's the life we chose (33 years and counting for me, 22 years for her), so we're not complaining.  

Subs here in Riverside make $200 per day, and credentialed individuals, which include retirees, that substitute make $250.  That jumps to $300 if you take a long term position and teach over 20 consecutive school days.  Not a bad chunk of change for a retired teacher. 

If you think it's bad in Oregon try visiting a red state in the Deep South where your starting salary is about the same as a cashier at Walmart and without unions....so after a few years when you finally break above the poverty line you get let go and replaced with a new $18/hr teacher fresh out of college.

i had an Uber driver in Indiana who was a teacher,    He quit teaching because he makes more money doing Uber.    That's pretty pathetic.    

 All one has to do is look at the insane salaries of school administrators as to where the money for teachers has gone. 

You are ignorant.  

Actually I'm not ignorant.  I make those rates above per hour with my salary. 

I don't care how many "long hours" the teachers work.  It is very easy work.  Our state university wants me to come teach there.  So I'd say I am qualified.  Are any of your grade school subs/teachers asked to teach at your state university?  Didn't think so.  

As far as Kevin's stupid pension claim goes.  Most companies these days don't offer pensions at all.  But you'd have to live in the real world to know that I guess.  The fact you all think these elementary teaching jobs are so hard pretty much sums it up that none of you live in the real world.  

And to answer your question Edso.....I don't teach but I sit on a school board.  The teachers that march in and complain about silly things are mindless individuals. It just can't be very hard.  Sorry, it that hits a sore spot with you.  I'm not saying there aren't really good teachers out there but it is a small minority for sure.  $75K feels about right with the rich benefits they get.