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Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

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Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#71
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why shouldn't teachers make six figures? I mean after all, half the people here just put buttons on websites and get paid six figures.

Because teacher salaries, like the salaries of people here, should be determined by the market not by warm and fuzzy feelings.

Market solves everything! Like that train derailment in Ohio! Certainly no need for a collective organization to step in to oversee clean up or preventative measures in the future.

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#72
post #7
post #2

Teachers don’t work year round. So that 60k salary if adjusted to days worked + pension benefits is equivalent to six figures in the private sector.

Teachers do more work outside of their standard hours than most other professions. I dated a teacher for a long time and she worked much harder for her public school salary (waking up at 6am, prepping, lesson planning, grading, chasing up kids who aren't making it to school, dealing with social workers, etc.), than I do for my cushy six-figure tech job salary. Besides, why shouldn't teachers make six-figures? Why are…

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Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#73
post #10

Instead, allow for a voucher system where parents can apply the equivalent amount of money the public school spends and apply it towards private schools. Make it easy for teachers to start their own school or coop to compete for vouchers. Definitely a pipe dream but it might work.

How about “also yes”

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#74
post #10

Instead, allow for a voucher system where parents can apply the equivalent amount of money the public school spends and apply it towards private schools. Make it easy for teachers to start their own school or coop to compete for vouchers. Definitely a pipe dream but it might work.

What a dystopian education system that would be.

Why? The idea that everyone is forced to go to the same place and be educated the same way is dystopian, IMHO. What ever happened to diversity?

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#75

I'm in NJ where we value public education, for the most part. According to National Center for Education Statistics our average teacher pay was $77,489 in 2022. This is excluding benefits/pension. Well worth it.

If you value education, why does your state have unions that force pay based on seniority and not outcome?

How is outcome measured?

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#77
I'd be OK with raising the minimum salary for public school teachers a LOT more, BUT ONLY for teachers who graduate in the top 10% of their high-school class and in the top 10% of their college class -- like in Finland, which has one of the world's best public school systems.

It makes sense that if public schools hire teachers only from the most academically competent population in a country, and pay them well, those individuals will figure out how to improve the quality of public education.

Some years ago I recall seeing a study by McKinsey which found that a majority of public school teachers in the US came from the bottom of their high-school class and the bottom of their college class.[a] Quite literally the opposite of Finland.

--

[a] I found the study. Here it is: https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/industries/public%...

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#78
I know this is crazy but: Recently I was thinking about opening a foundation that will create a universal multimedia "product" (combination of software, movies, games, maybe vr) that will teach kids around the world in schools subjects that all nations agree upon like mathematics, physics, chemistry, informatics etc. This is extremely challenging to convince governments to impose this in the schools but the gains are huge - naming only few: - We can release the workforce of millions teacher around the world that do repetitive job every day so that can focus on different aspects of education - We can hire the best of the best in the world teachers to prepare the product and all the kids around the world, no matter if big cities or small towns will have access to the same best possible education. - Education could be totally individual and adapted to every kid - Education can be fun so kids actually will like it

What do you think?

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#79
post #23
post #10

Instead, allow for a voucher system where parents can apply the equivalent amount of money the public school spends and apply it towards private schools. Make it easy for teachers to start their own school or coop to compete for vouchers. Definitely a pipe dream but it might work.

It might work in doing what exactly?

It allows more choice. Why should a poor student be forced to have only one public school option?

Re: Sanders calls for minimum salary of $60000 for public school teachers

#80

I'm in NJ where we value public education, for the most part. According to National Center for Education Statistics our average teacher pay was $77,489 in 2022. This is excluding benefits/pension. Well worth it.

If you value education, why does your state have unions that force pay based on seniority and not outcome?

NJ schools are consistently ranked best in the nation[0], so it seems like outcomes are 'good enough' even if that's true

[0]https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/rankings/education

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