I was thinking about this at some point today:
What's the goal of a teacher? To educate kids as best as he or she can. To teach. And why is he or she teaching? Because it's a way to make a living, to earn money to feed and shelter themselves and their families. But beyond that, teachers exist because they get satisfaction from some thing that they do. I could be wrong. Maybe some teachers hate their job, but continue it because they don't know what else to do or have no other options. In an ideal world, this wouldn't be the case, so I'm ignoring that option. So teachers gain satisfaction from seeing their students learn and watching them progress. The question I posed to myself was: Do they give up their own potential wealth to educate the next generation? Or, better said, do teachers think of their jobs as a service to the community and country?
Lots of jobs make more money than teachers do. Assuming that money correlates with happiness (it's been proven that it does until a certain high income level is reached than it levels off), it would seem that our life goal would be to reach that point of income where the highest level of happiness is achieved. Basically, most people would prefer more income than the average grade school teacher makes. That made me wonder: How big a sacrifice does a schoolteacher make? At this point, it would seem to be a large one, but I'm positive that none of them view it as a sacrifice. I guess the final question I can pose is: How many grade school teachers would prefer to work at an attainable, but stereotypical, office job that makes significantly more income yearly?
I want to know the answer to this question. Of course their are a million more variables, like age, location, marital status, etc. that determine why teachers choose to teach, but I'm curious right now as to what kind of people America's core of teachers are.
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some deep thinking...good for you. Lots of people have thought about this but still not figured out a way to pay teachers what they should be paid and not raise taxes sky high. Education is the second highest expense in the NYS budget, second only to Medicaid.
ReplyDeleteI don't think you can generalize or stereotype teachers. The workforce is too diverse in many aspects, some of which you mentioned above. You'd also have to take into consideration the level of teaching. Elementary vs High School vs College. Each would attract teachers with different motives for teaching. This is a great point to raise though, because it should bring to our attention the importance of choosing schools for our young children. Instead of just dropping your kid off at the bus stop and defaulting them to a certain school district you live in, our adult community should be researching schools, namely the teachers who will be educating your children. Why? Because all teachers are different, and no two teachers are the same. Everyone in the world is unique, and teachers will bring their own views/experiences into the classroom through their teaching. The period in which children attend elementary school is one of the most important developmental stages in life. I don't think a person's K-12 experience dictates the outcome of their life, but I do believe it molds personality and provides the traits you will have available to you when you take on the adult world.
ReplyDeleteThere should be a large wiki site for schools across the country, with different pages for each level of education. Then you could build communities based on location, where parents, future parents, and members of the community can discuss anything about any school.