Nancy Lima teaches at Brattleboro Area Middle School. Her dad, who teaches in Massachusetts, sent this "letter" to her. She shared it with friends at her school, and it found its way to Vermont-NEA . . .and then to the Washington State Essential Learnings listserv.
I'm fed up with teachers and their hefty salary guides. What we need here
is a little perspective.
If I had my way, I'd pay these teachers myself. I'd pay them baby-sitting
wages. That's right, instead of paying these outrageous taxes, I'd give
them $3 an hour out of my own pocket. And I'm only paying them for 5
hours, not coffee breaks. That would be $15 a day - each parent should
pay $15 a day for these teachers to babysit their child. Even if they
have more than one child, it's still a lot cheaper than private day care.
Now, how many children do they teach everyday - maybe 20?
That's $15 X 20 = $300 a day.
But remember, they only work 180 days a year! I'm not going
to pay them for all those vacations!
$300 X 180 = $54,000.
(Just a minute, I think my calculator needs batteries.)
I know now what you teachers will say - what about those who have 10
year's experience and a master's degree? Well, maybe (to be fair) they
could get the minimum wage, and instead of just baby-sitting, they could
read the kids a story. We could round that off to about $5 an hour, times
five hours, times 20 children. That's $500 a day times 180 days. That's
$90,000 ... UH???
Wait a minute, let's get some perspective here. Baby-sitting wages are
too good for these teachers. Did anyone see a salary guide around here???
ONE more week :)
