The fact that health insurance premiums have skyrocketed and added $24k to the cost of my employment does not change the fact that teachers are under-compensated. Yes, it costs a lot to employ people. I'd still get much better compensation in the private sector. I've spoken to dozens of smart people who would make great teachers; they considered it, but pursued other career paths because teacher compensation is a joke.
There are obviously other variables at play. Improving salary would not fix the problem overnight. But it has to happen, or the profession will stay like this.
I agree, curriculum is one of many things that needs fixing.
First? IDK. Who's fixing it? If we put new curriculum first, we'd have a bunch of morons writing it because that's who we have in schools right now.
If you want competent people doing the things, you have to offer a high enough salary to attract competent people. I've spoken to many high-quality people who almost became teachers, or tried it but burned out in a few years. Their problem isn't the curriculum. Their problem is doing an extremely challenging job for an annual gross salary that's lower than the student loan principal you accrue on your way to a classroom.
You're missing the point, and demonstrating clearly that you do not understand the profession. Teachers are not paid enough to cover the costs of becoming a teacher. With notable exceptions, it's not a problem of bad choices. It's a bad design.
If one cannot afford one's education one should choose another path. A grasp of simple math might help prospective college students to choose better. I agree of course that no one seems to have been teaching simple math for several generations now. That's not a really good excuse for assuming a huge debt burden.
You have again described a systemic problem, rather than an individual problem.
"If one cannot afford one's education one should choose a different path"
That's exactly what I'm saying: the ROI on teaching is so bad that most sane, competent people will choose another path. As a result, you have lots of insane, incompetent people in classrooms.
If you want to change that, change the ROI equation such that competent people are reasonably rewarded for choosing to become educators.
If you want idiots and teacher shortages, stay on course making education an incredibly unappealing career path with negative personal ROI.
The fact that health insurance premiums have skyrocketed and added $24k to the cost of my employment does not change the fact that teachers are under-compensated. Yes, it costs a lot to employ people. I'd still get much better compensation in the private sector. I've spoken to dozens of smart people who would make great teachers; they considered it, but pursued other career paths because teacher compensation is a joke.
There are obviously other variables at play. Improving salary would not fix the problem overnight. But it has to happen, or the profession will stay like this.
What must happen first is repairing the curricula in schools of education so the education they provide is not so attractive to morons.
I agree, curriculum is one of many things that needs fixing.
First? IDK. Who's fixing it? If we put new curriculum first, we'd have a bunch of morons writing it because that's who we have in schools right now.
If you want competent people doing the things, you have to offer a high enough salary to attract competent people. I've spoken to many high-quality people who almost became teachers, or tried it but burned out in a few years. Their problem isn't the curriculum. Their problem is doing an extremely challenging job for an annual gross salary that's lower than the student loan principal you accrue on your way to a classroom.
Fix the curriculum in *schools of education.*
Don't hire people so economically illiterate that they accrue student loan balances they can never repay.
You're missing the point, and demonstrating clearly that you do not understand the profession. Teachers are not paid enough to cover the costs of becoming a teacher. With notable exceptions, it's not a problem of bad choices. It's a bad design.
I understand the profession far too well.
If one cannot afford one's education one should choose another path. A grasp of simple math might help prospective college students to choose better. I agree of course that no one seems to have been teaching simple math for several generations now. That's not a really good excuse for assuming a huge debt burden.
You have again described a systemic problem, rather than an individual problem.
"If one cannot afford one's education one should choose a different path"
That's exactly what I'm saying: the ROI on teaching is so bad that most sane, competent people will choose another path. As a result, you have lots of insane, incompetent people in classrooms.
If you want to change that, change the ROI equation such that competent people are reasonably rewarded for choosing to become educators.
If you want idiots and teacher shortages, stay on course making education an incredibly unappealing career path with negative personal ROI.