In your opinion, do teachers get paid too much, not enough, or just what they deserve?

I'm generally asking for for US citizens, but anyone can answer.





If you're in the US, you can base your answer on the country as a whole or about your state along.








If you don't know much about the salaries, here's a link to a US map that contains the average salary of 2004-2005 in any particular state.


Many of these state's salaries vary as much as $20G.





http://www.aft.org/presscenter/releases/...





When you answer, please specifiy where you're from.

In your opinion, do teachers get paid too much, not enough, or just what they deserve?
I'm from California, and while teachers here probably make more than teachers elsewhere, they still don't make enough to be able to buy a home or live in a safe neighborhood.





Teachers are not only grossly underpaid, the are greatly undervalued and under-appreciated. It is beyond frustrating to know that the myth of short work days and summers off still persists.





Teachers often work 9-10 hour days, arriving at 7am, and staying until 5pm, and then take work home with them. Lesson plans do not magically appear on their desks, nor do the materials. A great deal of planning and prep goes into teaching your children. Then there are the committees on which they are required to participate, and of course, the continuing education, which they pay for out of pocket.





Often teachers use their own money to provide basic supplies for the classroom, and sometimes buy lunch for those students whose parents think a bag of chips and a can of soda constitute a meal.





They often spend their summers either (a) teaching summer school, (b) taking courses themselves, or (c) holding workshops to train and support new teachers.





I'd be willing to bet that most people who whine about teachers having it easy wouldn't last one day in their shoes.
Reply:Not a teacher, but I believe they are woefully underpaid! They are charged with educating, motivating, disciplining, counseling, parenting, nursing and babysitting our children. Then at the end of the day, they get to go home and do it again(children %26amp; spouses). Theirs' should be one of the top-paying jobs around(if they really care about what they do).SS$31-34k(MD)slighter hi'er(NY).
Reply:Not enough!!!
Reply:As much as I hate to admit it there are some that are over paid for alot of reasons.. My ans will have to be very much under paid.. Teachers are the back bone of our world.. There the guys who give us all we need to suceed in life..You pay a doctor good money to treat you, or a lawyer to help you, so where do you think they learned all this RIGHT TEACHERS!!! A good teacher should get get kissed right on the butt and told just how wonderfull they are every day..Where would we be if no one could learn, BAD NEWS..NO I"M NOT A TEACHER as you can see by the spelling and typing, LOL ROB
Reply:Teachers are not paid anything close to what they deserve. In the US there is this wierd pay structure where a man bouncing a ball can make millions but the person teaching out children the basics of life, from reading and writing, to ethics, they make aroun 40G. That's completely wrong and unbalanced.


We are lucky that teachers love what they do and have a passion for it or our educational system would be even further screwed.
Reply:yes they get paid too much. They look at a book that tells them what to teach and most teachers are terrible at what they do. Some teachers are great, but still make too much. Plus, they get off all holidays, a summer vacation, and there hours are great.